Never mind the thoughts of Russell Brand or the cast of TOWIE, Sian Davis took the train from Liverpool Street and stopped to ask who’s really voting for whom at stations en route to Southend Victoria.
Station-Stop No 1 Stratford.
I know, not even out of London yet, but I thought I’d ask, anyway.
Disguised by the lavish Westfields shopping centre, which is filled with high end shops, expensive restaurants and a fancy casino, Stratford is actually one of the most deprived areas of the UK. Yet also one of the most vibrant. It feels like everyone in the world is here, from the wealthy walking around John Lewis’ looking for a new coat, to the buskers hanging outside Stratford’s original shopping mall playing a guitar very, very badly!
In 2014 the polls said that Labour were favorites by far with 50.7 per cent of the predicted vote, as opposed to the Conservatives with 29.45 per cent. After talking to some of the local residents, it seemed to me that the polls had got it about right.
Only one (undecided) said he wouldn’t vote for Labour. One young man – tall, mixed race, mid-to-late twenties, wearing straight black jeans and a red T-shirt – said: ‘I’m voting Labour, I always vote Labour, Tories only help the rich. I’ve had way less money since Cameron’s been in power. A woman waiting to meet her children off the DLR said: ‘Labour do more for ordinary people with kids.’ UKIP? She just said ‘no’. Everyone I spoke to said they would not vote UKIP since they feel the party is ‘racist’. One man, a 40-something smartly dressed business-type, warned that ‘the whole country would go to pot if they got into power’.
Station-Stop No 2: Shenfield
Just 20 minutes from the East End of London is Shenfield. Cheek-by-jowl with Brentwood, the town has gone a bit TOWIE, with lots of nail bars and places to get a luminous orange tan! Quite a few of the younger people were dressed as if about to audition for the show.
It was a Conservative stronghold in 2010, and I wanted to see if this is still the case. A 50-ish woman told me that she voted Conservative last time and would so again. A 50-ish man working for NatWest in the City said he ‘couldn’t vote Labour as they haven’t really come up with any policies… and voting for the others is just a wasted vote’.
A younger woman on her way to the hairdressers said she wasn’t going to vote as she didn’t like any of the parties. Her friend said that she wasn’t going to vote either – she didn’t want any of the leaders to be in power. A young man on his way to the gym said that he would probably vote Conservative as he couldn’t stand Ed Miliband.
Station-Stop 3: Billericay
Probably most famous for being ‘the place that Gavin comes from (as in Gavin and Stacy), Billericay is a commuting town with trains into London every 20 minutes. At the end of an uphill walk from the station, Billericay’s High street is filled with restaurants and pubs. In mid-winter, the High Street comes alive with a fake snow machine, the sweet smells of roasted chestnuts and mulled wine, and a soundtrack supplied by local choirs (church and school). It’s not surprising that people flock in from the surrounding area at this time of year (especially if you’ve seen the Christmas events in Wickford!).
Just by walking up to the High Street, I could already gauge which way the electoral wind is blowing in Billericay. Houses with ‘Vote Conservative’ stickers in their window were something of a giveaway!
The first person I spoke to was a young man heading toward the station after finishing his shift at Prezzo. He told me that he would probably not vote as he had had a long shift that day and wasn’t bothered about who won. On the High Street, I stopped to speak to two elderly women who were sitting outside Costas having a cup of coffee and a cigarette. They both said that they would be voting Conservative. One of them, who looked slightly older than the other, explained that she had ‘voted Conservative my entire life’, adding ‘my dad always voted Conservative and so do my brothers and sisters – I’ve never thought to vote for anyone else.’ The second lady said she felt David Cameron looked like a stronger leader, and she was put off of voting Labour as they were going to means-test pensioners’ winter fuel allowance. I asked them who they thought was going to win and they both said they thought we would face another hung parliament.
Further down the High Street, I spoke to a man who looked as though he was in his mid-thirties standing outside The Chequers pub, smoking a cigarette. He too said he would be voting for the Conservatives: ‘it’s not so much that I want the Tories to get in, I just don’t want Miliband to get in… that bloke is just irritating’. He told me that he had been a Labour supporter in the past and that this was the first time he had voted Conservative. He felt that Labour needed another strong leader like Tony Blair and that they had picked the wrong Miliband brother. He told me ‘I would probably have voted Labour if David was the leader and not Ed, they definitely picked the wrong brother – Ed’s such a wombat’.
The last person I spoke to on my way back down to the station was a young woman who was on her way home after being out with friends. She was 17 and not able to vote, but told me that if she could she would vote for the Green Party. She explained that environmental issues worried her and that they wanted to abolish tuition fees, which mattered to her as she was going to go to university in September. She said she felt strongly that 16 year olds should be able to vote and said that she ‘knows a lot about politics and would make a proper decision’.
Station-Stop 4: Wickford
Half an hour from London and 20 minutes from Southend seafront, Wickford is a popular commuting town. On a Saturday morning, you can barely breathe with the amount of people roaming round Wickford High Street, yet come Sunday it looks like a ghost town. It must be one of the few places in the region where shops still shut on Sunday, and even on a weekday the whole place is deserted by 6pm, bar the few teenagers who hang around outside the kebab shop. The only place in Wickford that seems constantly busy is the station, since most people travel to Southend, Basildon, Brentwood or Chelmsford for a night out.
UKIP won a lot of votes in Wickford in the local elections and UKIP activists are often out canvassing on the High Street, which is where I spoke to an elderly woman out shopping who confirmed that she would be voting UKIP. She explained that she was very worried about the amount of immigration into the country, particularly immigration via the EU, and wanted Britain out of it. She also said that she was pleased UKIP were campaigning to get the street lights turned back on. I also spoke to an elderly man on his way home. He also said that he would be voting for UKIP as they planned to curb excessive house building in unsuitable areas. ‘It’s ridiculous’, he said. ‘There just aren’t the facilities for more houses, it’s impossible to see my doctor as it is’.
Some younger people I spoke to, however, had a different view. A young mum who was going from work to pick her son up from nursery told me she didn’t know who to vote for. She said ‘to be honest I know nothing about it, I never vote and don’t watch any of that election stuff’. I also spoke to a young man who was on his way home from a shift at a local care home: he wasn’t going to vote but for a different reason. He didn’t like any of the parties and said ‘Miliband’s useless, Cameron’s just too snobby, Clegg’s a liar, Farage is racist and the Green Party is a joke’.
Station-Stop 5: Rayleigh
Much like Billericay, you have to walk up a hill to get to the High Street in Rayleigh. The High Street itself is similar to Wickford’s, though there are a few more shops and bars, and most famously the Rayleigh Lanes. This is almost like an indoor market, with lots of shops selling a variety of things, from arts and crafts to a butcher’s. On a typical Saturday morning, you can see people of all ages bustling through the Lanes looking for those hard to find items. From teenage girls getting their nails done, to dog owners trying to find a new bed for their beloved pooch, to mothers trying to appease their bored toddlers with toys or sweets – it feels like everyone is there.
In the Lanes, I spoke to an elderly woman who comes every week to buy her meat from the same butcher’s. She was going to vote for Conservative. She told me ‘I voted for UKIP in the local election and would vote for them again but I don’t want to waste my vote as I know they won’t get in. So I guess I will have to vote Conservative’. I asked her what it was about UKIP that she liked and she told me she felt ‘they are a normal party for normal people and they put British people first’. I also spoke to this lady’s daughter who comes here every week with her mum. Unlike her mum, the daughter did not like UKIP: ‘I personally would never vote for UKIP as they do seem like a sexist party, but I can see why people do as I think they tell people what they want to hear. I’m going to vote Conservative because in the past they have always done a lot for the local area.’
I also spoke to two young men who were waiting for a friend of theirs to get her hair cut. The taller one of these two was training to be a plumber. He told me that he was going to vote Conservative as he wanted to be able to buy his own flat and he likes the help to buy scheme. The other one disagreed and said that he was going to vote Labour. Currently in his first year of university, he said that it would be a ‘great help’ if they could put the tuition fees down to £6,000. He said ‘£9,000 is a joke, especially as Scotland gets it free! What’s the point in going to Uni just to be lumbered with like £40,000 worth of debt by the end of it?’
Lastly, I spoke to a middle aged man who was standing outside Rayleigh Lanes, waiting for his wife. He told me that he was going to vote Conservative in the next general election because ‘they will get us out of debt’. He told me he was worried that Labour would push the country further into debt and that next time we may not be able to get out of it.
Station-Stops 6 & 7: Hockley and Rochford
There are very few facilities in either Hockley or Rochford. Frankly, just going past these places on a train makes you feel bored! As you walk round them both, all you see is house after house – even the street signs only show you the quickest way out. Other than the noise of traffic roaring through without stopping, it is also deadly quiet.
In Hockley, I spoke to two young women waiting to get a train into Southend to do some shopping. Both told me they were going to vote Conservative. One told me that she was concerned about immigration from within the EU. She said ‘at least the Conservatives are going to let us have a referendum on Europe, I really think we should leave the EU before the country’s overrun by Eastern Europeans.’ The other one added that the welfare system needs to be changed: ‘There’s too many people on benefits at the moment… it really needs to be stopped. I know this girl who has a two bed house being paid for by housing benefit just ‘cos she had a kid at sixteen! I’m twenty four and I can’t afford a house, you know what I mean, it just ain’t fair’.
In Rochford, I spoke to an elderly man on his way home from the corner shop. He said that he was going to vote for UKIP. ‘I’m going to vote for UKIP as they are the only ones that are going to stop all this immigration,’ he said, adding that the immigration problem was driving him mad. I also spoke to a woman who was walking past the butcher’s shop with her three children. She told me she was going to vote Conservative as she wanted the tax threshold to go up again. She said: ‘it’s been so much better since the tax thresholds gone up, I work part time and since the threshold’s gone up I get to keep all my salary and my husband gets to keep more of his. We’ve been much better off as a family’.
Station-Stop No 8: Southend
Just before you arrive at Southend, you see ‘London’ Southend airport, where many disgruntled Londoners can be seen waiting for a train back up to London after learning the hard way just how far this airport is from the metropolis!
Southend itself is probably most famous for having the longest pier in the UK. A comedian once joked ‘it is very rewarding when you walk to the end of the pier as you know you are then 1.2 miles away from Southend!’ Some of the strangest things to be seen can be seen in this town, like two identical looking middle aged men, with the same haircut, same beard length and even the same clothes, walking around side by side. There is the man who regularly stands in the town centre shouting verses from the Bible and even a street performer with a skateboarding dog! One of my favourite haunts is a shop (known locally as the toot shop) which you pass on your way to the seafront – a small shop with hundreds of different items in it, yet not one that you actually need! It sells strange china ornaments, gothic jewelry, fancy lighters, knives, salt and pepper pots….I could go on.
On my way through Southend High Street, I stopped to ask a young couple who they would be voting for and they both told me they would be voting for Conservative. The young woman told me ‘we want to buy a house together so we’re mainly voting for the help to buy scheme’. The young man said that he also liked the new tax threshold and was also voting for that.
Further down the High Street, outside the travel agents I spoke to an elderly couple who were looking to book a holiday. The elderly woman said: ‘we are going to vote UKIP as we are seriously worried about the level of immigration, Southend’s been getting worse and worse recently’. A man who was also looking at the holiday deals said, as I was speaking to the elderly couple, ‘yeah I agree, its wrong, ain’t it? They come over ‘ere, take all our jobs, take a load of benefits and then send a load of money back home! It’s ridiculous – someone needs to get shot of them!’
A young woman outside Adventure Island was also going to vote for UKIP. She said that she was ‘sick to death of all the immigrants’ and that they were ‘taking over’. She said that she really hoped that even if they could not get into power that they could maybe form a coalition with the Conservatives.
In Southend that day, there was not much enthusiasm for forming a coalition with our European neighbours!
And at that point, my odyssey into the voting intentions of Essex Man and Woman, came to a somewhat disgruntled end – ‘this train terminates here’.