We want change after Tories 'flop', say voters

Labour won every seat in South Yorkshire as Sir Keir Starmer's party swept to power. But they faced stiff competition in Barnsley from Reform UK in the general election. Could Nigel Farage's party threaten the so-called Red Wall in the future?

The BBC spoke to voters in the wake of the results.

In his first speech as Prime Minister in Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer vowed his Labour government would “rebuild Britain with wealth”.

At the same time, 170 miles away in South Yorkshire, Kayleigh Lang was packing up stock as she prepared to shut down her struggling florist shop later this month.

The 31-year-old opened Cottage Flowers in the village of Hoyland, near Barnsley, three years ago but said running the business had become “impossible”.

“Look at the times we’re living in, the cost of living,” she told the BBC. “Prices have gone ridiculously high and nobody’s doing owt to get things back down. It’s just hard.”

Ms Lang was glad to see the back of Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, who she said had offered “nothing” to support small businesses. The mother-of-two said she was hopeful Labour may bring change but did not “have much faith” in them.

Along with 11,650 other people in the constituency of Barnsley South, she voted for Reform UK in 4 July’s general election.

Her husband Ben Lang, 34, would also have backed the party had he not been thwarted by voter ID rules introduced last year.

“I couldn’t find my driving licence,” he laughed.

Reform UK’s focus on cutting immigration has won the couple’s support, with Mr Lang saying the government should be “looking after our own”.

Ms Lang’s shop - which imports flowers from the Netherlands - has suffered from increased costs in the wake of Brexit, but the florist said she did not blame Reform UK leader and Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage.

She said: “For me, the Conservatives were in [power] and they should have been picking it up and working it. They haven’t - it’s a flop, it’s not benefited anybody.”

For a few hours on Thursday night, it looked as though Mr Farage’s party could be on course for a shock victory in South Yorkshire.

Exit polls suggested David White was likely to oust Labour’s Stephanie Peacock to win Barnsley South. Robert Lomas - who was dropped by Reform UK days before the election over alleged racist comments but still appeared as the party’s candidate on ballot papers - was forecast to finish first ahead of Labour’s Dan Jarvis in neighbouring Barnsley North.

The polls proved to be wide of the mark - Mr White and Mr Lomas both came second, well behind Labour. But each finished thousands of votes ahead of their third-placed Conservative rivals.

“We dared to dream for a couple of hours - it was quite exciting,” said Mr White, who won 33% of the vote in Barnsley North.

“We’ve got massive support in Barnsley,” he added. “For a party that’s less than three years old … to be the main challenger to Labour in South Yorkshire is a fantastic result.”

Reform had identified Barnsley - where turnout is typically among the lowest in the country - as a key target area. Mr Farage visited the town on the campaign trail in June - and was pelted with coffee cups by a protester.

But Mr Farage received a warmer welcome during a charm offensive in Hoyland that day, according to Ms Lang.

“He came and said hello to everyone, he was a good guy. Just no nonsense, he says it like it’s going to be,” she said.

Neil Barker, 62, another Reform UK voter, said he felt the party “just seem to speak common sense”.

The recently retired electrician, enjoying a pint outside the Beggar and Gentleman pub on Friday, added he had also been wooed by Mr Farage’s pledge to raise the income tax threshold to £20,000.

“When we do start to draw our state pensions, we’ll be paying tax on it,” said Mr Barker, whose wife Michelle, 58, voted the same way as him.

��If it goes up to £20,000, I’m 20% better off,” he added.

The couple said they would reserve judgement on Sir Keir’s government but each felt “we needed a change”.

Three miles east of Hoyland, in the village of Wombwell, even some Labour voters said they could see the appeal of Mr Farage.

Standing outside the Horseshoe pub, Karen Norris said: “I don’t think you can help but like him. He’s a character isn’t he? And I think people just want change.”

But the 49-year-old nurse said she would have considered a vote for Reform “a wasted vote, because they’d never have got in,” adding: “Not this time anyway.”

Other Labour voters warned the party would have to work hard to retain their support.

Alan Nixon, 79, said: “We’ll give Starmer a couple of years, if he’s no good, kick him out. Not wait five years. Not wait five years, get him out.

"But we’ll give him a chance, give him opportunity to make life better for the poor people like me and everybody else round here.”

Usually a Labour supporter, Mr Nixon voted for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in 2019’s general election - but said the government had been “terrible”.

This time around, he said he would have backed any Labour candidate: “It could be Donald Duck, I don’t care, as long as Labour got in.”

Another Labour voter, Jackie Moorhouse, said she had been “undecided right until the last minute” but felt Sir Keir was “somebody you can trust”.

Ms Moorhouse said: “Rishi Sunak dangled a carrot with the triple lock and the no tax rises for pensioners, but you’ve to think of the future. No dentists for your grandkids. Waiting ages for hospital appointments. So that’s what swayed me.”

She added she had considered voting for Reform UK before being put off by reports of activists “making racist remarks”.

Not everyone in Barnsley South has given up on the Conservatives.

Back in Hoyland, Geoff Crossley, 81, said he thought the country would be “worse off” under Labour and felt Sir Keir’s government would be weak on immigration.

“If he’d have said to us, 'Right, I’m going to stop the boats coming,' then probably he would have got my vote,” he said.

Mr Crossley predicted Mr Farage - who was elected to Parliament on Thursday - would not see out his term as a Reform UK MP.

He said: “I don’t think it’ll be long before he goes to the Conservatives.”

Among much of the electorate in Barnsley, however, there is simply apathy about the general election.

Only 46% of eligible voters in Barnsley South took part, well below the UK-wide turnout of 60%.

Matt Fenton, 50, described himself as a “conscientious objector” who had voted only once in his life.

“It’s them and us. That’s where I’m at,” he said.

Additional reporting by Tom Ingall

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