Mancunian Matters spoke to people in central Manchester moments after it was announced that Rishi Sunak would be the next prime minister. This is what they said.
Sean Collard, Recruitment Manager:
“I’ve sort of given up on it all now. It just seems to be the same old circus going round and round.
“I don’t know if it will [affect me]. It seems to be the same policies coming out from all of them. I think a general election would be the best next course to take.
On Keir Starmer: “Yeah, I think he’s a bit more a man of the people. He has our best interests at heart, rather than Rishi Sunak who has come from a very privileged background. He seems to put the rich first rather than the working class.”
Pawel, 30, Hulme:
“Well, he was paying for my furlough during the pandemic. It was a harsh time for the country but that helped us survive.
“I think he did what he had to do, and now I think he will have to harvest the money needed to pay for that.
“We’ll see what the next move will be, especially after what the previous PMs already did.
“If the Tories can’t sort out their leadership and all the changes that are coming, of course it’s not good for the country.”
Megan Joyce 22, Manchester:
“I think to have no say in who is going to be the next prime minister is really bad and the fact that we live in a democracy just doesn’t seem to be reflecting that. I’m not really a fan of him, I’m not really a fan of Conservatives.
“I think it all needs a massive rejig and change. I’m not looking forward to him being PM, I think it’s just going to cause more upheaval and disagreement.
“For sure, it’s time for a general election. I think with Liz Truss leaving I’d say now is the perfect time to have a complete rejig with a vote of no confidence and have a different party in, I think we’ve all had enough of Conservatives, to be honest.”
Anna Cunningham, 56, Ireland:
“I think he predicted what was going to happen, so he will bring more stability, I think.”
On if there should be a general election: “Probably not, I think there’s just too many unknowns. I think stability is what’s really needed now.”
Denise, 57, Heywood:
“I don’t think he’s going to do any better than any other Conservative leader.
“I do think it’s time now for a general election. It just needs to change.
“Get someone in with different views – I think Conservatives all are for the rich, and not for the poor.”
Maddie, Heather and Lottie Kingsley, all 18, from Hulme:
On Boris Johnson withdrawing from the race – Lottie: “I’m not surprised. He resigned in the first place, so why would he want to continue?”
Heather: “I’m surprised he dropped out now, but not surprised he said he wants to run in 2024.”
On the new PM being chosen by Conservative MPs – Lottie: “It just confirms most people’s opinions that they already had, more strongly.”
Maddie: “It’s not us deciding – it’s the party, not the people”
Omar Hussain, 39, Withington:
“We’ve got the wrong guy… they’re all puppets.
“They don’t help us working class out, do they?”
On if there needs to be a general election: “Yes, definitely. It would have been better if Corbyn was still in charge of the Labour Party.”
“I don’t think he’ll last long […] Maybe longer than Liz Truss but I don’t see him being there long.”
Matt Doyle, 24, Rusholme:
“He’s probably better than Liz Truss, but also going to urge in a lot more austerity – not really good for the general public.
“They should have called a general election, it’s not really fair of them to just put it to the Tory MPs to decide who’s going to run the country.”
Ahmed Essat, 23, Salford:
“I don’t think anyone’s the right man for the job at this point – I don’t know why you’d want to do it.
“But I think he’s an ideal Tory member for the job. He seems like he’s got the views of the people rather than the rich as well, so we’ll have to see what he does. He seems a lot less strict on Tory policies than Liz Truss was.
“It feels like I’m watching a live Monty Python sketch and I’m just in the audience without knowing what’s going to happen next. I think it’s hilarious how we’re in this weird transition of not even having a say – it’s almost like communist Russia.
“I think the Tory party has been like someone’s first driving lesson, just absolutely no idea what they’re doing, driving into anything they can see, hitting kerbs left, right and centre. So now when we see someone else get behind the wheel a lot of people are like, ‘Here comes another genius, another Lewis Hamilton wannabe’ – but we will just have to wait and see. Give him time.”
“I think if we did have another general election, the Tories would just win again because they have voters who turn up every time for them and Labour supporters, Green Party supports, even Liberal Democrat supporters, they’re not the most faithful when it comes to voting day – but the Tory voters are.”
Paul, retired:
On if there should be an election: “Yes and no. The no is because they’ve had a revolving door of prime ministers, it’s become an absolute joke. The Tory party has imploded on themselves, so quite rightly everyone’s saying who’s the prime minister now, we’ve got another one next week, and Keir Starmer wants an election. But having said that, we gave Boris a mandate for five years, and as far as I’m concerned he’s still got the mandate but he’s not in power – it’s become a joke.
“Even though I’ve been a Labour man all my life, I cannot go back to Labour because it’s a complete and utter shambles. We wouldn’t get an outright majority for any party – like we had last time with the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg [who went into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010]. I think it’s just a shambles.”
