“The problem is prices keep going up and up and I do worry about that affecting my family,” said Jiraporn.
A mum who has lived in Stevenage for 21 years, Jiraporn said she is “happy enough” with life in the town, but the cost of living is her greatest concern.
Aged 52, she is a little older than The Stevenage Woman who “holds the keys to Downing Street,” according to the Labour Together network and YouGov polling.
The think tank has published a report which concludes mums-of-two who are in their 40s and live in a town or suburb feel “Westminster politics has delivered too little, for too long.
Political strategists say this voter – The Stevenage Woman – may choose not to vote at all, but polling suggests more than half of those who will would back Labour in a general election, more than double the number who will vote Tory.
“I’m happy enough for now,” said Jiraporn.
“Walking around the town centre, I know some people aren’t very happy, but I’m content at the moment.”
The town where Jiraporn lives is not a Labour stronghold.
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The party has controlled Stevenage Borough Council since its inception in the 1970s.
But when the town was given its own MP in 1983, voters chose Tim Wood as their Conservative MP, helping Margaret Thatcher to victory in the most decisive election result since 1945.
Tory rule was broken in 1997, when Barbara Follett became the town’s Labour MP – and Tony Blair became PM – until 2010 when Stephen McPartland helped David Cameron to victory.
Naomi, a young woman from Chells, said: “We get political flyers through the letterbox but do I see anything going on?
“I don’t think so.
“When it comes to getting something done, I think politics is all on paper.”
Gwendolyn, aged 73, shops in Stevenage town centre and is supported at home through an assisted living programme.
She said housing is her number one concern and that she is “scared” for people who match the Stevenage Woman profile – her own children – and her grandchildren.
“I’m not happy with the way things are going,” Gwendolyn said.
“I am worried about the younger generations and what is going to happen to the kids.
“My grandchildren are aged 16, 18, 25 and 26 and I worry about what’s going to happen in their lives.
“Housing worries me more than anything. One grandson lives with me as a carer.
“If something happens to me, what’s going to happen to him?
“I’m in assisted living and I don’t know what options he has for housing.
“When it comes to politics, I don’t feel that they’re ‘there’.”
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