'Arrogant' May: Halifax voters on why they rejected the Conservatives
Voters tell Sky they snubbed the Tories as they simply do not like Theresa May - with one accusing the PM of arrogance.
Saturday 10 June 2017 19:12, UK
To understand the gulf between Theresa May's electoral expectations and political reality you need look no further than the former mill town of Halifax.
It was here that she launched her manifesto, convinced that "strong and stable" was just what was needed to overturn a Labour majority of 428 votes.
Eighty-year-old Noelle McGinnis, a former factory worker, told Sky News she knows why the Prime Minister's plan failed.
The habitual Tory voter said she had opted for Labour this time, helping return their candidate with a 5,376 majority, because the PM had cut the number of police officers and because the town is suffering.
Halifax is fairly typical of Yorkshire and the Humber for key indicators like unemployment, wages and health.
But that means it is worse than the national average, and the North-South divide is acutely felt.
"The town's in bits," Ms McGinnis told Sky News. "Labour might get stuff done."
One voter said the Prime Minister had been arrogant to assume they could be easily won over, more than one said they simply didn't like her.
Meanwhile, some of those who would have voted Conservative were uninspired.
Self-employed plasterer Colin Richardson, 45, considers himself to be a Conservative but said nothing he had heard convinced him to support Mrs May.
"My dad would have voted BNP but they weren't standing," he said.
"It seems like nothing you do really makes any difference."