Trustwatch 2024 verdict on the manifesto launches

In the week commencing 10th June, all major parties in the UK published their manifestos, with the Conservatives publishing on Tuesday 11th June and Labour on Thursday 13th June.

We engaged various members of our Trustwatch panel via WhatsApp, both on Tuesday evening and Thursday evening, getting reactions to each manifesto in relation to the theme of trust. What follows are verbatim quotes from WhatsApp messages.

After the Conservative manifesto

What have people read or heard about the Conservative manifesto?

Non-Voter

• I have seen news bulletins and notifications on my phone informing me of the Conservative Manifesto. Via the Daily Mail and Guardian website I have read the key points.

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Liberal Democrat

• I’ve heard alot of stats one that’s stood out to me is 92,000 extra nurses and 28,000 extra doctors – while driving up NHS productivity. Which I found quite interesting I wonder how the government will do this will it be through letting uni’s increase intake of medical students or making the process of getting into medicine easier. 30 hours of free childcare which I think is great especially for working parents and border control

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• The manifesto is basically a fictional document designed to give the impression that they’re going to help pretty much everyone in the electorate. It’s a fairytale of bribes. The funding claims are laughable and as ever the grand plan seems to be to take lots more money away from the sick and disabled. It’s typically pathetic

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Conservative

• How comes no politicians can actually state where the money is coming from to fund things like increases in defence spending and NHS, coming from reduction in benefits wont be a vote winner,

Voted Liberal Democrat in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• Tax cuts of 2p on NI and further benefits for self-employed and first-time buyers.

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• I’ve heard some coverage and skimmed the manifesto. Increasing defence spending seems insane and the national service policy is impractical, unpopular, and too expensive. All the rest seems minor or a re-hash of previous promises.
• I think they’re very out-of-touch if they think mandatory national service and 2p off NI is going to sway the public in their favour.

Do people think the manifesto promises support trust that the Conservatives understand people’s concerns?

Non-Voter

• I think it is important to know a vote for Conservatives would entail. My main concern is how will all these key points be implemented. Also, I find it interesting that our current government is willing to give  large funds to other countries without consideration of this country. Whereas to implement the key points on the new manifesto would involve £12billion crackdown on benefits. How is that fair?

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Liberal Democrat

• slightly Yes because will the crackdowns and reducing welfare be enough to fund this 17million is alot of money . I think Yes and no at the same time , yes because they aren’t increasing tax right now with the living crisis we are having and taking into account working mum who are spending a fortune on childcare. However no because what are they goin to do for young people and we still don’t really know what’s happening with healthcare and education.

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• they’re proven liars, they’re lying again and hardly anyone is going to fall for it. If anything the promises are so ludicrous that they may have alienated people further, if that were remotely possible.

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Conservative

• I dont think many politicians understand the problems of people, they mostly come from privileged homes , although Sunak did speak about how hard it was not to have Sky TV

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• I think they’re very out-of-touch if they think mandatory national service and 2p off NI is going to sway the public in their favour.

Voted Liberal Democrat in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• For me, it is less applicable as I am pensioner

Do people think Sunak and the Conservatives would deliver on their manifesto promises, and that they’ve been clear about the challenges they might face?

 Non-Voter

• I am unsure if the conservatives can deliver, we don’t know what the future holds and also some type of timeframe would need to be applied to ensure the Conservatives are held to account

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Liberal Democrats

• it’s hard to tell they’ve disappointed before only time will tell . I would like to think they would try their best but we will only know when or if they get into power

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• No chance whatsoever on most of them. It’s particularly stupid given that a good portion of the electorate seems to accept that we’re in a difficult spot economically and that vast tax cuts are completely unrealistic. If Labour had published that manifesto The Tories would have gone heavy on it being unfunded and laughably unrealistic

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Conservative

• I don’t think any party delivers on all promises, if any fully. Not a lot of clarity in many areas eg the 2000 extra it would cost under labour

Voted Liberal Democrat in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• Sunak certainly followed the line he started when he became PM . I believe him more than the other leaders. I do not trust any politicians.  I think he is best of bad lot

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• They are incapable of delivering on their promises I think, the last 5 years or so proves that. Nick R’s summary that the PM is promising to cut tax while increasing public spending while Sunak dimly agrees should tell anyone listening that this is all pie-in-the-sky stuff

What could the Conservatives have done better to build trust through their manifesto?

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• Trust is gone, I think. I don’t think it’s recoverable. I don’t think trust in Starmer and Labour is particularly great either. On a tangent, I think the Lib Dem’s early campaign has played on the lack of trust, authenticity and candidness of the two major parties brilliantly. They’ve shown Ed Davey to be human, someone who has struggles in life like us and down to earth, and they are being honest about Brexit and committing to building closer ties to Europe again. I’m not surprised at all that the latest YouGov poll today has them up 4% and in with a chance of becoming the official opposition. Next to Davey Sunak is always going to look like a disingenuous, out of touch billionaire and professional politician

Voted Liberal Democrat in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• I think they should be more specific on what they believe will be the effect and impact of the key issues, such as reduction in NI  and where they will find the money to compensate for the loss of this revenue

After both the Conservative and Labour manifestos

What have people read or heard about the manifestos?

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Conservative

• The main points I have heard are that Labour will end the non dom tax benefit bringing in 8.6 billion, cut NHS waiting lists, and introduce Great British energy,  6500 new teachers and increase NHS staffing
• Conservative main points , lower immigration, reintroduction of help to buy. Abolishing NI for self employed, increase in defence spending

Didn’t vote in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• I didn’t know they had published them.

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• The Tory manifesto just seems to be an attempt to bribe multiple areas of the electorate for their votes. The funding promises are vague and as Sky News pointed out, mainly rely on taking money from the poorest and most vulnerable in society. It reinforces me view that they’re motivated entirely by self interest and they don’t care who they lie to or hurt along the way. Labour’s manifesto is quite vague in that it focuses on key areas it wants to address but doesn’t go into great detail as to how. I honestly don’t mind that. Parties promise all sorts pre election that is either unworkable or completely untrue. I don’t think they need to do much bar let the Conservatives bury themselves. The areas they’ve highlighted are areas that matter to me – NHS, net zero, housing, education and crime (the first four are specific drivers for me as a parent and someone who has had health problems. I’m happy enough with that.

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• Well I heard and read that Conservatives were out quite quickly with letting the public know what their “selling” points where, as that’s how I view them. Labour came later – and I don’t believe everything will remain the same as they have been informing the public about to date (recently).

Do people trust the parties are being honest in their manifesto about their actual plans?

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Conservative

• After seeing some interviews I feel I might trust Sunak a little more ,if you can trust anyone
• [When asked why he trusts Sunak a little more]: I dont really know , just that I trust Starmer less, thought Sunak came over a little more direct

Didn’t vote in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• I would expect them to say whatever they think the public want to hear. I guess I would have little trust they would deliver on them because journalist/opposition parties are always telling us the gov hasn’t delivered on them.

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• Reading through bits of both manifesto’s I still think it’s very difficult to 100% guarantee that they will keep their word.
• For example: Labour is still on the road of increasing taxes. But the conservatives will not -however, how are they going to fund all the gaps?
• Another example is how both parties wish to cut migration. Conservatives would stand a better place, if actually a flight went out to this country to Rwanda – but they have failed to do this to date.
• Another unbelievable priority of the conservatives is to provide bonusses to them. However, there are not enough teachers as NHS professionals. Why not provide a these people a discounted rate on their degree – so it attracts the young to build this country up again. And get professionals back to this country (all those where we as taxpayers paid their education for – and they fled the country for a better future). Get those professionals back by providing them good incentives.
• Overall – I need to see the changes before believing them. I’m sure we have a track records of things that have been promised, and all of the sudden an “event” happens and things have to be adjusted.
• But one things that stood by me for the past few days is how both parties are trying sooooo hard to connect with the “common” working population. “My dad was this, I slept in onsies, we didn’t have Sky TV” – it’s getting to a point where it’s almost embarrassing to listen to, but for some reason it’s what “some” people want to hear.

Voted Labour in 2019, intending to vote Labour

• The Tories are just compulsive liars at this point. I’d not trust a thing they told me about anything and their polling suggests that they aren’t winning anyone back any time soon. Labour, I’m not naive enough to think that they’ll do everything they’ve said they will. But after 14 years in opposition I do think they’ve realised that the key to electoral success and long term governance is controlling the centre ground whilst not forgetting their core. My big hope is that after the election they’ll stop playing to the Reform types and be honest and sensible about the consequences of Brexit and immigration. With five years to shape the country you don’t have to pander to smallish groups of voters that you need in a core of key constituencies any more. Win them back by making their lives better.

Non-voter

• The manifestos are nonsense-each tries to disprove the other and never deliver once in power- it would be refreshing if the party in power instead implemented the changes they promise before voting as a way to gain trust after all why must they wait? And could they not look at what they proposed the first time and show if they delivered-if not why not?
• NHS is going to be fixed using money from a growing economy (Labour)? Too speculative in my mind better to make hard decisions ie. Make it mandatory for all registered dentists to perform 25% NHS work to pay back the training support they had to become dentists in the first place. Reduce non emergency treatment to push money for urgent care allowing private sector to cover the non urgent with insurance payments which could be waived for those transitioning from existing waiting lists removing the rolling cost as all new undiagnosed ops you’d need some insurance if you expect to be seen in a reasonable time. Things like this could make you believe they are not just telling you what you want to hear.
• Housing – we have plenty of housing but not all where people want to live- fix transport and investment to improve existing stock as a means to resolve this -more housing damages the environment when we have plenty of empty buildings. UK is small compared to many countries with a really effective reliable train service people could commute spreading wealth around the country rather than just the capital.

Do the manifestos increase your trust in the parties to make a positive difference to the country?

Non-voter

• I don’t think the manifestos suggest they know what they are doing. (See earlier comment on what they could do)

Didn’t vote in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• Not really sure. I do understand that they need to make the promises to get people to vote.  I’m not sure there is anything they can do as it would need a culture change to include media and all parties to change

Do people trust the manifestos to offer a realistic and achievable vision for the country?

Non-voter

• Small changes not big enough ideas- I feel they use media rather than the people to make up ideas to fix the country assuming that the items raised by the media are the key concerns of the electorate.

Voted Conservative in 2019, intending to vote Conservative

• I don’t believe the promises are actually doable, if they were why haven’t they been implemented before, once again I think its impossible in the present financial situation to achieve all of this think a lot of them are promises that are unachievable but they hope people will buy into it

Didn’t vote in 2019, intending to vote Green Party

• I would expect that they won’t deliver and there will be a “reason” why not