Rhondda: People who don’t vote in elections blame distrust in politicians

At Tonyrefail community center in Rhondda Cynon Taf, among the crowd of people chatting as they waited for breakfast to be served was Lewis Watt, a 32-year-old plasterer.

Speaking just days before the July 4 general election, Lewis said he had never voted in one before and would not do so on Thursday either.

“I’ve got too much going on in my life to hear what’s going on in Parliament,” said Lewis, whose partner is pregnant with their third child.

“People are struggling financially right now, so trying to get jobs and clients to bring home a paycheck is really tough,” Lewis said.

“So I’m spending time looking for work or with my family. As my time is very busy with that, I don’t have much interest in politics.”

The BBC traveled to Rhondda and Ogmore to find out how engaged voters are this time and to understand why people are not interested.

At Scoops and Smiles ice cream shop in Ferndale, some find there’s nothing for them on the political menu.

Mark Barnes recently moved to the area after a period of homelessness and said he will not vote because he has not found a political party that shares his views and concerns.

“They have nothing in the manifesto for people like me,” he said.

“I am particularly concerned about the future of my grandchildren and what they will be doing in 20 to 30 years,” he added.

So what would make you vote?

“It would have to be someone with a track record of doing what they say and at the moment I don’t see anyone like that in Westminster,” he said.

Her daughter Tracey has voted in the past, but this time she will likely stay home.

“I suppose it’s the nervousness of just being disappointed and them not delivering what they say they’re going to deliver,” she said.

“In the future, if a party came along and said they were going to change this, that they were going to improve the future of your children… and that actually started to happen, then I would definitely vote for them.”

Back at Tonyrefail community centre, Jane Ann Williams, 80, and her daughter Debbie Bowen, 62, said they will both vote – but say this is despite their experience with politicians over the years.

“You can’t criticize if you don’t vote,” Jane Ann said.

A candidate who visited the center recently won her support, but she often finds that politicians don’t deliver on their promises at election time.

“When they come in, they don’t deliver on their promise. They’re completely different,” she said.

Debbie said she didn’t think politicians really understood “what low-level people go through” and was unimpressed with what she saw of Westminster on television.

“It looks like a big game of bingo to me because everyone is talking.”

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at polling firm Ipsos, said that while distrust and lack of engagement in politics is nothing new, there are signs that trust in politics was at a particularly low level at the start of this election campaign.

“Trust in politicians has fallen to an all-time low of 9%,” he said.

Mr Skinner said that in addition to the record low level of politicians, almost half of those polled last year said they “almost never” trust governments of any party to put the nation’s needs first.

He said it was important for politicians to overcome barriers such as “a sense of apathy or disillusionment in the political system” and demonstrate that “political engagement can make a difference and that government and politicians are really listening to what people have to say”.