Makerfield voters tell GB News of their biggest issues ahead of landmark by-election

Voters in Makerfield have told GB News ahead of their by-election the cost of living and illegal immigration are two of their biggest issues.

Makerfield is a constituency proud of its history, asked again to decide on its future after the former MP, Josh Simons, stood down.

It isn’t actually a single place, but rather a group of towns and villages in the suburbs of Wigan, many of them with a proud mining past.

When GB News went to Ashton-In-Makerfield, the noise of regeneration filled the street, but above the clamour, one issue is big on people’s minds – the cost of living.

Inflation, energy bills and taxes are all issues voters say they want their next MP to focus on.

On man told GB News: “The fuel rises and on all of this has been brought on by Trump starting this war, it is not right to do that.

“We need someone who can stand up to him.”

Another man said: “Something that is important to me is rail travel. The cost of rail travel to go to London is an absolute fortune.”

For one voter, the cost of living is having a huge impact on having enough money to eat.

He said: “Life's difficult, you know, at the end of the day I’m on minimum wage and I don't really have enough money to pay my bills.

“I was even discussing with someone about going to a food pantry and stuff, but it's not really something I'd ever thought I'd have to do.”

For one woman, her complaint about the cost of living was simple. She told GB News: “People should have more money in their pockets, a lot more money in their pockets.”

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• Andy Burnham bottles snap general election after polling guru makes Reform prediction
• Henry Nowak's murder to be addressed in Parliament after horrific footage of arrest shared by police
• Labour warned unemployment could hit highest level in 14 years as 400,000 jobs vanish

Ninety-six percent of people in the constituency are white and British born, with 65% voting to leave the EU a decade ago.

It’s perhaps not a surprise what other issue comes up on the street.

One man said: “If you've got illegal immigration, you've got the cost of of putting them up.”

A lady added: “It's costing us a lot of money; a lot.”

Another man added: “Obviously, if people are coming in illegally, it is illegally, however, how you deal with that, there's the right way and the wrong way.”

A YouGov poll last September found that 67% of Britons see politicians as primarily “out for themselves”, and with voters heading to the polls on 18th June, there’s just over two weeks for the candidates in this election to win their trust.

When GB News spoke to voters, delivering on promises and disillusionment with politicians repeatedly came up.

One man said: “Deliver what you say you're going to deliver.

“I know sometimes you have to tweak things a little bit because it's not always easy when you get in power, but really just be truthful.”

Another added: “The honesty of British politics is an issue, because every time we get somebody in, they promise us stuff, but we never get it.”