Eltham Nick's Election Takeaways

takeaway. Nick Robinson shared fish and chips with voters from Elton in

south London. People who are just about managing, known as the Jams.

The people who are in work but still struggle to make ends meet,

to pay those bills at the end of the week.

How will they make up their minds how to vote?

We've come to the suburbs of south London to find out.

Well, it's fish and chips for the latest of my

Well, it's fish and chips for the latest of my election takeaways.

We are in the south suburbs of London with a group of voters

who are going to tell us how they are making up their minds

Just to start us off, what issues in this area,

before we talk about the country, what things all thinking

about when you think of who to vote for?

When you are concerned about this area, what are the things

that are bothering you, making you make up your minds?

One of the things I'm worried about is the school dinners.

We've had the milk taken and now they are going to take

the school meals and something about the breakfast.

My child has breakfast before she goes to school.

I think for me it has to be health care.

If we looking at most of the services we get

at the moment, take away some of the GPs, it was easy to get

Ring up in the morning, you know when you want to go and see them.

Now, it's 'what's wrong with you?' OK, call back at 8am.

You ring back at 8am, you can't get through.

And when you do get through, you get an appointment at 1030

We are overstretching accident in emergencies.

So having to take myself up to A E which could be looked at by my GP.

I work in a school, and I have concerns about the school dinners

But I also coach at a scheme in Stoke Newington.

One of the biggest things locally is the knife epidemic

Whichever party comes in, wins, has to have something steel cast

in place to combat that because it's a problem.

I work a lot with young children, an academy school in south London,

My head spends 60% of her time dealing with social media issues

which then spill over into the classrooms, the playground,

Social media, people losing their temper with each

When I was at school, many years ago, the bullying started

Nowadays, with social media, it's 24-7.

The generation that is coming through lives their lives through

Are you watching the election much at the moment?

Promises that they never follow through with.

Promises that they never follow through with.

I listened keenly because I like to hold people accountable,

so I will listen to what you've got to see.

When the time comes, if you implement those policies

and then if you don't, I've got a starting point

to say well, you did say this in the beginning.

The Lib Dems with the tuition fees cuts.

That upset me even though I was past the student stage,

I was fortunate enough to get through before this happened,

I thought it was very deceitful of them to make such a policy

I think, day by day, it gathers momentum.

I think today use the Theresa May, for the first time, start to look

Also, a couple of weeks back, you had Diane Abbott did

I found it embarrassing listening to that, you know.

Did it tell you anything did you just think,

There is no concrete foundation to what they are saying.

They are coming in with these wonderful ideas, hooks to get people

engaged but in actual fact, they have not thought it through.

I looked today and they are talking about tuition fees.

How on earth are they going to pay for this?

More students than ever wanting people to go to university.

Blair in 1997 wanted 50% of students to go to university.

I want to start the wider conversation a bit by just asking

If you had to describe how you were, how you were doing in your family,

does it feel like it's pretty easy at the moment?

Things are comfortable, you are shaking your head?

Every single month, you are constantly thinking can

I afford ?20 on my Oyster card, ?10 on my Oyster card if you want

Even when you do the weekly shopping, it comes up to over

?100 you are thinking, can something give?

You constantly got multiple financial plates on the go

In London, no. I get high in the six at night, having got up at 413

morning. -- I get home at six o'clock at night. Is it tough times,

Daniel? I work for the local Government. You

would say it was a good salary, and a single mum. Childcare costs are

joke. I'm lucky that I'm coming back out of that. If I was thinking about

having another child at any time... The childcare costs alone because

there three times a mortgage price almost. I think the problem with

salaries of local Government, teachers, they haven't stayed in the

bracket of the increase of what the cost of living has. What about for

you? And struggling every year -- I am struggling every year. I have

three children. It's with the same for me at the end of the year. You

have to take out a loan, an overdraft. What do you do?

I can't really give my kids 100%. I have to struggle to make them happy.

You had to start telling stories, rosy stories. Is that for everyday

things? It they want something, and I don't

have the money, I have to tell the next week. Had you heard this

phrase, just about managing? Yes. Is that you? Yes. I feel blessed

sometimes though because I wouldn't be able to afford my house now. We

are managing, and if some people are worrying about how to feed their

children, food banks, it makes you think well, there is a whole world

is under this that struggling even more. We chose you because you are

all Jams. It's not just coincidence. You become more resource baubles the

big you want to go to the football, the cinema or music or the theatre,

you think yourself, how can I do it on the budget? You might think, can

I get half price tickets. Who is doing all right? You! MPs! You are

only jealous because I put a pickled onion! We have had no pay rises that

MPs have. All the scandals, the public scandals. It's at the top. I

asked you about that phrase, Jams. If you know you for certain who is,

don't say. Do you know who earns more? Who said that phrase?

Churchill. Jeremy Corbyn. If it was him I would be pleased. Theresa May.

Theresa May. Isn't that interesting. She said that these were the people

she wanted to help. Really? Who does she think they are? Talk is cheap,

she'll sit round this dinner table with her cronies and they will tell

you that they are just about managing with their two houses in

their 160 grand cars that we are paying for! Why are they taking the

school dinners away then? That's contradicting yourself there, isn't

it? It seems like a race to the bottom in so many areas. I got a

friend who is an super taxi driver. I got a friend who is

an uber taxi driver. The tax system discourages people

from working because the more you work, the more they tax. When I sit

down in my house, some people are ready to work but when you think

about it, the tax doesn't feel fair. It doesn't feel fair. They should be

in courage in people to work. If you want people to work, relax the tax.

If you are trying to balance the books each month, do the right

thing, working 55-60 hours per week, all of a sudden, you are worse off.

It doesn't make sense. It's like quicksand. The more you try, the

harder it is to make ends meet. You hearing anything from any of the

leaders that makes you think, they kind of get it. -- are you hearing

anything from any of the leaders? I think the nationalisation of

railways by Jeremy Corbyn is something good. Every year, the

fares have been going up, I can't get a seat and sometimes you

couldn't even get on your train, in my head I used to think, I just want

this nationalised, and then it got privatised and it has gone down

since. He reminds me of a normal person. He would sit around this

table with us. I couldn't see myself eating fish and chips with Theresa

May but I could with Jeremy Corbyn. I could say to him, here is my

spreadsheet. I would ask him how he could help me. I think his demeanour

tells me that he would ask us how we wanted things to be, so if Labour

came back in, I think for a start doing a might start asking a bit

more. I don't think he has leadership credentials. I can't put

my finger on it. Don't you admire his honesty though? He is on his. He

lives by a lot of the things he believes in. Whether he's a good

leader is another matter, but he lives by what he believes. Is that

the rights... Is that the test you set for a Prime Minister? It needs

to be somebody you can relate to, warm up to and believe what they are

selling you. It's like a sales pitch, who are you going to go for?

I believe him but I felt let down by Brexit, I felt like he hid, he

disappeared. What have you heard from Corbyn so far under the

nationalisation of the railways? Jewish and fees. Except -- tuition

fees, although it seemed unbelievable by September that you

could get through it. That would be good. I got three children, three

girls. They all want to go to college. The fees are so high that

are not in a position that I could help them as much as I want to. Do

you think he can do it? I hope so. It's like I say, you vote for them

and you can never tell. I think mathematically it is possible my

only problem is that in order to do that, does that mean that the

student loans are going to go up so that cost of paying it back is going

to go up? It's taken me a while to pay that back, so I'm wondering if

you're going to subsidise in one area, if you reduce somewhere then

something else has to increase. I would like for the NHS to get back

to normal, giving nurses a chance. Page in the NHS? Yes. Nurses are not

being appreciated. They need a pay rise? Yes. I think the police, with

the climate, we need more police. Who is more honest with you? It's

looking like Jeremy to be honest. I won't lie, I liked Theresa May at

first, in terms of the iron fist of Margaret Thatcher although she

destroyed everything... I tend to gear towards strong people and I did

like Teresa at first, but there are too many things that make me think,

you called this election, why did you do that? What about promises

that the Tories have made to help you out? Everything she says puts me

off further and further. They are going through the best for Britain

with the negotiations Brexit, but we don't know. She's been singing the

immigration song for many years. Nothing personally? Capping the

price of energy? We've heard that before. We've been hearing that for

years. Petrol is going to be capped... It never does. I like the

idea, obviously. It sounds good but is it going to happen? That's one of

the more obvious points you can rule out. Anyone with half a brain cell

would know that we're talking about private companies. Since when did

anything work telling private companies what to do. It's never

worked. The rail system, it hasn't worked. The Government have tried

and tried and tried to intervene but they are private company so they've

failed. Has anybody not voted Labour? I wish I had. I've always

voted Labour. Corbyn is not really for me, massively.

It's the policies, uncle between the two. We vote every four years, we

should be voting every 14 years, by the time we look at education again,

we have to get the people out, the policy in, by the time you're done,

the four years is up. You vote for Cameron, you don't like Corbyn. You

don't mind him? And thinking of voting Labour. The change of

policies. How much will they try and pull over people's eyes. What will

tomorrow's story be? They keep changing on a daily basis. Who

things Jeremy Corbyn will be our next Prime Minister? I'd like to

hope... Nobody said yes. I think it will be closer than people think.

I'll bet you this pickled onion. I hope we go into a coalition with

Labour leading. Kettings Theresa May will win? I think she will win. I

I think she will, I don't want her to though.

When Theresa May came in, I thought Girl Power. I thought she was on the

money, but for me now, it's a trust issue. She's done a lot of

backtracking. Can I trust the? She's lied about the snap election. Then

she turns around, can you trust someone like that? You need someone

around you to advise you before you speak? Are they sitting down before

they make these announcements? What's the general thinking? That is

what I would like to know. It is enough to change your mind? I was

sitting on the fence, but now I think I know exactly what I'm going

to do. It is another bad story would you change your mind again? I was

genuinely sitting on the fence for a while, but now I'm 100% aware of

what I'm going to do. Which is? I'm not telling. What words would you

apply to Theresa May? I don't think she's stable. Flaky. Rattled! And

trustworthy. Professional. When I look John Major, everyone

slated him. But I think Theresa May's the company 's best interest

that heart. -- countries best interests at heart. I think she has

been found out though. I see your point though, I've never looked at

it like before. She's not particularly flash. Do you mean that

as a compliment? Not a big flashy PR machine. Not like Boris Johnson. If

he was there, forget it. Not for me. I think she's straight down the

line. I think she knows what she wants. And for me, that's going a

long way. I worked in the police when she was Home Secretary, and she

just used to push things through. She was stick to things and that

scares me. Will that make her rigour tough that I shed a? No. It may be

good for Brexit, but in other aspects, she could be a bit softer,

things like the NHS, see the bigger picture rather than just her road

map for success. One last question. A lot of you like Jeremy Corbyn. Is

there anything that makes you worry about him? Not really. The only grey

area with him and the Labour Party is they just have to get their maths

right. I'm not talking about the Diane Abbott thing, I'm talking

about in general. If you are going to see what you are going to say

then you need to demonstrate where this will come from and how you

think you will get this back. You need to know the numbers? That's all

it is. Will he get the Brexit deal right for us if he goes into power?

Why might he not? I felt like he disappeared when it was kicking off

he disappeared. There was nothing to see that he was pitting his backing

to it. He wasn't there for me. Will Theresa May be goods in most Brexit

negotiations? She's doing her best but she's stubborn. One or two

words, not sentences. Maverick. Friendly. Honest. Genuine. Trusting.

Perfect! Gut feeling. That's what you feel good about. Very good.

Thank you all very much for being here. Time to finish off the pickled

onion. That's all from the