UK opposition woo 'Stevenage woman' to nail victory at polls

"Mondeo man" -- a social type named after a popular Ford car -- helped Tony Blair win the 1997 British general election. "Workington man" did the same for Boris Johnson in 2019. Now the UK's main opposition leader Keir Starmer is hoping "Stevenage woman" will propel him to power.

This archetypal working mother in her early 40s in a commuter town north of London worried about the cost of living and Britain's creaking public services, is the all-important floating voter, according to Starmer's Labour Party strategists.

The party believes winning women like her over is critical to Starmer securing the keys to 10 Downing Street after 14 years of Conservative rule.

Experts caution, however, that the UK electorate has become increasingly fragmented in recent years, with voters less likely to fall neatly into categories.

Mother-of-three Irene, who works in accounting in the Hertfordshire town, said she was indeed a floating voter but only partly recognised herself in the "Stevenage woman" stereotype.

"Keir Starmer? I don't really like him -- he's not very effective," she told AFP, preferring not to give her full name.

As for super-rich Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, she didn't think he could "understand what the average person is going through on the cost of living".

Stevenage, a town of 94,000 people around 45 kilometres (27 miles) north of London, is seen as a bellwether seat.

It was held by the Conservatives during the years when Margaret Thatcher and John Major were in power before going to Labour under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

- 'Volatile' -

The Conservatives reclaimed it in 2010 and held it in 2019 with a majority of around 8,500.

Although Irene said she had not been badly hit by the UK's economic woes, the decline in policing and the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) was a big concern for her, as was Gaza.

She said she wouldn't be giving either of the two main parties her vote and would instead decide between the smaller opposition Lib Dems and Greens.

"I have a son who is an asthmatic and I fear the day there is no ambulance. That is terrifying," she said.

"Also I don't think that if something happened the police would turn up. The whole thing has gone utterly downhill."

Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said each election threw up at least one of these stereotypical voter types.

But he said they were in fact of limited use to politicians, especially as the electorate had become "much more volatile".

"Very occasionally, they have some merit, but often they don't. For the most part, these groups behave pretty much like the rest of the population," he added.

"The old split between the bulk of aligned voters and a small number of floating voters is no longer so valid."

Undecided Amie Matthews, a 24-year-old mother of two children under three, said she would vote for one of the two main parties, her main concerns being housing and education.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get a mortgage in my life because I can never save up for one and it's a lot harder now to be approved," said the former children's special needs worker.

- Voting 'headache' -

Starmer may be leading in the polls, with some predicting a landslide victory, but voter apathy could still pose a problem.

"I just don't get involved in politics, it's just more headache and stress, so I don't vote," said Anna Monareng, 39, a dental nurse with two children.

Another Stevenage mother, Sarahjane Cotton, 33, said she wouldn't vote because she didn't understand it and "there's no point".

Her main worries were the threat under Sunak's Conservatives to reduce certain benefit payments for mental health conditions.

Dealing with the cost of living was also an ongoing struggle, the former care worker said.

Jane Green, president of the British Polling Council, said "Stevenage woman" was the latest in a long line of monikers aimed at helping parties focus on winnable votes.

"Mondeo man" singled out by Blair's campaign team was typically middle class and the owner of a Ford Mondeo car.

"Workington man", from the coastal town in northwestern England, was a white, working-class Brexiteer who enjoyed rugby league.

But polling expert Green said even if they were a little cartoonish, they could still be helpful in pinpointing people "on the cusp, almost as likely to vote Labour as they are Conservative... the quintessential people who might decide the election.

"They are the places you watch out for on (election) night and say, 'Ah -- we're there.'"