00:00:00.320Hello, I'm Josh and I'm here in Makerfield. This is election day and I've been here for a full week
00:00:06.560now and I suppose I'm going to walk through my overall impressions from this week I've been here
00:00:11.600because it's been a bit of a mixed bag. Today my experience was that we had a sheet where we were
00:00:19.280knocking on doors of people who were either considering to vote for us or had agreed to vote
00:00:23.920for us and some of them had even said they were voting Labour which was a little bit confusing
00:00:28.640because you wouldn't think that would be the case it could just be a case of someone recording bad
00:00:33.200data when they're around around canvassing but it's a little bit demoralizing but on the other
00:00:39.040hand i've spoke to some other people who've had some great results one household with four votes
00:00:44.240entire streets voting for restore and so it's been really interesting and it's to the point now
00:00:49.920where i think that there's the promise of a pretty decent result and i think that
00:00:54.320it might not be the case that Labour are going to lose because I think that their on the ground game
00:01:02.260was very strong here and I hardly saw any reform canvases where I was today and yet I saw maybe
00:01:10.14050 or 60 Labour canvases and so it seems like they've really mobilised people being close to
00:01:16.480Manchester, Andy Burnham being the Mayor of Manchester and being close to so many Labour
00:01:21.180areas I think has paid off for them and so they've had lots of volunteers and I think that it's the
00:01:26.860case that these these Labour voters around here have really been mobilised in a way that reform
00:01:35.660has not and so I think there's going to be a bit of a difference there between both reform and
00:01:41.120Labour but my guess would be in my experience here on the outset of you know knowing the results my
00:01:49.520prediction is that it's probably going to be Burnham winning reform with a
00:01:54.200sizeable proportion and maybe restore third but I think that the point for
00:02:00.920restore and what they want to be doing here is that they're going to be getting
00:02:05.240a good showing double digits I think would be a real achievement I think
00:02:10.160that it'll prove that the party has the ability to turn people out for the
00:02:14.540election and that's something that I think is a very good thing for them because they've only
00:02:22.060been around for a short while and so if they get over 10% then that shows that they can actually
00:02:27.080turn what has been described as an online echo chamber into real electoral power and the fact
00:02:33.540that what happened in Great Yarmouth where they won 10 out of 10 elections isn't just a one-off
00:02:38.580and that they can actually influence national elections and so that's the interesting thing
00:02:43.480as well as the fact that Andy Burnham may well get in and challenge Keir Starmer's leadership.
00:02:48.600And so my overall impression is that it's a little bit difficult to predict Restore's
00:02:54.440percentage, but I think that looking at the number of Labour signs everywhere, the enthusiasm for
00:03:01.400Labour here, and the fact that they're able to turn out so many people on the ground suggests
00:03:07.000that they're going to do quite well and I would be surprised if they lost but I don't think that
00:03:13.640was necessarily a surprise either because it's one of those constituencies that's always been
00:03:18.840a strong Labour vote and so that is my overall impression. So by the way it is a Thursday night
00:03:25.080is about a quarter past six and we've already got people vomiting behind me in the pub behind
00:03:29.960And if that gives you an idea of the kind of area we're in, I suppose that's something.
00:03:37.460But actually, the people here have been very nice.
00:03:40.640I had a case where a reform voter took pity on me.
00:03:45.840He's like, it's a really hot day here.
00:03:47.440I'll give you a can of iron brew so you're not thirsty.
00:03:50.760And so people are generally quite nice.
00:03:52.460I've had lots of nice chats with people.
00:03:54.680And even some of the Labour canvassers stopped and had a chat.
00:03:57.120had a moment earlier on today where Rupert came along and joined us and he had a sort of very
00:04:03.080pleasant chat with an older Labour canvasser and she was saying how she appreciated how he was
00:04:09.220willing to just talk to her civilly and Rupert was saying oh well you know we're British we've
00:04:13.880got to be civil to people even if we disagree and there are even people accosting us in the street
00:04:20.560when they found out we were restored but you know it's actually quite rare and people have been on
00:04:26.780on the whole very friendly here which is quite something because you know you'd think in an area
00:04:32.440with a high percentage of Labour voters you might face some hostility and although I've had maybe
00:04:38.080one or two doors slammed in my face no one's been rude no one's sworn at me at least when I've been
00:04:44.400knocking on their door although I think one thing that has been overlooked by a lot of parties is
00:04:49.700that people have been a little bit oversaturated with canvassing and leaflets there was one woman
00:04:56.520who was telling me that I think I'm going to vote restore but I'm almost thinking I'm not going to
00:05:00.900vote at all because I've had so many leaflets through my door that a small forest has been cut
00:05:05.760down just to provide them and had one woman saying that she'd had five people knock on her door in
00:05:12.440one day so I think if anything the people of Makerfield are going to be very glad very soon
00:05:18.000to stop having so much post and stop having so many annoying canvases knocking on their doors
00:05:22.960no matter the result and of course this is just a product of the fact that there aren't any other
00:05:29.300elections really going on and all of the party's attention is on here you've got reform restore
00:05:34.860and labor with a strong ground game and yeah it's sort of wound some people up but even so
00:05:42.420generally speaking people have been pretty warm hello i'm here with lewis brackpool you may
00:05:46.860recognize him he's featured on lotus seat as many times and of course he is the head of investigations
00:05:52.000at Restore Britain but he's also been on the doors a lot. How have you found it?
00:05:57.020Well it's good to see you Josh and also thank you very much for coming up and thanks for
00:06:00.540Lotus Eaters for coming up and covering this important by-election. Do you know what I'll be
00:06:05.840honest I've had a really fun week. It's been really fun to not just knock on doors but meet
00:06:11.120the people of Makerfield who are incredibly friendly. I've never been to this part of
00:06:15.180Manchester or Wigan before but it was also nice to see everyone and get together
00:06:21.480and to be knocking on doors and just to, you know, fight in this election.
00:06:26.120It's been fun. It's also been tough, to be totally honest with you.
00:06:31.160We're going into a Labour stronghold and you can really see the divide between, I'm going to say, classes.
00:06:38.200When you go to the middle class areas and places where you find that there's a lot of money,
00:06:43.760you find that the overwhelming people are supporting Burnham.
00:06:48.780You see a lot of Burnham signs everywhere.
00:06:50.340you get the odd reform signs but also you do find some restorers there too however it's
00:06:56.460predominantly Burnham but then when you go to the lower class areas or the areas where it's lower
00:07:02.840lower economic areas you do find that you have whole streets wanting to vote restore
00:07:08.480and it's a toss-up between that and reform so we've been pounding the doors for the week or
00:07:15.220week and a half because we spent a first weekend here up in Maconfield and we found that speaking
00:07:21.580to reform voters the biggest narrative that is being pushed on us is the split the vote
00:07:27.720narrative and I'm sure you've come in contact with that particular narrative too.
00:07:32.260My response has always been regardless of what happens in this election by 2029 Labour will
00:07:38.900still be in power so now is your prime opportunity to vote for someone who you actually believe
00:07:44.040and it's found to be working on the doors and a lot of reformers sit there and think
00:07:49.100yes you are actually correct. We've printed out these big leaflets which show the differentiation
00:07:55.120between restore and reform and you can make a little quiz and tick off the ones that you agree
00:07:59.880with and it shows the difference between reform and restore because there's a lot of chatter online
00:08:06.640to say that we're almost the same party which we're not. In fact reform are playing catch-up
00:08:11.700with a lot of our policies. I'm sure you found that as well, right?
00:08:16.260Yes. And in fact, I found it interesting that there's a lot of sympathy from people in reform to Restore.
00:08:24.180I've had maybe one person who was actually angry at Restore for splitting the vote.
00:08:31.320But most people sort of understand why the party exists and are sympathetic.
00:08:36.620In fact, I had a good instance where someone gave me a can of drink just to keep me going, even though they were a reformed voter and already voted.
00:08:47.760And, you know, there are people giving me words of encouragement saying, oh, you're doing a good job.
00:08:51.780I hope you do well and things like that. And so they're very sympathetic.
00:08:57.740there are reformers out there that would say I'm not going to vote for you this time but I will
00:09:04.480in 2029 because they feel that we're not ready in which we are ready and it's just dispelling
00:09:11.440that myth on the doors and speaking to people we found that that's been the case a couple of times
00:09:16.220which has been interesting we also had a an interesting lady on the door in a very strong
00:09:22.880hold Labour area where this woman had voted for Labour for most of her life and she originally
00:09:30.080believed that Burnham would somehow resurrect the old guard of the Labour Party all over again
00:09:35.520to which she then saw saw our leaflet on what we stood for things such as reversing mass migration
00:09:42.480the death penalty etc and she realised oh actually I quite like what you're saying and even though she
00:09:49.220said that she had voted Labour for most of her life, she then on the doors converted to being a
00:09:54.180restorer. So that was really fascinating and that was down to my good friend and esteemed colleague
00:10:00.120Harrison Pitt who made that pitch. So it's been a very very interesting week. It shows that people
00:10:07.700online especially from the reform side believe that we're going to get around sort of five percent
00:10:12.220because of that servation poll that came out from the Times and Farage as well posting that around
00:10:18.140along with their leaflets saying that we're on five percent I'm way way way more optimistic that
00:10:23.880we're in double figures sort of mid double figures I would if I was a betting man I'm not but if I
00:10:29.640was a betting man I would put it sort of mid double figures sort of 10 to 20. So one thing that I found
00:10:36.940interesting that you mentioned that I've also picked up on is the difference between the area
00:10:41.800you're canvassing in terms of social class whether it's more working class or middle class
00:10:47.500the middle class tends to show out a lot more for labour and the working class seems to be
00:10:53.660you know either reform or restore there's still some labour sprinkled in there
00:10:57.980what do you think is actually behind this difference? I think the betrayal from the
00:11:03.900political establishment the media who just see the working class as just rabble thugs as well
00:11:11.860painted by the media and very key issues that haven't had the electorate vote for such as mass
00:11:21.380immigration, housing etc have really contributed to these voters turning the other way from
00:11:28.680traditional Labour voting intentions. I mean who'd have thought that the middle class would be
00:11:34.940going for Labour in a by-election such as this, but the working class going for us new guys on
00:11:42.640the block. 30 years ago, you wouldn't have seen that, I wouldn't have thought, where, you know,
00:11:47.82097 Blair came in and a lot of people, especially the working class, were voting for a Labour
00:11:54.460government. But the betrayal from not just Labour, but Tories as well for their 14 years of reign,
00:12:00.220where nothing happened. They could have repealed legislation from the Tony Blair era,
00:12:04.940tenfold but they chose not to do it. So I do think that it's all down to betrayal.
00:12:10.580Issues such as mass immigration that the public were never asked and continue to
00:12:17.540never be asked and we're the only people outside of the establishment that will
00:12:22.260give them a voice. Thank you very much that was Lewis Brackpool head of
00:12:26.900investigations at Restore Britain and thank you very much for talking with me.
00:12:30.560thank you very much i'm here with sammy woodhouse who was the lead of the rape gang inquiry
00:12:38.560and first of all thank you very much for talking to me and the first thing i'd like to ask you is
00:12:45.520how are you feeling now that the report is finally out i'm very relieved that the report is out we
00:12:53.840started the inquiry about 15 months ago it's been a very long and difficult 15 months but
00:13:00.560You know, we've been doing a lot of hard work behind the scenes and we've been working with people that have never, ever been given the opportunity to tell their side of the stories.
00:13:10.680So for some of the survivors that we're working with, this moment is absolutely huge and it's been an absolute pleasure to be able to work with them.
00:13:18.720But our work is far from over. You know, this is only stage two.
00:13:22.380So back in February, we had our two week hearings, which was chaired by our barrister, Graeme Smith.
00:13:28.660and now the report's out, our next stages will be naming people involved in Parliament and then private prosecutions.
00:13:39.000And of course there were criticisms that there weren't any statutory implications
00:13:44.240but of course the report has to exist in the first place because the government has dragged its feet and delayed an inquiry
00:13:53.180and it's not the kind of thing that you need to delay really, it's something that needs immediate action
00:13:58.120And, of course, the fact that people are going to be named and there are going to be private prosecutions on the back of this shows that there is actually impact here beyond just showcasing the testimony of the victims, which is no small thing in and of itself,
00:14:16.200as well as providing novel descriptions of the phenomenon as well as giving recommendations that I've not seen in other reports looking at gang-based exploitation of children.
00:14:30.220And I wondered what would you say to the people who think that there is no new information here because I would argue that there's plenty there.
00:14:42.660Well, there has been plenty of evidence out there,
00:14:45.340but guess what, people have been ignoring it.
00:14:47.780Now, there is no information and evidence in our report,
00:14:51.040but let's just remember why this inquiry was set up in the first place,
00:14:55.540because you have Labour that allowed this to happen,
00:15:00.360you've got the Conservatives that did absolutely nothing,
00:15:03.080and then you've got Nigel Farage saying he were going to do an inquiry,
00:15:06.980then weren't, and that we should wait three years until
00:15:10.140and if he gets, you know, a reformed government.
00:15:40.140We've started legal action against authorities such as the police and social care to ensure that survivors do get compensation because their lives have just been absolutely torn apart.
00:15:57.700And we've also gathered damning amounts of evidence and files, which is a good job we did because, as we know, all those files are now starting to be erased.