The leader of the opposition visited a Milton Keynes community centre in Bletchley today, where residents opened up about hardships in the face of the living cost crisis.

Over a thousand people have died from Covid in Bucks to date and many died while No 10 Downing Street hosted lockdown parties.

Mr Starmer said: “No, I don’t trust him [Boris Johnson].

“When the Prime Minister breaks the rules and then is not straight about the fact he has broken them, a lot of people in Buckinghamshire and elsewhere will say 'hang on, this is just not on, we’re not fools and we’re not going to be taken for fools'.

 

“But I am well aware that just because people are losing trust in the Prime Minister, and they are, it doesn’t automatically mean voters here will say ‘we will now vote Labour’.

“I have to earn every vote and their trust.”

A regular customer at the centre, which doubles as a food bank and has PCs for those without, told Mr Starmer he doesn’t like any MPs.

“But it’s nothing against you personally, whether Conservative, Labour or Lib Dem or whatever, I don’t like them.”

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While majority of services shut down during the lockdown measures to curb the pandemic, the Frank Moran Centre stayed open.

Mr Starmer saw where elderly come for coffee and chats and he outlined Labour’s actions to fight the deep cost of living crisis, including help with energy bills.

Commenting on Mr Johnson’s behaviour when asked to come clean about the lockdown parties, Mr Starmer said: “The Prime Minister is trying to drag everybody down I think and that’s very bad for our country and democracy.”

He expressed sympathy with bereaved citizens who lost loved ones in the pandemic: “The emotions I’ve come across are anger at the Prime Minister. And grief.

“I think there is also guilt. People feel ‘why on Earth I obeyed the rules and didn’t go see my elderly mother or father and help them out when I felt I should have done that but I was trying to comply with the rules’.”

Mr Starmer's Milton Keynes visit came amid rising consumer costs and announcement of Chancellor Rishi Sunak's plans to help households through a 50 per cent energy bill increase. 

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