I asked people in Birmingham who their favourite politician is & they didn’t all say the same thing

It would be fair to say that the political class in this country often don’t inspire adoration, and any politician worth their weight will always be divisive to some extent. I thought I’d ask people in Birmingham who their favourites are - if, indeed they have a favourite - and what they think politicians can do to better connect with the public.

Polls show that support for the government has been on a decline while political apathy has been rising. The idea that politicians are simply out of touch with voters is a popular belief. So I also asked our contributors - what can our political class in the UK do to engage voters?

Oliver says: “​​It’s quite hard to resonate with politicians right now since we have a two party system currently. Even they’re part of the Tory party and they’re doing what I would actively see as reducing my rights, or they’re part of the Labour Party, and they’re actively being criticised to distract from the Tory party actively taking away my rights. So it’s kind of hard to have a favourite politician when all we have is two parties that are kind of tearing the country apart.”

Aimee says: “I’m from Coventry - I commute to Birmingham for uni - but my favourite is Zarah Sultana, Because I see her out in the community.

“I work in local radio - and she’s been to the radio station Hills FM that I work at. And she’s really part of the community. And she’s getting involved.

“She’s recently been doing a bill about of free school meals. So she really cares about the community. And she seems a lot more real than some of the other politicians have seen. She’s Labour. And I kind of just think she’s just really involved with the community.”

Daryl says: “I don’t like any politicians at all. I haven’t got a favourite one. None!”

Aimee added: “I feel like if you actually saw a politician not just doing a photo op - if you actually saw them outside and about - that is the best. For example, Zarah Sultana - you see her out. And there’s a few of the ones I’ve seen in the news that are out with the community - like football stuff and stuff like that.

“You’ve seen them on BBC News, pictures of them, and it doesn’t look staged. You’ve seen pictures of Matt Hancock, and it looks very staged, whereas the ones that you’ve got of more involved politicians, they’re not just there for the money, they’re actually invested and interested.”