After weeks of anticipation, the UK takes to the polls in the first winter general election since 1923.

Undeterred by the losses of his predecessor in the 2017 vote, Boris Johnson called for another general election just over six weeks ago in order to fast forward his "oven-ready" plan to take the UK out of the EU before the end of the year.

Despite public complaints of Brexit dominating the news since the EU referendum back in 2016, many voters were more than willing to share their views on the upcoming election on the streets of Basingstoke.

Pictured: Samantha McLaren inside her Christmas stall.

Basingstoke Gazette:
Samantha McLaren, 64, voted Labour to support her local candidate rather than the party, stating “I voted for my local MP, who happens to be a labour MP, but that is because she is just a good constituency MP. If she’d been with any other party, I still would have voted for her.”

Many people like Ian Miles, 70, from Basingstoke are still undecided about which way they are going to vote. But he did say that he won’t be voting Labour because “he [Jeremy Corbyn] sympathised with the IRA. If he gets in it’ll ruin the country.”

It’s not just voters who are anxious about the election. As a Liberal Democrat supporter, Sam Johnstone, 16, argues that “they’re all making promises that they can’t keep at the moment” with the Liberal Democrats being the only party that are trying to keep the country afloat.  

The final YouGov opinion poll before the election shows the Conservatives nine points ahead with 43% of the vote share nationally, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats trail on 34% and 12%, respectively.

Roddy Owen, 79, from Basingstoke, said that he was voting Conservative because of Corbyn’s unrealistic manifesto. “He’s probably got a forest out in Epping growing trees with money on them”

Basingstoke Gazette:

Pictured: Eileen Ross (left) and her daughter Fiona Everett (right).

Eileen Ross, 81, from Basingstoke, said “the Labour manifesto is totally unrealistic. Where is he getting all this money from? We will be paying it back for years, and to nationalise everything all in one go will make the country bankrupt.”

Her daughter, Fiona Everett, 53, from Dogmersfield thinks the election will come down to Brexit, stating “I think this election tomorrow is like another referendum. I think if you wanted to Leave you’d vote Conservative and if you wanted to Remain you’d vote Labour or Liberal Democrats. So, I don’t this this is a true election really.”