Lifelong Tory voter says she’s supporting Labour after horror hospital go to

A lifelong Tory voter has told Keir Starmer she’s supporting Labour for the first time ever after a horror hospital visit.

Mandy Snelgrove, a 77-year-old former business owner, said the Conservative government under Rishi Sunak was a “big mess”. She met the Labour leader and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall on Tuesday as they visited the Bridge Cafe cafe in Bolton in Greater Manchester.

Ms Kendall urged pensioners to look at their wallets and “vote this rabble out”. She warned that the chaos inflicted by the Tories over 14 years in power is ruining the quality of retirement.

In an interview with the Mirror, she described the Conservatives’ attempts to woo pensioners ahead of the General Election as a “total joke”. Last week Mr Sunak unveiled a “triple lock plus” to raise the tax-free pension allowance.

But Ms Kendall said: “This is the party that has increased the tax burden to the highest rate for 70 years,” she added. This a Tory party, whose cost-of-living crisis has hit pensioners hard. So forgive me for putting that policy in the bin with the rest of the Tories’ promises, where it belongs”.

Ms Snelgove, who sat down with the Labour leader, said she had symptoms of acute diverticulitis disease – a digestive condition affecting the intestine. She waited 12 hours at a hospital in September last year – before being sent back home at 2am without being seen.

The pensioner returned the next day and waited for another six hours without being seen. “They finally sent for me in December – four months later,” she added. Ms Snelgove, who said the NHS was one of the reasons she would now vote Labour, told The Mirror: “My father voted Conservative so I voted Conservative all my life.”

The former business owner also praised one of her friends who campaigned for the party and who helped get her access disability payments and a Blue Badge.

Asked by The Mirror what she thought of the current government, Ms Snelgrove replied: “It’s a bit of a mess, if I can say that. It’s a bit of a big mess.” But she said Mr Starmer was “lovely”, jokingly adding: “He’s more handsome today than I thought. I think he’s a very, very nice man.”

Pam Dyal, 81, a former social worker who is backing Labour at the General Election, also said: “I believe we’ve got the right values, the right ideas, and I think we’ve had a corrupt government – certainly for the last four years.” She said she was “amazed” at “how relaxed and easy” Mr Starmer appeared – just hours before his ITV head-to-head debate with Rishi Sunak.

Ms Kendall, who could become the Work and Pensions Secretary next month if Labour win the election, said retirees were worried about the cost of living. She said: “They’ve seen their fuel, gas and electricity bills go up. They are worried about what’s going to happen to their pension in the future.

“They’ve seen all the chaos under the Tories. They are really worried about the NHS. I spoke to one gentleman who said he was in A&E for seven hours with pneumonia.”

Ms Kendall also said pensioners were concerned about their families and were “pitching in to try and help” their children and grandchildren with the soaring cost of childcare. And according to a Labour analysis, the housing crisis also means more retirees are renting than ever before. Ms Kendall added: “Our message to pensioners is if you want change, vote this rabble out and Labour will get that economic stability, protect your pension, cut NHS waiting times, and build more affordable homes.”