The depth of disappointment was evident in people across the length and breadth of the country over the past week, and that developed into anger as time went on. People say the Government is out of touch, but for some reason, it seems to be choosing to be out of touch and to walk away and not listen to ordinary, decent people. People can throw up all sorts of stories that some of the protesters were this, that and the other, but the fact of the matter is the vast majority of people who went out to voice their concerns were hard-working people with their tractors or buses. They are people we all know in all of our communities and whom our communities depend upon. When you are stuck, they are the ones you turn to. These are the people who were so disappointed with Government. This conflict started out in the Gulf when Israel and America bombed Iran and all of a sudden the price of oil went up across the world. Of course the Government cannot control that, but it can control the taxes it takes on it. It can do something to help people. People simply could not understand and still cannot understand why it took so long for the Government to realise it had to actually sit up and listen. It took people blockading the whole country, coming out on the streets, marching around pushing babies in prams and asking the Government to please listen to them because they were suffering and needed help. The Government refused to listen. We are now in a situation where the Government comes with these measures, which are too little, too late. That is what most people feel. The Government needs to recognise that because there is a huge sense of people being frustrated and annoyed but also deeply disappointed. The vast majority of people I met on those protests were people who voted for the Government parties, not for us. Those people are absolutely gutted and cannot understand why the Government chose to turn its back on them in this way. It not only chose to turn its back on them and not listen to them, but to insult them and say it would bring the Army out and clear them out of the way. That smacks of something so high-handed that the Government really needs to have a hard look at itself, at the leadership of both parties and at the Independents supporting it. We need to recognise that we have a distance to go, but the Government has not gone that distance and what it has done here is too little, too late.

Sentiment score: -0.10