Voters for a new seat in south London have claimed they have ‘no confidence’ in the Labour or Conservative parties, with some putting their support behind Reform UK instead.

Eltham and Chislehurst represent a new constituency in south London to be contested in the July 4 General Election.

The key area stretches from south Woolwich in Greenwich borough all the way down to just above Petts Wood in Bromley.

The new seat combines the two former constituencies of Eltham as well as Bromley and Chislehurst.

With the Labour Party predicted to require a swing of only 3.37 per cent to claim the seat, the area represents a key battleground in the race between the two major parties.

Rhys Kimble, 19, has lived in Chislehurst his whole life.

He said that while he has not decided which party he will vote for yet, he has been put off by the Conservatives after feeling they have not done enough to support local businesses, with inflation also going ‘through the roof’.

Mr Kimble said: “I’m not a fan of Rishi Sunak personally, so that diverts me from the Conservatives.

"I study economics, so if I look at it from an economic standpoint I’m not a fan of what he’s doing personally.

"I just don’t think there’s a whole lot of output coming from the UK, especially from the Conservatives, there’s been nothing really in the past 10 years.”

The local added that he often hears peers in the pub telling others to vote for Reform UK.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage announced on June 3 that he would be taking over as the new leader of the Reform UK party.

He also confirmed that he would be standing as a candidate in Clacton, Essex.

Bob Matthews, 80, has lived in Falconwood for over 30 years.

The local said he has become disillusioned with the main political parties and that he and his friends are all considering voting for Reform UK, calling Nigel Farage a ‘man of his word’.

Mr Matthews said: “I’ve got no confidence in either group, so I won’t be backing either one. If Farage stands, I’ll definitely back him because of what he says he wants to do. Whether he does it is another thing but to me, he talks sense. I’ve got no confidence in the other two.”

He added: “[The Conservatives] have never kept their promises and the other one, Labour, I don’t think anybody’s got confidence in them.

"They will just go for it because they are fed up of the Conservatives being in, that’s the only reason.”

Gail, who did not wish to give her surname, said she had lived in Eltham for 40 years and felt Rishi Sunak was out of touch with people who may struggle to make ends meet.

She added that the current Conservative government had not done enough to support local businesses on high streets such as Eltham.

She said: “Everything’s closing down. I think everything has gone up. Rates and everything, they’re just going up and it’s pricing people out.”

She added: “I just know that I don’t want to vote Conservative because they’re not helping. It seems like they’re helping people who have got money and the places where they have got money. But what about the people who haven’t got anything? It’s not fair.”

The local said the area also suffers from anti-social behaviour such as teenagers smashing windows and motorcycles regularly blocking the road.

Data from the Met’s Eltham Town and Avery Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team showed that 63 crimes were committed on Eltham High Street and its surrounding roads in January this year. This included 18 cases of anti-social behaviour.

The resident said she feels the problem stems from a lack of authority among parents and schools nowadays.

However, she does not think the Conservative Party’s plan to reintroduce National Service will work to resolve the issue.

She said: “They need to sort out knife crime. It’s disgusting. I know myself because my younger daughter’s boyfriend got killed in his own flat… If they brought in a law saying if you get caught carrying a knife, not using it but caught carrying it, then you do eight years, that would stop people carrying them.”

She added: “The discipline is out the window. I think it’s too little too late for them all of a sudden to say 18-year-olds have got to go serve their communities.

"All the 18-year-olds that you’ve got around this borough are smoking weed. I personally can’t stand the smell of it. It’s everywhere, you get on a bus and you can smell it.”

Peter Howcroft, 62, said he feels the political parties in the UK need to sort their conduct out before any other major issues are tackled.

He said he felt people had lost faith in the Labour Party after Tony Blair’s decision to support the invasion of Iraq, but that he was also frustrated by the quick succession of changing Conservative Party leaders in recent years.

Mr Howcroft said: “They can’t keep anyone in power for five minutes, they keep sacking people to get someone else who’s probably better because they’ve made previous mistakes. That’s not a way to build a country, no one’s got any confidence if you keep sacking people.”

He added: “It’s the lesser of the two evils. At the end of the day, I may still vote Conservative despite the fact I don’t like them. I think voting is important.”

The former Eltham seat was won by Labour MP Clive Efford in 2019 by 3,197 votes.

The old Bromley and Chislehurst constituency was served by Conservative MP Bob Neill since 2006, winning the 2019 election by 10,891 votes.