The people of the Camborne and Redruth constituency are disenchanted with politics.

It’s plain to see from chatting to people in the area that they’re sick of all the scandal, the back-biting and politicians’ cult of celebrity. They want change.

However, many of the people I spoke to, while getting a taste of how election day will go on Thursday, still aren’t sure which party they feel will change politics, but the strong sense is that the red will be put back into Redruth as well as Hayle, Camborne, Perranporth, Mabe, Mawnan Smith and Stithians.

The latest stats according to UK Polling Report – which provides non-partisan coverage of the polling industry – suggest a Labour gain. It predicts the party’s candidate Perran Moon getting 43.28 per cent of the vote share compared to Conservative candidate Connor Donnithorne’s 29.96 per cent.

Reform UK’s Roger Tarrant is predicted 14.2 per cent, Liberal Democrats’ Thalia Marrington 6.78 per cent, the Green Party’s Cath Hayes 5.78 per cent with the Liberal Party’s Paul Holmes on less than one per cent.

The constituency has had a chequered past of colours. Incumbent Tory MP and former environment secretary George Eustice, who retires on July 4, has been the area’s MP since 2010. Historically – when the constituency’s border included Falmouth – it was a strong Labour seat through the ’50s and ’60s until popular Conservative MP David Mudd won in 1970, handing over to Olympic athlete Sebastian Coe in 1992. Seb Coe … that seems like a strange fever dream now.

Cornwall’s last Labour MP, the late Candy Atherton, saw the area go red again in 1997, before Julia Goldsworthy won it for the Lib Dems between 2005 and 2010. All of which means the seat could be anyone’s. Though from visiting the constituency, talking to people and playing the poster game, the amount of red support would suggest the polls are correct and Labour’s Perran Moon will win.

Redruth, like towns not just in Cornwall but across Britain, has the dichotomy of a dying town centre but a hardy community who are doing all they can to reinvent what the “high street” actually means. Unlike other towns, Redruth used to be the richest on the planet and that mining heritage casts a long shadow; a shadow which is being redrawn, quite literally, by a strong artistic contingent.

With groups like Redruth Revival and arts organisations such as Back Lane West, CMR and The Ladder, the town is in the throes of being rejuvenated, but there is no denying times are tough. People definitely have a peculiar problem here too – more than one person mentioned there are too many barbers to the detriment of other businesses. Maybe people in ‘druth are particularly hairy.

The first person I spoke to on Fore Street was Linda Aston, who has already voted Labour by post. She told me: “I’ve always voted Labour, though I was tempted by the Liberal Democrat woman. I read all the leaflets. The Labour candidate, Perran Moon, seems like an alright guy. Hopefully, he’ll get in.”

What are the local issues which Linda thinks need improving by whoever gets in? “You just have to look around, don’t you? My bank’s gone. There’s nothing here. There’s another barber – there are barbers everywhere in Redruth now. You see an empty shop being done up and get hopeful and ‘oh, not another barber’s shop’.”

Does Linda think Labour can lift things then? “I doubt it. Like a lot of people, I’ve just lost hope. You try to get a doctor’s appointment – you can’t even ring up for a doctor now. I’ve just given up. It’s not just Cornwall, the whole country’s gone to pot really.”

Kevin Carpenter, from Gwennap, who had popped into Redruth, was unsure who to vote for. “I feel sorry for the youth. How can they get on the housing ladder? I’ve got friends who have worked in the area for 20 years and can’t get a property, when others who aren’t from the area are given houses straight away. It’s not fair.

“Labour and Conservative are the most likely to get in and they’re not much different in their policies. They say one thing and never do it anyway. Like fishermen down here – ‘we’re going to do this for you in Europe’ then they let the European fleets catch as many fish, no quotas, no nothing for five years. They got that vote from all the Cornish fishermen and then didn’t do it. That’s disgusting.”

A young man, who didn’t want to be named, said he was indecisive and he wasn’t going to vote as “we usually get let down”. That was a common thread. A woman in Fore Street said she would vote for “anybody but Labour because I don’t like him (Keir Starmer), I don’t like his attitude. I always voted Lib Dem but then we changed to Conservative, but I don’t know this time. If I vote for Lib Dem, who I’d like to, it’s almost making a vote for Labour. We just need the area to get back to how it was.”

Kev Downing, who runs one of the South West’s best record shops, Lucky’s Record Bar, will be voting Labour. “I think for this area it’s the only vote that will work.” Tricia Burgess agreed with him. She usually votes Conservative but won’t at this election following Rishi Sunak’s “faux pas on D-Day”.

“He’s obviously very clever but he doesn’t come over as very sincere to me. I’ll vote Labour now. I’m not really so much into Keir Starmer but we need to go back to Labour for a bit.

“I moved to Redruth in 1997. It was a lot more prosperous then. This place was buzzing with people and shops, and now it’s all closing down. They’re not even reopening the post office. It’s dying a slow death here. There are about four or five barbers here now – there doesn’t seem to be any intelligence at the hub of who’s running this town and it’s annoying.”

Artists Yvonne Dean, from Carharrack, and Phil Kincaid, from Redruth, were working at the Mining Exchange Studios, which is based in a former bank on Fore Street and is home to 60 local makers and studios.

Yvonne told me: “My politics are green and the only party which is talking about it is the Liberals and I don’t like him (candidate Paul Holmes) but I shall have to vote Liberal. My husband met Perran Moon and said he was a really nice person.”

Phil added: “For me, the politics we get shown is all about celebrity, notoriety, scandal and screaming and shouting, rather than actually getting on with the job. People are disenchanted by that and they won’t vote for Rishi because of the scandal. It’s getting through that stupidity of it all.”

Pointing to the front of Mining Exchange Studios, he said: “This place here is the point – it’s about people, diversity and inclusion, and just taking care of each other. No politics involved, no judgement.”

Tony and Liz O’Rourke were packing up at their Wooden Box café at the bottom of the town centre. The business has closed due to a lack of footfall, though they will be running their popular community events, including a grief café, at various locations in the area.

Liz said: “I’d vote Labour wherever we were. You cannot continue to have a Conservative government. People have to have a change and this should be a Labour county. In this area we really need to focus on employment, health and education, which are all major issues.

“I’m not a massive Keir Starmer fan, I’m a Corbynite, but I really like Perran Moon. He knows the area and understands what people are asking for. I think we should end up with a really good MP. As much as I want a Labour government, I want somebody who’s going to do something for the area and I think he will.”

‘Craftivist’ Sara Clasper runs Make A Mends next door and is particularly interested in local politics. She’s been to three hustings in the area, where she presented the candidates with hankies, brooches and badges which say ‘nature first’ and ‘climate first’.

“The Green Party’s Cath Hayes is brilliant,” said Sara. “She was so eloquent, calm, knew the issues. The climate is not getting discussed – the economy and NHS is nothing without the climate, is it?

“I’m being told by a lot of people, ‘you’ve got to vote Labour to get the Conservatives out’ and I’ve got to go quiet with certain people who want to get Perran Moon in. I agree, I don’t want Connor Donnithorne to take charge as he didn’t come across as terribly sensitive. It’s as if the Tories don’t know what they’ve been doing for the last 14 years. ‘We’re going to do this and we’re going to do that’ – why haven’t you done it then? So I will vote Green as I have to go with my heart rather than tactically voting.”

I then made the short drive to Portreath. The seaside village has its own problems – a high rate of second homes and holiday lets, expensive rents and a shocking sewage record which is legal but shouldn’t be.

Like a few people in the area I spoke to, retired nurse Sue Kenward is a traditional Tory voter, but this time her X is going next to Labour. “Rishi Sunak hasn’t done what he said he was going to do,” she said. “I’ve always voted Conservative and I really thought things would change, but nothing’s changed. We’re all affected by having no money in this area. I hate to see how the NHS is going. People in corridors, even at Treliske.

“Housing is a real issue. Landlords are evicting people to make way for Airbnbs and then the new landlord is putting rent up from £750 a week to £1,250 a week. Our kids are never going to get on the housing ladder. My daughter pays £1,000 a month rent and there’s only her and she thinks her landlord will put the rent up. She’s living on the breadline now.”

Perhaps surprisingly for someone who is only 20, surfer Jamie Luther is erring towards Reform UK “as the best option which makes sense financially, with the tax”. Nigel Farage’s party would raise the minimum income tax threshold from £12,571 to £20,000, exempting six million people from having to pay income tax.

However, he added: “Everyone’s got their downfalls so I don’t really know. I haven’t really made up my mind yet.”

A walk around the harbour and there’s no surprise who Mark O’Neill is voting for. Labour flags and posters festoon his property. Why Labour? “Because of 14 years of incompetence and an untrustworthy government. I’m hoping Perran will do the job correctly. I’ve always been a believer in looking into your individual candidate rather than just voting for the party and he’s far and away the best choice for Portreath.

“You see far more posters in windows for Labour around here than for the others. I’ve been to one hustings in Camborne and Perran Moon seemed to be far and away the most competent.”

Mark added: “The local issues are the national issues, so the economy and the fact we need to spend money on infrastructure, the NHS and defence, and we haven’t got the money because we’ve had no growth for so long.

“Sewage is a very big thing here. We’ve had six months of the overflow running – they pump the sewage from a tank in Portreath up towards Camborne and when the pump can’t cope it gets pumped out into the sea over there,” he said, pointing beyond the Dead Man’s Hut at the entrance to the harbour. “Since last November it ran 171 out of 173 days. The law says they can do it exceptionally but it’s not exactly exceptional. It’s every day. It’s probably a climate change issue really as the system can’t cope with the rain. It needs a massive rethink.”

Strolling around the harbour were Tim Penaluna and David Shields, who were taking a break from all things political. Tim hasn’t made up his mind yet. “I’ll have a word with her indoors and she’ll tell me how to vote.”

David is another of those lifelong Conservative supporters who is heading towards Labour this time because “I just want a change”. Tim, who works for Falmouth harbour, said his main concern was the amount of s*** in the sea. “It’s getting worse.”

Will it get better? Hopefully, whoever is voted in on Thursday will ensure things improve.