While voters in Warwick North East look fondly on the concept of independent representation, area MP Mark Pettingill’s decision to quit the ruling party appeared to be poorly received by many.

The Royal Gazette visited constituency 25 to canvass on Mr Pettingill’s move this month to join Shawn Crockwell in quitting the One Bermuda Alliance ranks.

At Bo’s Lawn Equipment, a hardware store and popular area hangout, several shoppers aired views on Mr Pettingill’s latest step, likely to conclude with his political retirement.

“I’m upset that Mark’s given up on us like that,” said a female resident of Keith Hall Road.

“He was an MP that you saw. And if you told him to sort something out, he’d listen. I’m not voting for anybody any more. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

Top of her worries was the spread of the gang mentality among young people, with her son recently threatened by “boys from town” while riding his bike along Harbour Road.

“Stuff like that never used to happen in this parish,” she said, as a shop worker interjected: “Then take that up with your MP.”

“I don’t have one now,” she replied. “The day Mark went independent, the OBA should have said who they were running.”

In stepping down, Mr Pettingill cited political conflicts with his legal practice, also declaring himself at odds with the OBA on issues such as same-sex marriage.

The former United Bermuda Party MP for Warwick West, Mr Pettingill was prominent among breakaway founders of the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, which merged with the UBP to create the OBA.

He won constituency 25 in the 2012 General Election against Dale Butler of the Progressive Labour Party — whom the Bo’s cashier described as “the man you always saw”.

“I’m from Somerset but I’ve worked here eight years and it’s a great spot,” he added. “I love the people.”

“It’s a lovely area — it’s the people who aren’t from your neighbourhood that make the most noise,” one man agreed. “It’s like people that aren’t from Warwick come here to commit their crimes.”

A senior who stopped at Bo’s looked back fondly on the days before political parties.

“My personal philosophy is they should have independents like they did back in the day,” he said. “In parties it’s like a culture. They have to be silent on this or that. If one is an independent runner, you’re accountable for your actions.”

Over at Warwick Workmen’s Club, a patron and lifelong Warwick resident called himself a PLP supporter — “within reason”.

“I won’t vote for someone I don’t believe in. If the PLP runs a good candidate, that’s good for me.”

He called the present scenario “concerning for OBA supporters — they lost a big MP with Shawn Crockwell, and now Pettingill, a big fish, is going independent too”.

“We have a lot of hot-button issues like immigration and people getting pepper-sprayed, and the people talking more and more with an election coming up. My big issues are like everybody else’s. Education, because I have kids. Crime, and, obviously, the economy. I will make my decision based on how the people in the power of the day do their jobs.”

He ascribed Mr Pettingill’s departure largely to business conflicts, saying: “He’s going to protect what makes his money.”

The Royal Gazette spoke with a senior along Tribe Road No 2, in the heart of the constituency, who said he had persistently raised the issue of street lighting for the stairs leading to Middle Road.

“I’ll raise it again. I’ve done it for years,” he said, noting that an MP “who shall remain nameless” had never acted on it: “They make promises that are not kept.”

Describing his voting instincts as 50-50 between party and personality, he voiced support for the idea of independents.

“The personalities are a lot to do with it,” he said. “But I don’t get too involved in politics, even when it’s election time.”

Another senior said his spouse was a PLP backer, while he was “just a voter”. Unemployment stood as his top concern.

“I’m not a supporter of same-sex marriage,” he said. “Not unless the day comes when they can reproduce.”

But he said Mr Pettingill’s other strong positions, such as casino gaming and cannabis reform, “appear to me to be self-interested”.

“Each issue that he has, it seems he’s got something to do with it from a business perspective.”

Nor did he endorse MPs going independent: “It doesn’t make sense come the next election,” he said — even though party politics revolved around “ego, and not what’s in the best interests of the country”.

On Witchery Lane, a quiet residential strip off Ord Road, a woman came to her door to declare that Mr Pettingill had “done the right thing”.

“We need more independents,” she said, calling her top political issues “Works and Engineering” in an area that sees little crime: the road needed resurfacing, and she wanted trash trucks to service the lane.

On a quiet, affluent lane near Harbour Road, an expatriate resident said that although he couldn’t vote, “it would be great if everybody was independent — at least the island would get some results”.

“I’m very much in favour of people not being affiliated with the two main parties. I wish you made your system different. It reminds me of America. I find politicians here as worthless as at home.”

Meanwhile, in the small, upscale neighbourhood of Windy Ridge Road, a couple who described themselves as OBA supporters expressed frustration.

“I’m pretty disappointed in him,” the man said. “I think he’s a self-serving blowhard. I agree with him on same-sex marriage.

“I just think it’s all about Mark and always has been, from the very beginning, like with Jetgate, when he was in the middle of it and didn’t come clean.”

Since Mr Pettingill’s victory in 2012, “we’ve never seen him, not once”, he said. “The MP before him? Every six months, he was at our door.”

His spouse called it “a shame we can’t have the talent from both parties — and I hate the fact that one party continues to have the connotation of the white rich party and the other of being black”.

She said Mr Pettingill had probably been too busy to canvass and would probably have assumed he would get their vote.

“This is probably a bit unfair,” she added. “But for him to go independent is such bad timing in terms of what’s going on. For the America’s Cup, the last thing we need is more disruption.

“Why now? Why do that two months before the biggest event we’ve ever had, when we’ve already had enough political disruption? I don’t know what he was thinking.”