The north of England is turning Tory – and it can’t be blamed on Brexit alone. Things have shifted in Labour’s heartlands, and to understand why we need to look at how the region has changed since 1980👇 ft.com/content/929022…
Our Whitehall editor @SebastianEPayne has travelled 6,000 miles over the past year through 10 English constituencies that have traditionally been part of the ‘red wall’ of Labour’s northern strongholds – but fled the party for the first time in 2019 ft.com/content/929022…
Labour’s worst defeat since 1935 was instantly pinned on Brexit, combined with the unpopularity of its then leftwing leader Jeremy Corbyn. But @SebastianEPayne sensed something deeper had shifted ft.com/content/929022…
In constituencies such as North West Durham, where heavy industry such as steel and coal used to dominate, prosperity has improved but many of the new jobs have little security. Infrastructure has suffered decades of under-investment ft.com/content/929022…
The steel works in Consett, County Durham, closed in 1980. It had employed 6,000+ at its peak and heavy workplace unionisation tied workers to the Labour party, as did community pubs and working men’s clubs ft.com/content/929022…
‘There was always the understanding that things would be fine, because the [coal] pit was here,’ says Ian Lavery, a former miner turned Labour MP. And when it was not, that spirit dissipated ft.com/content/929022…
With the rise of new employers and private housing, life became more individualistic. Margaret Thatcher had created a new economy in the north that was primed for the Tories to take ft.com/content/929022…
Brexit played its part, of course: for the dozens of pro-Leave first-time Tory voters @SebastianEPayne met in places such as North West Durham, the 2016 referendum cut an umbilical cord with Labour ft.com/content/929022…
Read the full story about the north of England’s political earthquake – and find out what its constituents, MPs and Labour leader Keir Starmer had to say here: ft.com/content/929022…
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