One year on, do town’s voters regret ending Labour’s century in power?
LEIGH WAS ONE OF SEVERAL NORTHERN STRONGHOLDS THAT HELPED BRING DOWN THE ‘RED WALL’
IT has been 12 months since the election night that sent shockwaves through the former mining town of Leigh.
An impenetrable Labour stronghold for almost a century, many Leythers shed lifelong allegiances to elect a Conservative MP for the first time. The result wasn’t even close. Tory candidate James Grundy won comfortably on the night, amassing almost 2,000 more votes than Labour’s Jo Platt.
The historic result was one of many in so-called ‘Red Wall’ seats that helped to secure a majority for Boris Johnson’s party and highlighted how Labour had lost its grip on its traditional heartlands.
In Leigh, the message was loud and clear – people wanted change.
That clamour for something different was highlighted by the M.E.N. during a visit to the town in the weeks beforehand. Concerns over Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership were raised repeatedly as voters spoke of having grown disillusioned with the Labour Party.
One year on from the December 2019 election which gave Boris Johnson an 80-seat majority, it’s not difficult to find Leythers who placed an X next to the Conservative Party for the first time last year – and stand by their decision.
Pat Butler, 74, is one of them. She explains how she was fed up of Labour and disliked Corbyn.
“I think they have been good,” she said. “They have handled it all better than Labour would have. I don’t think Keir Starmer is any better than Corbyn.”
In the wake of the national lockdown coming to an end, a healthy number of shoppers have descended on Leigh town centre.
The main high street, Bradshawgate, is lined by a mixture of well-known chains and independent businesses.
Yet like many post-industrial towns, there is the depressingly familiar sight of shuttered shops.
Margaret Shaw is one of those showing her support for the high street.
Like many in Leigh, the 76-year-old former care worker grew up in a household reliant on industries of days gone by. Her father worked down the mines and, growing up, voting for anyone other than Labour was an inconceivable prospect. She broke the habit of a lifetime last year when she backed Johnson’s party.
“My dad was Labour through and through. He would be turning in his grave knowing how I voted. I don’t regret it one bit, though.” She lists her views on Brexit and Mr Corbyn as the main reasons for voting for the Tories.
“Boris was the only person who was positive about anything,” she said.
“Jeremy Corbyn was not leader material. You need a strong person to lead a government.”
Labour’s failure to win Leigh for the first time in 97 years did not come as a surprise to Ms Shaw. She pinpoints the change in the wind as being when Andy Burnham stepped down in 2017 to become Greater Manchester Mayor.
A former cabinet minister, Burnham held the seat for 16 years and returned healthy majorities at four elections.
“Andy got things done and stood up for what he believed in,” explained Mrs Shaw. “We had a swimming pool put in, a sports village, a new health centre. It changed in Leigh when he left.”
Mrs Shaw was unimpressed by Burnham’s successor, Jo Platt, so had no qualms about backing Grundy instead.
A Leigh native and former councillor for Lowton East ward, Grundy promised voters he would fight to get Brexit done and ‘fix’ Leigh.
His message clearly resonated. No Conservative had ever won in Leigh since the seat was created in 1885 and Grundy was so unprepared for his eventual triumph that he hadn’t even written a speech.
“I knew James from years ago and he is a nice guy,” explained Mrs Shaw. “He stands up for what he believes in.
“Up to now, I cannot complain with how he is doing. We are in the middle of a pandemic. It depends on what happens when we come out of it.”
Kenneth Atherton is another who decided to vote for the Tories for the first time.
“I made the right decision,” he insists, a year on. “I wasn’t surprised that Labour lost here. The more I spoke to people at the time, the more I could tell what would happen. Leigh has been left behind.”
The view that people here have been overlooked is a common one.
Proud towns in their own right, Leigh and neighbouring Tyldesley have been a part of the borough of Wigan since 1972. Resentment towards Labour-run Wigan
council has brewed ever since, in particular over a perceived lack of investment.
For Stephen Riley, who lives in Tyldesley, the decision to reject Labour was more of a protest than an outright endorsement of the Tories. “I don’t think people even know the MP,” he said. “You rarely see him out and about.”
Mr Riley said he voted Tory as he blames Labour for the decline of a number of local industries.
However, he is not convinced that anything has changed during the past 12 months. “I can’t really see what they have done for the town,” he said. Over at the town’s market, mask-clad shoppers queue up to buy early Christmas presents. Stallholders here say they have noticed a welcome upturn in trade since lockdown ended.
Andrew Baxendale, 66, runs several stalls with his wife Linda, selling everything from baby clothes to pet food. When visited by the M.E.N. last year, Mr Baxendale predicted that Brexit and immigration would prove to be deciding issues in the election, stating that Labour’s stance was not an appealing one.
The former Wigan council worker decided not to vote in the end but says he was ‘surprised’ when he learned the Tories had taken Leigh.
“People had just had enough of Labour,” he said. “This is a mining town and there are a lot of retired miners still about. Labour were doing nothing for them.” He says it is difficult to judge whether the Tories have improved Leigh’s fortunes due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
“It’s not got any worse,” joked Mr Baxendale. “There is a lot going on at the moment, so I guess time will tell.”
A couple of miles north east in Tyldesley, Dawn Whiteside agrees that it is too soon to pass judgement.
Ms Whiteside owns Short Back and Whiteside, a barber shop in the town centre, said: “We can’t start saying they have done this or that wrong because they have not had the chance. Their hands are tied. Everyone round here was Labour at one point, but there has definitely been a change.”