Poor backed Tories to deliver victory

Party won votes of people on low income

POLITICS: Low income voters helped deliver Boris Johnson’s election landslide, with Labour trailing the Tories among poorer Britons for the first time.

A major report into voting behaviour at the 2019 election found the Tories established a 15-point lead over Labour among people on low incomes as they won seats in ‘red wall’ areas.

LOW INCOME voters helped deliver Boris Johnson’s election landslide, with Labour trailing the Tories among poorer Britons for the first time, an analysis has shown.

A major report into voting behaviour at the 2019 election found the Tories established a 15-point lead over Labour among people on low incomes as they won a host of seats in ‘red wall’ areas of Yorkshire and the North.

The study found that the Tories were more popular with people struggling to make ends meet than they were among wealthier voters.

But both parties now face a battle for the support of poorer voters, as they are set to suffer the brunt of the economic fall-out from the coronavirus crisis.

Research for the York-based anti-poverty charity Joseph Rowntree Foundation warned that low-income workers potentially face a “double injustice”

as they were less able to isolate themselves at home and are now most exposed to the worst economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis.

The report said: “Remarkably, the Conservatives are now more popular among people on low incomes than they are among people on high incomes.

“The Conservatives are no longer the party of the rich, while Labour is no longer the party of the poor.

“The Labour Party that Sir Keir Starmer recently became leader of is today just as popular among the wealthy as it is among those on low incomes. Both parties have inverted their traditional support base.”

The report examined evidence from the British Election Study which found that in 2019, 45.4 per cent of low income voters backed the Conservatives, with 30.6 per cent backing Labour.

Among high income voters, the figures were 40 per cent for the Tories and 30.8 per cent for Labour.

The work, by Matthew Goodwin of the University of Kent and Oliver Heath from Royal Holloway University of London, found that Mr Johnson’s promise to “level up” the nation, combined with his support for Brexit, helped win over Labour voters.

But the report added that the Conservatives will “need to work hard to retain that support”.