Coastal concerns

Time to turn the electoral tide

A NEED for the still Londoncentric Conservative and Labour parties to reappraise their respective relationships with the country at large is offered by the pre- eminence of terms like ‘ red wall’ and ‘ blue wall’ seats at the last election.

Yet, while the Tories do now hold more MPs in traditional ‘ low pay’ seats than Labour, the ‘ levelling up’ agenda is still a spasmodic one – another reason for a Cabinet- level Northern Powerhouse Minister and team – and both risk ignoring rural issues at their peril.

And it is why there’s another dynamic in the electoral landscape – the new ‘ yellow wall’. The foundations of Tory successes, these are the rural – and coastal – seats that Labour needs to win for the party to be in any position to return to power.

Areas that the Tories take for granted at their peril – as Sir John Major, William Hague and Michael Howard can all testify – Labour appears to sense an opening, hence why so many of its MPs have gone out of their way since Parliament’s resumption to cite coastal communities as part of a calculated and emerging electoral strategy.

But both national parties should know by now that issues facing coastal and rural areas are far more nuanced – they require a level of understanding which neither appears to command at present – and that a joined- up policy for flood prevention and coastal erosion is also imperative.

And if Boris Johnson won’t appoint a high- profile and credible Minister for the Coast and Flooding, and make Whitehall roles more relevant to current issues, Labour should outflank him if it wants to be taken more seriously in such areas. Over to you, Sir Keir Starmer.