How town that turned blue feels two years on from vote
IN DECEMBER 2019 the Bridgend constituency turned blue.
Though predicted in the exit polls, it still came as a large shock to Labour supporters who believed they may edge the vote.
Conservative MP Jamie Wallis secured the win making him the first Tory MP voted in since 1983, and unseating Labour’s Madeleine Moon who had been Bridgend’s MP for 14 years.
From a low point in 1997, when Tony Blair won his first election and the Conservative vote share here fell to just 22.8%, the number of people voting for the candidate with the blue rosette has been steadily growing, despite a succession of different candidates, and culminating in Wallis claiming 43.1% of the vote just over two years ago.
Brexit and several pandemic parties later, however, and the public attitude towards the UK Government has shifted in the constituency.
Just under 80,000 people live in the constituency of Bridgend, which covers a diverse area. It includes relatively wealthy areas like Nottage and Rest Bay in Porthcawl as well as Litchard, Penyfai and parts of Oldcastle in Bridgend itself which rank in the 10% of most privileged areas of Wales, according to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation.
At the same time, parts of Sarn and Morfa rank among the most deprived 10%. Just the huge housing estate of Brackla has areas at both ends of the spectrum. It leaves a lot of room for different values and beliefs. It also makes for some interesting conversations on the streets of Bridgend town centre.
“It’s a shower of s**t,” says one passer-by when asked about our current UK Government.
The general election in 2019 largely focused on securing Brexit, causing many to change their vote from their traditional party to the Conservatives for the first time.
Eirwen Lewis changed her alliance for the first time in 2019, shifting from Labour to Conservative in the name of Brexit.
While happy with her vote at the time, she confirmed she would vote Labour at the next election.
“He is a prat,” she says about the UK Conservative leader and Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
“I lost people to Covid, and he’s partying. When he’s saying sorry, he’s not saying it from the heart, he’s saying it for his job.”
The UK Government’s handling of the pandemic has been enough to turn Eirwen back to her voting roots at the next election.
“I think Wales have done better than the English.
“We always wear our masks wherever we go, shops, but that’s because our health is not that clever. “
Margaret Evans was dissatisfied with both of the leading parties around the time of the 2019 election and changed her vote for the first time to the Liberal Democrats.
“I didn’t like Labour and I didn’t like the Conservatives so it was really a wasted vote,” she explains.
When the next election is called, given the last two years, she states she would return her vote to the Labour party. “I think Drakeford has handled it at the beginning much better than Boris, but now of course with everything going on, I think the UK Government is appalling.”
Not everyone agreed with this, however, with others feeling the UK Government had done a suitable job at handling the pandemic.
Having voted Labour in 2019, and in many elections before that, William Tanner shared that he was content with how the Conservatives had led the UK through the pandemic.
“There’s a lot of criticism of the Government with Boris Johnson at the moment, but throughout the pandemic, I thought he has done quite a reasonable job.”
Jack Jones was too young to vote in the last election, but he wasn’t surprised to see the Conservatives gain the Bridgend seat given its success throughout the UK.
He explains: “I think they’ve done a good job in handling the pandemic in terms of getting the numbers down and enforcing the right restrictions.”
He added, however, that he would have liked to see restrictions more similar to New Zealand’s standards, and would use his new vote in the next election to back Plaid Cymru.
Ceri Grabham also supported Plaid Cymru in the 2019 election and would use her vote to support the party in the next election too.
Despite this, she supported the decisions made by the UK Government in the last two years, believing Boris had shown “interest in people’s health”, adding: “If he didn’t then a lot more people would have died.”
Unlike the outcome of Bridgend’s vote in 2019, Marcus Burns switched from supporting the Conservative Government to voting for Labour.
He said he was “very surprised” to see the constituency’s outcome, given that it had been a Labour stronghold for so many years.
In spite of his voting history, however, Marcus was comfortable with his decision after seeing the pandemic unfold: “It has been a complete shambles from day one. They haven’t organised anything well at all.
“What’s happened with the virus and these parties isn’t helping the situation at all. I think the Welsh Government and Mark Drakeford handled it a lot better.”
For some, the scandal dubbed “Partygate” has been enough to sway their favour away from the Conservative party, which is reflected in the current voting intention polls.
The latest YouGov/Times voting intention figures show that if a general election were held tomorrow, Labour would hold 39% of the vote while the Conservatives would gain 31%.
Meanwhile, a poll by Opinium gives Labour a 10-point lead over the Conservatives. Labour had 41% support, up two, while Tory support has dropped further to 31%. It is Labour’s biggest lead since 2013.
Mr Johnson’s approval rating has fallen to -42%, his worst ever approval rating in the same poll, beating the record he set last week (-24%).
It also matches the worst ever approval rating recorded for Theresa May around the time of the 2019 European elections.
But as for the future of the town that turned blue when the next election hits, only time will tell.