Johnson offers green jobs and road repairs as he breaks new ground with the voters
THE Conservatives have delivered more in four years than Labour did in decades, Boris Johnson said last night as he pledged to cut crime and fill potholes in a bid to retain key mayoralties in today’s elections.
The Prime Minister used his eve-of election address to appeal to voters in Tees Valley and the West Midlands, where the Tories hope their sitting mayors, Ben Houchen and Andy Street, will be elected for a second term.
“It’s Conservative mayors who are bringing new investment and local jobs to their areas,” Mr Johnson said.
“A new freeport and green jobs are on their way to Teesside and new trams, metro lines and station upgrades to the West Midlands ... more has been delivered by Conservatives in four years than complacent Labour politicians have delivered in decades,” he added.
The latest polling shows the Tories will sweep to a historic victory in today’s votes which span mayoral elections, local councils, police and crime commissioners, Scottish and Welsh devolved assembly members and a Westminster by-election in Hartlepool.
Mr Johnson said the Hartlepool vote would be a “very tough fight” in a seat that “hasn’t been Conservative since its inception – 46 years ago, or whatever it was”.
Amanda Milling, chairman of the Conservatives, said it was “extraordinary” that the party could even contemplate winning in the town. She said: “The fact that we’re having this conversation is pretty extraordinary, if you think about it. Ten to 20 years ago, if you heard us talking, you’d be somewhat surprised.”
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Ms Milling played down the idea her party would take the seat by the 17-point margin predicted in a poll earlier this week.
“This would be a really big win for us but I think I remain kind of cautious about it, on the basis that it is such a fight,” she said. “Governing parties don’t win by-elections,” she added.
“We’ve got big challenges as Conservatives to defend what we’ve got, so that’s really how we’re going into these elections ... we’re working really, really hard to make sure that we get our message across.”
Ms Milling previously estimated the Tory party could lose up to 1,000 seats in the council elections, although parties usually play down their chances of success before local elections in an attempt to exaggerate any later wins.
Yougov local election polling published last week suggested that the Conservatives could take over as the largest party in Bolton and Dudley.
It is also thought that Labour could lose control of both Sunderland and Durham councils for the first time in half a century.
Mr Johnson last night sought to use the Government’s vaccine rollout programme as an advert for his party as voters go to the polls today.
“This Conservative Government continues to focus on the people’s priorities, a world-leading vaccine rollout and building back better from the pandemic, with plans for huge new investments and jobs across the country,” he said.
‘Ten to 20 years ago, if you heard us talking about winning Hartlepool, you’d be somewhat surprised’