Battleground candidates ‘optimistic’ on their local and general election chances

Activists, candidates and councillors are in their final push for votes as the local and mayoral elections draw near.

Campaigners up and down the country have been canvassing for Labour from Hartlepool to Hastings, in the last set of local elections before voters go to the polls for the general election.

Many eyes are on contests in the Midlands and north of England, in areas where Labour is hoping to regain trust and votes in so-called “red wall” and other seats it used to hold.

LabourList spoke to several parliamentary candidates in key battlegrounds ahead of polling day about how the campaign has been going on a local and mayoral level, as well as their own campaigns to make Labour gains at Westminster.

Dudley: ‘We are getting a lot of enthusiasm’

Halesowen, about seven miles from Birmingham, is not a typical “red wall” seat, having been in Conservative hands since 2010.

Labour parliamentary candidate Alex Ballinger (pictured above), who has served in Afghanistan and now runs a mental health charity, said that residents have grown despondent about the state of the country but are welcoming Labour’s approach, particularly the party’s range of candidates for the local election in the Dudley council area.

He said: “We’ve got some fantastic people from across the community – dentists, teachers, NHS workers, that are putting themselves forward. We are seeing lots of enthusiasm on the doorstep – often people know the candidates we’ve got because they have been around doing work in the community.”

Ballinger said that, along with the malaise at the state of national services like the NHS and the railways, local issues are the main focus in the campaign – primarily potholes, council funding and the “general state of the public sphere”.

He said: “People can see the Tories are really letting them down by making poor decisions by prioritising the interests of their donors.”

He expressed confidence that Labour would do well on polling day and said: “If I’m getting my feeling from the doorstep right, we are getting a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully we will get a majority.”

While Ballinger said there has also been a lot of enthusiasm for Richard Parker’s bid for the West Midlands mayoralty, he acknowledged that it will be a “tight race”.

“I think Richard’s message is really getting traction and people in my part of the borough are feeling that Richard is the man for them,” he said.

“He’s a really hard-working candidate and he’s been knocking doors all over the West Midlands for months – lots of people have met him and seen how authentic he is and I think they’re warming to him.”

Ballinger also said that voters have become “exhausted” by Andy Street’s campaign, “pretending not to be a Conservative” with green leaflets and newsletters.

As for his bid to become an MP, Ballinger said that there is a feeling among voters that “now is the time for change”.

He said: “The disillusionment with the Conservatives’ policies, even among traditional Conservative voters, is high. I’m speaking to lots of people, including former Conservative members, who are not going to turn out and vote for the Tories this time around.

“I think we’ve got a good chance, we’re working hard and we’re pushing Keir’s five missions – which are going down really well on the doorstep.

“I’m feeling optimistic but we are working really hard to earn the trust of voters.”

Tory-Labour switchers but West Midlands mayoral race ‘tough’

In the neighbouring constituency of Stourbridge, Dudley councillor and Labour parliamentary candidate Cat Eccles also said there is a “positive picture” for Labour in the region.

“I get phone calls from people who have voted Conservative their entire adult life who now say they’re going to vote for Labour because they’ve seen how effective we are locally,” she said. 

“They are fed up with Conservative failure, corruption and a lack of action.”

Despite Tory councillors attempting to put distance between themselves and the government in Westminster, Eccles said that people tell her there is very little difference between the two.

Among the local issues being raised by voters, policing and crime is the one being raised “time and again”.

She said: “In Stourbridge, our police station was closed in 2017, with the Tory MP at the time saying she wasn’t going to contest it – and while we do have a Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, people seem to forget that it’s the Tories setting that budget, which has been cut by nearly £200 million over the past few years.”

Eccles explained this funding cut has manifested itself in the form of home and vehicle burglaries, which have been on the rise in the local area.

“The usual thing you hear is people saying they never see a police officer or they report a crime and no one follows it up, so I think there’s a lot of people who feel disaffected,” she said.

“Traditionally the Tories have seen themselves as the party of law and order but actually they very much let us down.”

For the mayoral race, Eccles said there is a “mixed” picture, particularly because Andy Street has managed to become an “apolitical figure – sending out green leaflets and pretending he’s not a Conservative until he needs the backing of them”.

She said: “Because of his profile, people perceive that he’s done a good job, but actually we’re countering that by saying he gets a lot of photos taken, but that doesn’t always equate to delivering what he’s promised.

“I think it will be tough for us to get Richard Parker over the line but we are throwing everything at it to ensure we can get someone who is going to do good things for our region.”

On the battle for the Westminster seat, Eccles said the current Conservative MP Suzanne Webb, first elected at the last general election, was “deeply unpopular across the board”.

She said: “She’s always backed the wrong horse at every turn, even backing Liz Truss.

“There was quite a big moment during the pandemic, when it was all coming out about Partygate, and Susan stood up in Parliament and said Stourbridge doesn’t care about Partygate.

“Honestly, I was on the doorstep and people were so angry – and they haven’t forgotten it.”

‘People in Bolton feel left behind’

Further north in Greater Manchester, Labour is working to take majority control in Bolton after forming a minority administration last year. Phil Brickell, a Labour councillor who is standing as the party’s candidate in Bolton West, said that even in minority control, Labour had managed to make significant change for residents.

He said: “There have been some measures around a free bulky waste collection for residents and measures to tackle fly tipping, which is a prevalent issue, especially in some of the more densely populated parts of the borough.

“There’s also been a focus on redeveloping Bolton town centre – recognising that shopping habits of old have changed but also working with the Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to generate that investment and attract people from outside of Bolton to come and spend money to regenerate the town.”

Brickell said that people in the town feel “left behind” by the Conservative government and from the previous Tory administration on the council.

He said: “If I talk about Bolton West, it’s a constituency that hasn’t had any levelling up funding. Other parts of the borough have had investment, but we’ve had numerous issues in the past – the Conservative council failed to submit a levelling up bid on time, which meant that investment in the town was delayed.”

A Labour majority council, Brickell said, would ensure that communities across the borough have “strong representation in the town hall”, with councillors working hard to secure investment for the town.

Brickell has been campaigning on the doorstep since being picked as the candidate for Bolton West since July last year.

‘People used to tell you they backed Boris – they don’t any more’

He said: “A year ago, people would quite willingly tell you they voted for Boris in 2019. That word isn’t mentioned now, and if you bring Liz Truss up and the catastrophic mini budget, people look at you with a sense of complete disdain.

“People want change when I speak to them – and it’s incumbent on the Labour Party to be able to set out that hopeful positive vision of how things can get better, notwithstanding the perilous financial situation.”

Brickell said his message for voters in Bolton West as the general election looms was clear – “If you want to move on from broken public services, if you want a fairer society, if you want Bolton to get its fair share of investment, you need to be voting Labour.”