'Some people said it was like turkeys voting for Christmas... they were right'
20.02.2024 - 17:45
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
It was the red wall seat that turned blue for the first time in 100 years. Leigh was where Labour’s largest majority was overturned when Conservative James Grundy unseated sitting MP Jo Platt in 2019.
Some say the electorate in the old mining town - part of the borough of Wigan - was goaded into voting Tory by comments from leading politicians who argued that voting for Boris Johnson’s party in a town like Leigh would be ‘like turkeys voting for Christmas’.
At least that’s what some people the Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to in the town centre said as the next General Election looms large on the horizon.
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A walk along Leigh’s Bradshawgate central thoroughfare gives a clue as to how the town has fared during the last few years against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic, the Ukraine war and the ongoing cost of living crisis. In common with a many other urban centres, there are good number of shuttered and boarded-up retail units on Leigh's main drag.
So what’s the likelihood of the town reverting to red?
Hannah, 34, said: “Some people said it was like turkeys voting for Christmas, and they were right. Me? I didn’t vote Conservative and I never will. Why people thought the Conservatives would do anything for Leigh is beyond me.”
Leigh market stallholder Simon Battersby, 56, also alluded to the turkey metaphor, saying: “Such remarks are silly. I think that’s why a lot of people voted Conservative. It wound them up and made them angry.
“As for me, my family has always been Labour, but I reckon all politicians are thieves and are in it for themselves. There is no one I want to vote for.”
Victories for Labour in the Kingswood and Wellingborough