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My comment - "What explains the change in voting habits?"
Labour lost 50% of the seats in large swathes of North England, though it is seen that political transition towards Tories started from 2005 and seats flipped only in 2019. So, what changed? In a nutshell, former Labour strongholds in North England have moved into services and other manufacturing sectors, and the new money has been coming into the communities from the private sector. Hence the reset.
Electorally speaking, if sub-regions (divided into market towns, rural, urban, metropolitan) match up economically, ideologically (ie wanting to leave EU) and demographically, then the voting pattern should be similar. The author states that "the red wall (comprising Labour fortresses) is dominated by rural, small market-town seats which hug the more (demographically) diverse, safe Labour seats in the cities of the Midlands and the North". Thus, Labour fortresses are made up of diverse areas, where a large number are a close match to Tory-voting areas of South England. The political impact is seen in the North, because whilst the South is relatively stable, the North has undergone a major economic upheaval.
There was Labour support for all of the last 100 years because these regions were dependent on government-owned industries and people used trade unionism as a means to extract wealth. Economic ruination of local industries like coal mining & steelworks, happened in the 1980s during Margaret Thatcher's terms as Prime Minister. The pain encompassed whole communities and was excruciating. Recovery came gradually, perhaps gathering pace a decade later in PM Tony Blair's era.
The drift in voting from Labour must be due to a change in belief systems. A realisation, based on actual progress over the decades, that what, "works for the rest of rural or semi-rural England can happen, and is happening, in most of the former Labour heartlands". People who have seen development coming from new industries owned by the private sector are asking for more of this type of investment, rather than handouts. They will not disfavour the private sector, for as long as the communities benefit from the economic opportunities created by them.
Electorally speaking, if sub-regions (divided into market towns, rural, urban, metropolitan) match up economically, ideologically (ie wanting to leave EU) and demographically, then the voting pattern should be similar. The author states that "the red wall (comprising Labour fortresses) is dominated by rural, small market-town seats which hug the more (demographically) diverse, safe Labour seats in the cities of the Midlands and the North". Thus, Labour fortresses are made up of diverse areas, where a large number are a close match to Tory-voting areas of South England. The political impact is seen in the North, because whilst the South is relatively stable, the North has undergone a major economic upheaval.
There was Labour support for all of the last 100 years because these regions were dependent on government-owned industries and people used trade unionism as a means to extract wealth. Economic ruination of local industries like coal mining & steelworks, happened in the 1980s during Margaret Thatcher's terms as Prime Minister. The pain encompassed whole communities and was excruciating. Recovery came gradually, perhaps gathering pace a decade later in PM Tony Blair's era.
The drift in voting from Labour must be due to a change in belief systems. A realisation, based on actual progress over the decades, that what, "works for the rest of rural or semi-rural England can happen, and is happening, in most of the former Labour heartlands". People who have seen development coming from new industries owned by the private sector are asking for more of this type of investment, rather than handouts. They will not disfavour the private sector, for as long as the communities benefit from the economic opportunities created by them.
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