Conservative Woman, June 14, John Longworth
There is no doubt that Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party’s political fortunes have been based on the ‘Red Wall’ constituencies, particularly those in the North, where many lifelong Labour voters voted instead for the pro-Brexit Tories at the last election. This gave PM Johnson his eighty-seat victory, and his fortunes at the next election will be tied up with retaining those borrowed votes. Like Humpty Dumpty, Johnson is sitting on the wall and if he gets it wrong for those voters, he and his MPs will have a great fall.
When I led the great ‘March to Leave’ into Doncaster in April last year, the response from the people of that region was phenomenal and heartfelt. They did not know we were coming, but still car horns hooted and people cheered us on. So many of them said they were disgusted and appalled that the May/Hammond government were selling out the referendum. There is no doubt this was a precursor to the General Election which swept Johnson to power. Doncaster is in my experience typical of towns in the North of England and of many regional constituencies and this view has been confirmed.
Polling commissioned by the Centre for Brexit Policy for their new report Do Not Delay Brexit: The View from the Red Wall, conducted by Savanta ComRes, demonstrates that the Government decision to confirm formally to the EU that it will not extend the transition period will be very popular amongst Red Wall voters. A significant majority of those voters who switched from Labour want the UK to leave the EU properly at the end of this year, deal or no deal, and would be just as hostile to the Johnson government as they were to May and Hammond if he did not deliver.
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Click here to read the report in full.