Uk, Tories triumph in the Hartlepool supplement, Johnson breaks through the Red Wall again

The article by Daniele Meloni

The Tories win the by-election of Hartlepool and break through again in the north-east of England, a traditional Labor fiefdom. The red wall is turning more and more blue and the change of leadership with the passage from Jeremy Corbyn to Sir Keir Starmer was not enough for Labor.

The numbers of the defeat in the coastal town of Tees Valley condemn the opposition. Tory candidate, Jill Mortimer, won by nearly 7,000 votes over her Labor rival. The transfer of votes from Labor to the Conservatives was 16%, the biggest swing in the history of the supplementary. The percentage of votes saw the Tories prevail with 51% against 28% of Labor: over 20 points behind in a city that since 1974 had always voted on the left. One can clearly speak of triumph for Boris Johnson, who was three times in the city during the election campaign.

While waiting to verify the results in London, Wales and Scotland , the trend in the municipalities in England marks an advance of the Tories in the working class majority areas and a general retreat for Starmer and his team. From the moment he was appointed leader, the former Crown prosecutor knew he was faced with a daunting task. However, the first elections as leader of the Opposition confronted him with reality: Labor is not competitive. The long wave of Corbyn's years is still being felt, as is the ambiguous attitude on Brexit. Hartlepool, who voted 70% to leave the EU in 2016, has not forgotten that Sir Keir was in favor of a second referendum, and that his by-election candidate, doctor Paul Williams, was a remainer of the first. Now. In 2019 the seat remained in red hands thanks to the presence of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, who with his 11 thousand votes made it impossible for the Tories to win. This time Farage's votes went to farmer Jill Mortimer, who quickly made it clear in the election campaign that she would use her political relationship with the government and Tees Valley Mayor, Tory Ben Houchen, to improve the lives of the his fellow citizens.

Johnson pushes back his majority of one MP: 80 seats ahead in the House of Commons after Julian Lewis's expulsion from the party last summer. A comfortable majority that will serve him to carry out his electoral program on the green economy, on Global Britain, and, above all, on the rebalancing between the various areas of the country. A promise to be kept at all costs if the latter wants to confirm the seats on a now crumbled red wall.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/uk-tories-trionfano-nella-suppletiva-di-hartlepool-johnson-sfonda-nuovamente-il-red-wall/ on Fri, 07 May 2021 07:36:22 +0000.