Makes sense to me NI. The article is good BRI, but it completely fails to address the main reasons why people in northern towns voted for the Tories.
It was Brexit, and the politicians Johnson, Gove, Raab, Rees Mogg and Farage knew what buttons to press. We all know what those buttons were and still are!!
The hatred in the north for MPs who argued against Brexit like Cooper and Creagh has not gone away. The Brexit disciples have now added Covid conspiracy theories to their sudden political awakening. Not only are they experts on world trade and surviving on tariffs, they are now self appointed masters of microbiology and pandemics.
Their hatred of migrants has increased and Ms Patel knows this !!
So it’s far too simplistic and also a mistake to assume that the red wall has fallen in 2 weeks and that Burnham and Rotherham are the new heroes. And whilst Starmer has put Johnson under a lot of pressure with his seemingly can’t lose argument for circuit breakers, there are many northerners that are not happy with the current restrictions. It’s not clear that Burnham and Starmer are arguing for the same way forward.
Starmer can continue to make a case for circuit breakers, but he needs to be a lot stronger on what he proposes for financial support. He’s not helped much in this by Dodds, who doesn’t impress as shadow chancellor.
Polls do suggest that the majority of the public do back tighter lockdown measures. The issue comes when there is a feeling that one region is being unfairly singled out over the others. Right now it seems that the north, the north-west in particular, has been unfairly hit and the resultant economic impetus to drive back recovery once it’s over is unlikely to be forthcoming. It’s the lack of clarity in reasoning as to why there is potential disgruntlement. When Exeter has been hit hard and is in tier one it rankles when northern areas are in tier three, despite being no worse.
There’s a bit of ire towards Manchester for opting out of tier 3, while Merseyside and Lancashire have seemingly accepted. I can understand the frustration, but it would be better served if these areas put up a united front to demand answers together, I feel.