Opinion: Labour on the cusp of history in new seat

John Gaskell, Chair, Farnham & Bordon Labour Party

Most people will have had better things to do in the run-up to Christmas than follow the political shenanigans in Wellingborough. But while we were getting the Christmas shopping in, the electors of Northamptonshire were shipping out their MP.

They signed a recall petition after their Conservative MP Peter Bone was suspended for gross misconduct. He is not the first to misbehave; over 20 MP’s have had the whip withdrawn or been suspended since December 2019.

The most obvious lesson is that people are fed up with Tory politicians who abuse their power, whether it’s the profiteers, like Conservative Peer Michelle Mone, the people with only very loose relationship with the truth like Boris Johnson, or the sexual misconduct and bullying of MP Peter Bone.

The second is that it demonstrates just how keen people are to get rid of this chaotic, incompetent, out-of-touch government. This is supported by the fact that in by-election after by-election, huge Conservative majorities have been overturned. People are transferring their allegiance to the Labour Party, in unprecedented numbers, and deserting the minor parties.

That this is so is both an indictment of the Tory party, and a tribute to the work Kier Starmer has done to modernise the Labour Party.

The relevance of this locally is that with Conservative party support in free-fall and the popularity of the Labour Party improving, there’s now a chance that we could wake up with a Labour MP after the next general election in this entirely new constituency of Farnham and Bordon.

Labour’s national 17 point poll lead saw a really significant drop in support for the minor parties, with the Lib Dems losing 11 per cent in the polls by the end of 2023. Several credible research studies now show that Labour is chasing very hard and standing in second position here. The latest by Lodestone Communications, shows that if people vote tactically, Labour is within a hair breadth of winning this new constituency.

I must admit that, as welcome as this news is, it surprised even me. Opinion polls should obviously always be taken with a pinch of salt, but it’s increasingly clear a political earthquake is underway here.

There’s no room for complacency. It will be important that people don’t waste their votes on the minor parties. For many of you, it will be the first time you will have voted for a Labour candidate. But we, the electors of Farnham and Bordon, can make history here. It could be every bit as significant as the upset in Wellingborough.

So, why not make your New Year’s resolution to vote Labour this year?