John Harris has done a retrospective on Labour's Town Problem. It is a reminder that Labour victory at the next General Election is by no means as obvious as some in the Labour Party like to assume. As he points out the Labour vote has been threatened or overturned in traditional Labour areas such as Walsall, and the Party needs to overturn the Tory vote in no fewer than 64 seats even if it holds on to all the existing Labour seats.
Whereas he is right to talk about the feeling of neglect, it is not as complete as he tends to paint it. These towns after all also benefited from the last Labour Government's record investments in education and Health. He is also right to say that some towns, he mentions Stoke on Trent, do have genuine signs of hope.
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