When Lord Howell described parts of the North East of England as ‘desolate’ (or did he mean the North West?), he was talking about shale gas exploitation, but he could have more accurately applied the term to the map of Tory support in the region. The urban north hasn’t supported the party since the late 1980s. Seats like Manchester Withington, Newcastle Central and Nottingham North (that last is not in the North, of course, but another example of the urban problem) were once Conservative, but now it’s hard to imagine them ever being safe blue seats again. The Tories can win without the urban North, but as their electoral map continues to shrink, it’s a risky strategy to let the rot continue. I look at efforts to turn northern England from a hinterland of support into a Conservative heartland in my Telegraph column today.
As I explain, the party has decided that a northern manifesto – which it did consider – would highlight divisions and that instead its overall offer in 2015 should be attractive to urban voters.
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