‘I would pack Starmer’s suitcase for him’: Disdain for Labour unites Gorton and Denton ahead of crucial by-election
S.Heila Harrison, 69, has always voted Labor. Denton, like most people in Greater Manchester, said there was only one option when it came to elections.
But not anymore.
69-year-old man said: “I would pack Keir Starmer’s suitcase for him” Independent on Manchester Road in Denton.
He says the beleaguered prime minister, who is now fighting to save his premiership, “doesn’t understand the working class” and is voting against Labor in this month’s crucial by-election for the first time in his life.
Sir Keir, mired in crisis, endured his toughest day as prime minister on Monday. Ministers rallied around him after he faced calls to resign from his own party, amid the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal.
He will try to break away from Mandelson, but his handling of this saga has further threatened the future of a prime minister whose popularity remains sky-high just 19 months after coming to power.
The disdain is clearly felt in Gorton and Denton, where the by-election could deliver the final blow to Sir Keir’s time in Downing Street (if he survives until election day on February 26).
The seat has been vacated by former Labor MP Andrew Gwynne, who is retiring for health reasons, a year after the ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ WhatsApp scandal cost him the party whip.
Labor now faces a perfect storm, a fight on both sides of the constituency.
This is expected to be against the Green Party in Gorton, a collection of several south-eastern suburbs of the city of Manchester, and against Reformation in the post-industrial town of Denton, in Greater Manchester’s Tameside borough.
Both the Greens and Reform appeal to disheartened former Labor voters like Sheila and John Harrison.
Retired pipefitter John, 71, describes Britain as “broken” and sees “immigration, kids with nothing to do, lack of order, lack of respect for the police” as the biggest problems in Denton.
Says he’s considering voting for reform Independent He said he felt disappointed, accusing the government of not delivering what was promised in their manifesto.
But one change could bring him back to the party.
“I would vote for Andy Burnham,” he says. John thinks Mr Burnham has more personality and is able to connect with northern voters; He believes the Metro Mayor is on his side in a way that Sir Keir, whom he describes as “distant”, is not.
Sheila agrees; he too would vote for Merseyside-born Mr Burnham. “He’s a local guy, he’s a local guy, whether he’s from Liverpool or Manchester,” he says. “It represents working-class people.”
Mr Burnham, who has been mayor of Manchester since 2017, could have been on the ballot but his application was blocked by Labour’s National Executive Committee over fears he could challenge Sir Keir for the leadership.
This could be a move that will cost the party this seat.
Retired midwife Andrea Anwyl, 77, is another lifelong Labor supporter who is disillusioned with the government. He may now vote Green but says he would “absolutely” vote for Mr Burnham if he were the Labor candidate.
“I don’t like Starmer. I don’t like what he does,” he says IndependentIt stands in the largely empty Denton Civic Square, with few people wandering among the shops surrounding it.
“He promised to do this, this and this, and that was voted for. As far as I know, he didn’t do those things.”
Clearly, many voters in the country’s 15th poorest constituency feel disappointed by a party they believe should represent areas like theirs.
Traditionally every corner of the seat was Labor strongholds. The party is defending a 13,000 majority and says only its own candidate, councilor Angeliki Stogia, can beat Reform, represented by GB News presenter and former academic Matt Goodwin.
Stogia tells Independent He said it would take time for the Government to deliver change but agreed with Sir Keir’s verdict that it “needs to go faster and we need to dig deeper”.
He “firmly believes” Labor can beat Reform when it comes to electoral chances.
He says: “We are fighting at every doorstep. We have policies. We listen to the residents on the ground and what they want, and what they want is real action. They don’t want to shout from the sidelines.”
The Green Party and its candidates – councilor and plumber Hannah Spencer – disagree that only Labor can defeat Reformation.
On the Gorton side of the constituency, on the aptly named Green Mile in Levenshulme, Green Party signs stand in several front gardens of terraced houses. Supportive posters are displayed in the windows of shops on Mount Road, where the Greens’ campaign office is located.
Apart from one of these, 61-year-old taxi driver Muhammed Başarat from Levenshulme explains: Independent That the green vision is “perfect”. “Education policy, foreign policy, domestic policy, all policies are excellent,” he says.
He supported Labour, as did those who were considering voting for Reform. But “they let us down a lot,” he says, citing tax increases and welfare cuts.
Similarly, care worker Jawad Hassan, 24, believes voting for the Greens is in the best interest of workers and a way to keep Reform out of power. He was not impressed by Labour’s offer.
“I don’t think they work for the working class anymore,” he says. Regarding Reform, he says, “Whatever they do is not good for a society where different ethnic groups live together.”
Caterina Pandolfo, 65, a mobile hairdresser in Manchester’s Gorton Market, is still undecided. Typically a Labor voter, he is put off by the prime minister and cannot forgive the treatment of the mayor of Manchester.
But he probably won’t vote for Reform as he is unimpressed with the policy proposal.
He says: “His shape [Starmer] The treatment of Andy Burnham was disgusting.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s doing very well, Keir Starmer,” he adds. “He could do so much.”
No party currently appeals to Caterina, who says she feels alienated from the political class.
“You know, wait a minute, we’re just normal, everyday working guys,” he says. “You know, for God’s sake, this is Gorton. We’re not fooling multimillionaires, are we?”
Ian Cooney, a self-described “union man”, shares this feeling of disconnection.
The 55-year-old electrical engineer from Gorton did not vote in the last general election, saying he did not trust any party to improve Gorton’s lot.
He says: “Gorton was good years ago. I’ve lived here all my life. But it’s gotten to the point where it looks like a dump.”
“There seems to be a stigma attached to us when you live in Gorton,” he says.
Ian is inclined to vote Reform as he believes Labor no longer represents him.
He says: “My father was a unionist and I’m a unionist too. I had a Labor upbringing that way but now their priorities are completely different to your working class people.”
Asked why Reform appealed, Ian says: “Labour had done it before, the Conservatives had done it before. They offered us A, B and C and it never happened.”
“Can you give it to them? [Reform] Let’s go and see if they are true to their word.’
