Understanding Labour’s Crisis in the North East: A Personal Reckoning.
In 2020, amid the seismic political shifts gripping the UK, I began writing a series of essays reflecting on the state of politics in the North East—particularly the faltering fortunes of the Labour Party in its historic heartlands. This project grew naturally from an earlier blog I penned in 2017, which explored Labour’s uneasy relationship with the region. Then came Hartlepool in 2021, a stark symbol of political realignment that made it impossible to ignore the urgency of the moment.
What follows is an introduction to a series of personal assessments—five or six pieces in total—offering not just a diagnosis of Labour’s woes in the North East, but also some ideas for how they might be tackled.
Before diving in, I want to thank Dave Lee, a writer and producer from Hull (the birthplace of my late father), whose sharp wit and candid insight helped spark this project last year. Despite our differences on specifics, we share a conviction: working-class communities will never be truly served by the Conservative Party. For that, Dave, I’m grateful.
From Stockton North to the ‘Red Wall’
I was born in Stockton North, once a bastion of Labour’s industrial might, now a patchwork of Conservative-held constituencies — Hartlepool, Darlington, Stockton South, Sedgefield. These shifts were unimaginable a few years ago. Even today, Stockton North’s Labour MP, Alex Cunningham, clings on by a thread, having scraped through in 2019 thanks to a fractured pro-Brexit vote splitting Conservatives and the Brexit Party—a lifeline unlikely to be repeated.
Alex and I share a history: both of us once sought Labour’s nomination for Stockton North during a mandatory reselection triggered against the sitting MP Frank Cook. Neither of us succeeded then. Frank held on for one more term; I moved away. Alex stayed, eventually taking the mantle.
My connection to the North East runs deep—not just by birth but through upbringing, education, and a seven-year stint working in a foundry, where I joined a union and fought for better wages and conditions. I served as a Labour councillor for a decade, rooted in the communities that are now politically adrift. Even as I’ve lived and worked in places like Lambeth, Greenwich, Salisbury, and Bristol, my North East DNA has remained a source of pride.
A Region Forgotten
Visits home before the pandemic were quiet observations of a region simmering with frustration—political foundations quietly eroding beneath the surface. The 2019 election was a hammer blow, echoing the pain I’d witnessed in the 1980s but magnified by its scale and swift collapse.
So in early 2020, I began to write—trying to make sense of how Labour lost its grip on predominantly white, working-class communities in the North East. My views hold no monopoly on truth, but like many, I’m frustrated that warnings went unheeded until it was too late. These words come from the heart, because that’s where the battle for Labour’s future will be fought.
The Perfect Storm
Labour’s 2019 defeat in the North East was the product of a perfect storm: a lacklustre campaign, complacency among core voters, and a widespread feeling of neglect. Since the industrial collapse of the 1980s, the region has suffered economic pain and social dislocation. What it desperately needed was a vision—a compelling, passionate plan that would restore identity, pride, and confidence.
But the political class, while reflecting the region’s hurt, often failed to articulate such a vision or inspire belief. Meanwhile, the Conservatives tailored a campaign directly to the simmering concerns of North East voters. Their messaging tapped into Brexit anxieties and disillusionment with Labour leadership, but beneath that lay deeper shifts within the Conservative Party itself.
The New Conservative Order
The traditional Conservative Party, once led by Theresa May and grounded in Christian values and establishment capital, has been eclipsed. Today’s party is dominated by new money and radical libertarian ideas, deeply entwined with right-wing agitators in the US. Boris Johnson, once sceptical of Brexit, has become little more than a public puppet—caught between his own ambitions and the demands of powerful political interests.
During my nearly two decades working in London local government, including the years when Johnson was Mayor, his administration was marred by nepotism and chaos. He projected an image of the “man of the people,” charming but untrustworthy, quick with a promise and quicker to spin a story—an opportunistic wheeler-dealer whose antics masked deeper political fractures.
Johnson’s appeal to working-class voters was often wrapped in a cheeky caricature: the lovable rogue, the underdog struggling against the odds. This persona allowed him to exploit divisions within communities once loyal to Labour, especially those feeling forgotten or left behind.
Labour’s Decline Beyond Brexit
Labour’s losses in its traditional heartlands are not just about Brexit or nationalist forces. The decline has been steady for two decades across Scotland, the North East, and the Midlands. Even during the Corbyn surge in 2017, Labour failed to win enough votes to form government. The party’s vast membership and institutional strength masked fundamental weaknesses exposed in 2019’s electoral rout.
Between 2017 and 2019, Labour lost nearly 10% of its vote share. Historic strongholds like Bolsover and Sedgefield saw long-standing majorities erode—victims of creeping social and economic resentments, not just Brexit. The so-called ‘red wall’ collapse was engineered with a blend of luck, ruthless strategy, and the exploitation of genuine grievances—many of which had roots in policies long supported by the Conservatives themselves.
Looking Ahead
The Conservatives’ breach of Labour’s northern heartlands was high-risk but meticulously calculated, targeting working-class voters who had never before swung Tory. Boris Johnson’s opportunism makes him a formidable opponent in the North—a political shape-shifter adept at exploiting division and disenchantment.
Labour’s path to recovery in the North East won’t be easy. It requires more than nostalgia or empty promises. It demands a hard-eyed reckoning with the past, an acceptance of how things unraveled, and a bold new vision that reconnects with the identity, pride, and hopes of working-class communities.
This is just the beginning of that conversation. The story of Labour’s North East crisis is far from over—and its future will depend on who has the courage to listen, learn, and lead.
Irregular Frequencies 