The Tories in the north-east: the new 'workers party' goes into battle | Anywhere but Westminster

- check on the stand for Parliament in this area for the Conservatives conservative yeah the northeast is barren territory for the Tories they hold only two of the 28 seats in all right okay thank you but a determined group of campaigners are trying to start a conservative revival among other things they're trying to sell David Cameron's claim that the Tories are now the party of working people like to think that converts some people on the door step beyond your reach what is your conservatism all about well I think you know I boil it down to you know the Conservative Party we're a party you've ever hand off and rather than a hand out we want to give people the opportunity we want to raise aspirations and and rather than then just letting them live the way they live why do you vote conservative I'm working as opposed to as a personnel we're right why do you think so many people in the Northeast are still voting labour possibly because a lot of a man in work the Marigny though yeah so they're voting for the party of labour because they're not working five minutes down the road in the same constituency is Southbank once a thriving industrial area our South Bank doing daleon don't death I worked on the shipyard seven times on the shipyard nearly choked on his own tongue that goes down yeah just all right no way I've gone that we don't Evans I drink on the corners slowly really I didn't say there we go knowledge wise when did you last have a job I would sign extraction lobby around again sounds a lot a lot of people of people have to go no one's got any money exactly with the industrialization long-term unemployment and nowadays benefit sanctions South Bank feels like the embodiment of over 30 years of neglect and the malign aspects of Tory rule of past and present used to be a chip shop up there that was after the war got knocked down I'm something as I understand it of a sight of a fish and chip shop it was run by my great-grandfather and my grandfather and his siblings when this place was a thriving industrial area thought about moving away yeah plenty of towns with something the money to get away or somewhere decent start off properly provided the funding to go I find the money if I had the money I'd be gone was gold I would shoot these so far I've been to other places where you see scenes like this is because the builders have been compulsory purchase pending something else this says for sale right so this has just been emptied out race to the ground and depopulated for the platelets places I've ever been in Britain definitely what do you what do you think feel the effects of the Conservative Party down the years on this part of zero don't nothing for us that the conservative effort the rich from South Bank we go to South field another political desert for the Tories in the center of Middlesbrough we've come to meet Simon Clarke the Conservative candidate here who's out campaigning alone on the street with lots of houses Association properties well I vote for the lever you know we're we're very keen to it through all that you know we break the cliche view like it's labour for one group services for another he's trying to sell the Tories new right to buy policy you be interested in buying your own home and you think you think that's a positive thing yeah you wouldn't you wouldn't particular this at this particular is it you know it's all about meeting new people and it does show I mean one of the central themes I've raised is Labour's neglect of the Heartland areas and of this town in particular they are and it's born it is born out in very low turnouts as well people locally don't seem to be getting anything from the local politicians hello sir my name is Simon I'm your conservative parliamentary candidate for the general election do you rent this property yesterday that the prime minister explained the Conservatives new policy on right to bar whether that would that interest knew whether that you know whether you'd be interested in saving to actually own a home you work yeah you pay your rent yeah there's nothing left right now it's just like pays you go ahead just pay your rent on time yeah you don't get addicted yeah life's pay-as-you-go just like a phone's pay-as-you-go you just think about the next two or three weeks are you going to be like time to eat and as always can you offer him our offer to him in the context of our own security I'd said 80% of all many jobs that we've created during the five years of this government have actually been full-time the policies that we're delivering on increasing employment hopefully increasing skills and apprenticeships you know actually that we do offer a path to a better life there's no question labor our gonna win this seat but as with so many supposedly the heartlands that we go to there's not much political heart here most people you spoke to don't really know the difference between the two main parties they don't really have much of a sense of what Labour stands for I mean to be polite they say they'll give sign with year ago anybody who said we're labour here and shut the door I guess in my naivety that's what I was half-expecting but that's not it's not that's our place anymore maybe we catch up again with Simon in South Middlesbrough where he's been helping with the canvassing in a seat that always think they can win we're much more comfortably off part of Middlesbrough now in their mark the Tories think they might snatch this seat from labour this is about my granddad retired you left the chip shop the south and bank took a degree as a mature student and he became an industrial chemist as part of the great economic uplift that happened around the Second World War thinking back to the South Bank now which is every four or five miles from me it's hard to imagine many lives following a similar path places like South Bank need help they do need help some of that is practical self-help and that's why welfare reform that we've delivered is so important it's about making sure that it's not either an acceptable life choice or indeed an inevitable destination doesn't it doesn't drive social mobility I don't think it's social mobility is about in in in that sense almost any movement has got to be in the right direction to go to about you mean almost any movement if you're trapped in South Bank then you know this is the government which is opening doors rather than slamming them in your face it's about not saying that welfare is somewhere you just accept this is about our northeastern journey ends this is the constituency of Stockton South one with the Tories from labor in 2010 they might lose it this time that could conceivably mean the Conservatives go down to only one seat are 28 of the Northeast so James Wharton the candidate playing for high stakes the Conservatives are trying to revive that politics in the Northeast against huge odds but a lot of what they've done is reinforced - resentful image of the Tories that goes back to the 1980 she ruined us didn't she and yet they push on talking about rising economic success property ownership and self-help the problem is it all rings hollow in too many places you know what the Conservative Party stands so my dog wagging an election and all government in it school mentality Portland or nothing for you if that party fails to get a second term in government attention in sorry politics might finally reach breaking point so you once waited Liberal Democrat now you've got a hammer and sickle on your lapel how do you feel looking back about the fact you did it I think it's a bit of an embarrassment when you do admit this to people but you know we were lied to the Lib Dems Nick Clegg in particular they betrayed a generation

Channel: The Guardian

Views: 87,221

Keywords: general election 2015, election 2015, election, uk election, uk general election, anywhere but westminster, tory, conservative, middlesborough, newcastle, england, poverty, austerity, cuts, social housing, conservative party, labour party, labour, greens, green party, ukip, miliband, ed miliband, david cameron, nigel farage, government, voting, southbank, south bank, industry, economy, general election predictions, 2015, teeside, benefits, welfare, thatcher, thatcherism, housing crisis

Id: ekR3yZlWQ-s

Length: 9min 11sec (551 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 23 2015