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Leigh in Greater Manchester was a Labor stronghold. A former mining and milling town, it was once Andy Burnham’s constituency. But in 2019 this was swept away as the city voted for Boris Johnson.
Helen Peed, then the Guardian’s northern editor frequented it – and in 2020 people there told her why Labor had lost its luster for them. Four years later, with Labor cautiously hopeful that they could reclaim the city, she returned to find out what had changed.
She found a city where the cost of living crisis and a sense of being left behind had narrowed ambitions. She met up once again with Jamie-Lea, then 16, who was about to start her first part-time job. At the time, she said her hopes for the future included wanting to not worry about money. Now a 20-year-old student, Jamie-Lea told Helen she had three jobs and was considering leaving the country. Has Labor done enough to offer voters like Jamie-Leah hope for the future and ensure the return of towns like Leigh?
Photo: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
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