A mean mood in Makerfield

The first person I spoke to in Ashton-in-Makerfield told me that they were voting for Restore Britain.

On June 18, voters in the Makerfield constituency will go to the polls, where they could have the choice of the next Prime Minister.

If they elect the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, he will almost certainly become Britain’s next Prime Minister, and if they elect Reform’s Robert Kenyon, the Labour Party will implode.

I was surprised then, given that there was a clear run at delivering a major blow to Labour, that its biggest haters might waste a shot on goal by voting for a minor third party.

But Mark, 65, was intent on doing just that, and on convincing his wife Marlene, a wavering Reform voter, to do the same.

I met them on their way to a Restore Party meeting being held in the Brynn Community Club, formerly a Labour Club, and now the local campaign headquarters for Restore.

After a brief conversation, Mark invited me to join them. They took a taxi, and I made my way on foot. I caught the tail end of the meeting, where around thirty attendees were being organised into canvassing teams.

The crowd was split between Zoomers and Boomers, and was around two thirds male. They appeared to come from different walks of life, and sounded like they had journeyed from different parts of the country.

Some wore rain coats, others bomber jackets, and one, an ill-fitting suit, but they were overall a reasonably well put together group.

After the organiser concluded his remarks, I approached him to learn more about Restore’s operation, and to hear about the responses on the doorstep.

He seemed in no mood to talk and declined to tell me his name. So, instead, I made conversation with nearby volunteers who were buzzing about enthusiastically. I asked if I could take their photos as they handed out bundles of leaflets and sorted through return sheets.

But I was told the club rules prohibited photography, and agreed with the organiser I would speak to him outside, after he finalised his canvassing plans.

Standing on the road, I invited the canvassers to pose for a photo in front of the club, one ducked out and the others stood (mostly) smiling, holding up their leaflets.

The organiser, who I would later learn was the disgraced former Tory MP Scott Benton, came out through the doors, onto the street, and put a word in the ear of one of his aides.

“You have been taking photos of people without their consent!” He said, and the pair turned on me.

Although I tried to explain that his volunteers had posed for a photograph, he was having none of it — and one of the volunteers, who had previously been all smiles, claimed to have “revoked” their consent.

I looked pleadingly to the people with whom I had just been chatting away, but none of them came to my aid. I was quickly rounded on by half a dozen Restorers, demanding my press card and hurling accusations. One short angry man, standing behind me, appeared closer each time I turned around, like the Weeping Angels from Dr Who, laying charges against me faster than I could answer them.

Back in Ashton town centre, I visited the Golden Lion for an orange juice, and although the barmaid said she wasn’t interested in politics, there was a table of four which had been talking about nothing else, and she pointed me their way.

“I’m talking to people about the by-election.”

“Well, take a seat!”

“Are you voting for Labour, or Reform?”

“I’m voting for Restore.”

Surely not.

It turned out, “posh” Steve, 66, was joking, and that he, friend Colin, and their wives, Joyce and Julie, would all be voting for Reform. 

He did, however, to his wife’s annoyance, pull up a picture of the Restore candidate, Rebecca Shepard, on his phone, to “compliment” her appearance. 

“How could you not vote for her?” He said.

Colin was an ex-miner, Steve, an IT worker — hence “posh” — and their wives had worked for the council. Historically, they had all been Labour voters, but now all had a myriad of reasons for voting Reform.

There was a long list of complaints, beginning with Labour’s response to Brexit — “They tried to kick democracy in the teeth” — decline in the town — “We have people sleeping in doorways” — immigration — “illegal people are changing the way we live” — and rape gangs — “They have known all about them but lie to defend the Muslims.”

“It’s not good old England any more.”

After half an hour of hearing their grievances, which included the fall of Constantinople to “Islam” in 1453, I was keen to gauge the level of support for Labour in the town.

“Who would your friends and family vote for?” I asked.

Amongst their friends and family, they figured there was a 50:50 split between supporters of Reform, and of Labour. 

As to who might win, Steve suggested Labour might squeak it because “People will vote for Restore thinking it’s Reform because they begin with the same letter.

After speaking with some passers-by on the street, all of whom were apathetic, or voting for Reform, I became anxious that I had yet to find a Labour voter.

While many people told me their friends and family might vote Labour, nobody would confess to it.

In search of a potential Labour voter, I spoke to a 40 something Portuguese business owner, who complained that there were too many immigrants trying to change the British way of life.

“My morals are in line with British values, that’s why I came here, I didn’t come here to change the country.”

Despite being resident in the UK for well over a decade, she hadn’t obtained citizenship, and so could not vote. But she told me she was considering naturalisation in order to, potentially, vote for Nigel Farage. 

Ashton, the largest town in the constituency, was relatively leafy and pleasant to walk through. Compared to large parts of the post-industrial north, it was holding up well.

But as residents tell it, it used to be so much more. There has been no real answer to the closure of the pits and the collapse of heavy industry, and good local jobs are increasingly scarce. 

The constituency has an average age of 51, compared to the national average of 41, with the young in exodus to Manchester and Liverpool.

For generations, heavy industry and coal mining kept the town in full employment, and voters returned Labour MPs with overwhelming majorities.

But when I visited, it took almost three hours before I found someone willing to admit that they were voting Labour. 

Truck driver Nick, 65, praised Andy Burnham as a good mayor, citing the buses coming into public ownership. “You can go to Manchester for £2, where else could you have that?”

Reform, he said, were “idiots” who were concerned with “racial shit”.

“We’ve always been multicultural, good luck kicking them out.”

Nick, who moved up from London around 17 years ago and still sounds like a geezer, was emphatic in his support for Burnham.

He was scathing about Starmer — who he said, was disliked, and had failed to deliver — but predicted Labour would win locally with Burnham as the candidate.

I wanted to know if Nick was at all interested about Reform’s messaging about illegal migration. “That’s different, that does bother me.”

But he said, it would be Burnham who would “stop the boats”, adding “When he promises, he delivers.

Vicky, 47, a local mum and usual Labour voter, said she was unsure who to vote for, despite the fact “Burnham has done good for Manchester.”

“Will you vote for Reform?”

“God no, Reform are racist … I’m worried about the NHS, my son wouldn’t be alive without it and Farage wants to sell it off.”

“Would you vote for the Tories?”

“No that’s just Reform … a lot of Reform is just Tories jumping ship.”

Beyond Reform, Labour and Restore, there was no evidence that other parties were contesting this election, and no voter, out of the dozens I spoke to, thought to mention the Greens or Liberal Democrats.

While Reform’s supporters were loud and enthusiastic, I suspect Labour will draw significant support from the mums at the school gates, renters, and from younger workers, even if it can’t count on the ex-miners in the pubs and social clubs, or on the local business owners.

That might be enough to get them over the line. Makerfield is one of Labour’s safest seats, returning Josh Simons MP with 45 per cent of the vote in the last election.

Reform placed a strong second, polling 32 per cent, but my feeling is, despite the evidence of my own eyes, that come polling day enough voters will rally around Labour to block Farage.

Perhaps that is why Reform are putting so much emphasis on the local credentials of their candidate, Robert Kenyon, a plumber and army reservist who contested the election for Reform last time around.

I went to Ashton with the view that the election was Burnham’s to lose, and I have not changed my mind

If there is a right-wing majority here, and there might be, Kenyon’s best shot is to marshal it behind his banner. But Restore Britain won’t make it easy – a cohort of dedicated activists, and a hardcore of supporters are all in, come what may. While Restore won’t win, and might not even save their deposit, in a close race they might take enough votes to deny the seat to Reform.

I went to Ashton with the view that the election was Burnham’s to lose, and I remain of that view. Despite the fact I could count no more than two Labour voters, my sense is that the race is close, notwithstanding an enormous enthusiasm gap between Reform and Labour voters.

While Reform voters were happy to shout from the rooftops — literally, in one case — Labour voters will, I think, quietly make their mark in the polling booth — not because they are excited, or because they particularly like what Labour has become, but to keep Farage out. In this effort, they might find Restore an unexpected bedfellow.