David Skelton: The Tories can be bold and triumph in hostile territory

WINNING votes in the North presents a real challenge for the Conservatives. David Cameron’s party needs to do more to empathise with Northern voters, as well as understanding and acting on Northern concerns, if it is to make headway in 2015.

Despite making some progress in Yorkshire at the last election, the Conservatives still have a long way to go if they are to become a truly national party again.

Great swathes of the North now have no Conservative representation whatsoever. Some of the biggest cities, including Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester, are Tory-free zones. Cameron’s party is now in third place in many seats it once held and yesterday’s Regional Growth Fund announcement will only go so far.

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In many areas, voting Conservative has become counter cultural. There is little evidence that the situation is getting better since the election. One recent poll showed that only 11 per cent of voters in the North believe that the Conservatives understand the North, with 65 per cent disapproving of the Government’s record.

Is it possible for the Conservatives to turn the situation around?

That will only be possible if the party begins to understands the nature of the problem, allowing it to consider a solution that matches the problem. Three themes need to be considered.

The continuing cost of deindustrialisation

I was brought up in the former steel working town of Consett in County Durham. Like many working class towns across the North, it was felt that if you were born and brought up in Consett, the Conservatives were not the party for you.

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They were regarded as the party of the South and the party of the rich. To many people in Consett, the Tory party was the party that had presided over the closure of the steelworks and behaved as though it didn’t care about the social consequences. Many in the town still associate Conservatives with deindustrialisation, unemployment and the social problems that followed in their wake. Likewise the mines in Yorkshire.

Dealing with this might include a vocal realisation from Conservative politicians that, while economic changes were necessary, social consequences of those changes damaged communities and social cohesion. 

While Conservatives rightly issued a mea culpa around policies towards gay people and ethnic minorities, gaining them greater credibility within those communities, they still have to address discontent in these parts.

Such a move can only go so far.  Addressing past issues is important, but far less important than proposing solutions for social and economic problems facing the North today.

The Tories’ empathy problem

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Growing up in a working class community, you came across a clear belief that the Conservatives didn’t really understand or empathise with the North – the “them and us” dichotomy.

Last year, I stood as a Tory candidate in North Durham. People seemed surprised that somebody from my kind of background was standing as a Tory. “You have a very unusual background for a Tory,” said one TV interviewer – as though all Tories were supposed to be pin stripe dressed products of Southern public schools.

I was struck by how surprised that people were that their Tory candidate had a North Eastern accent and a working class background.

Therein lies another Tory problem – they aren’t seen as being “people like us”. Seeing a Conservative who comes from an ordinary background is regarded as something to express surprise about. Despite the presence of Eric Pickles, William Hague and Justine Greening in the Cabinet, the Government still has a gilded and Southern look and sound.

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The Conservatives must look to broaden their social base, so that people in the North can relate to and empathise with people representing the party.

The Tories need policies dedicated to the North

The Government can also take proactive policy steps to regain ground in the North.

The Conservatives must go out of their way to emphasise particular steps being taken to build infrastructure and create jobs in Yorkshire and elsewhere. They must make clear that they aren’t prepared to accept high unemployment and are taking real measures to encourage job creation.

The Government could invest in transport infrastructure to improve road and rail links between Northern towns, planning laws could be loosened to help Northern cities expand and the effect of national pay bargaining could be reviewed. Measures to reform childcare support, enhance state education, cut energy bills and rebalance the economy will also play well with Northern voters.

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For some in the Conservative Party, parts of the North still represent an electoral no go area. Such a world view is unnecessarily limiting and devoid of ambition.

A Tory comeback in the North is possible. To make it a reality, the party needs to take bold steps to renew its appeal to Northern voters and introduce bold policies specifically designed to help the North.

David Skelton is deputy director of Policy Exchange, a leading political think-tank.