Jack Blanchard: Voters who lived in the shadow of financial meltdown

Home for many years to Britain's largest building society before its merger with the Bank of Scotland, Halifax was as unprepared as the rest of the country when HBOS suddenly found itself teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in late 2008, with thousands of jobs at risk.

As Labour try desperately to cling on to a seat they have held since 1987, the big question remains – how much impact will the HBOS collapse have when the town goes to the polls on May 6?

"Everyone was angry when it happened, but I think people blame the bankers more than the politicians for that," said Andrew Howans, a 46-year-old estate agent. "At the end of the day, people will vote on the economy – how much money is in their pocket. Unless you're one of those unlucky enough to have lost a job at HBOS, it's more the knock-on effects of the credit crunch that people are worried about. There's a lot of people who won't vote Labour again now."

Halifax's incumbent MP is Linda Riordan, who won the seat after long-serving Labour left-winger Alice Mahon stepped down in 2005. Much like her predecessor, Ms Riordan has proved herself one of the region's biggest Labour rebels, voting against the Government on occasions during 2008-09 and four times during the last Parliament.

Despite the party's battering in the polls, her support seems to be holding up on the campaign trail in Ovenden, a suburb to the north

of the town centre and classic Labour territory,

"Labour'll still get my vote," said retired resident John

Cunningham. "I've voted that way my whole life and nothing will change it now."

Pensioner Bridget Barr agreed: "When I worked at the infirmary here, Maggie Thatcher did me out of a job – they privatised the hospital cleaners and look at what's happened since, with all these bugs. I'd never vote Conservative."

Despite such sentiments, Labour's majority of less than 3,500 leaves them in a precarious position , with the Tories requiring a swing of just 4.38 per cent to take Halifax for the first time in more than 20 years.

Leading the charge is their candidate Philip Allott, a former Mayor of Knaresborough and a member of David Cameron's famous "A-list" of centrally-chosen prospective MPs.

Mr Allott caused something of a stir among the party grassroots when he suggested back in 2007 that the Tories "must consider stopping local candidates applying for safe and marginal seats" altogether, in an effort to see more A-list candidates selected.

Such sentiments have been less on show since he won the Halifax selection, however, with Mr Allott's campaign website describing him as a "Yorkshire man" with connections to Halifax which "date back to his childhood".

The local Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, already a distant third in Halifax, were thrown into disarray last summer when their candidate Diane Park suddenly quit the party at the height of the expenses row.

Ms Park declared herself "shocked and appalled" at the scandal

engulfing Westminster and will now stand as an independent, pledging to fight for tax cuts for the poorest, free higher education and more investment in renewable energy – a little like the Lib Dems, then.

The Lib Dems themselves have since chosen a new candidate, Elisabeth Wilson, but must fear that their vote will now be split.

Whether a strong independent candidate can pull the support of disenchanted voters away from more extreme parties remains to be seen, however.

The British National Party performed strongly in Halifax in 2005, winning 6.6 per cent of the vote, and has since claimed a council seat in the deprived ward of Illingworth and Mixenden.

The far-right party's presence has already caused local controversy in the build-up to this year's election, with a Question Time-style public event between candidates being cancelled after Ms Riordan refused to share a platform with the BNP.

"For me, it's personal," she said. "My relatives lost their lives in the war fighting fascism."

Halifax's vast former headquarters on Trinity Road remain an iconic reminder of the town's proud banking heritage, and some 6,500 people still work for the company in the region.

It's such people who will determine whether Ms Riordan is re-elected or the town votes for change.

A-Z of Yorkshire constituencies

A run-through of the constituencies in our continuing tour of the battlegrounds:

Halifax

n Current MP: Linda Riordan, Labour

n Notional majority: 3,481

n Last election: Swing 3.3% Lab

to Lib Dem

Confirmed candidates:

n Conservative – Philip Allott

n Labour – Linda Riordan

n Liberal Democrat – Elisabeth Wilson

n BNP – Tom Bates

n Independent Voice for Halifax – Diane Park

n UKIP – Jay Sangha