General Election 2017: Hard slog on the Tyne as Tories turn fire on Labour strongholds

Not-so-safe seat: Labour’s Alan Campbell
Craig Connor
WEST END FINAL

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“We have got people here tripping over themselves saying they can’t vote for Corbyn,” says Tory candidate Nick Varley as he points at canvassing maps of the Tynemouth constituency he is trying to win for his party for the first time since 1997.

“Ten years ago these were places we would have been shouted out of but now it’s different. There is no crossover between the good, solid Northerner and what the Labour Party thinks.” Inevitably, the assertions of the 27-year-old, who ran the Vote Leave ground campaign in the EU referendum, are disputed by his Labour opponent. Alan Campbell, the party’s deputy chief whip and a former home office minister, is defending a majority of 8,240.

He admits the seat — one of a swathe of Labour strongholds in the North-East now in Tory sights — is a marginal and he is facing a “tough” fight. But he insists there is “no sign” of traditional Labour supporters switching to the Tories and his rivals are “getting a flea in their ear” when they go to Labour areas. The former history teacher also dismisses suggestions that the 6,541 Ukip voters from the last election are going uniformly Tory, claiming that some are returning to Labour. He says Brexit is not the defining issue in a constituency where an estimated 52.4 per cent backed Remain in the referendum.

Challenger: Conservative Nick Varley
Craig Connor

“There is a real attempt by the Tories to make the election about Brexit but on the doorstep that’s not what we are finding,” Mr Campbell says, adding that job insecurity, school funding, the NHS, seaside regeneration and the fishing industry are bigger issues. Brexit will benefit the latter by ending the Common Fisheries Policy, he suggests — but adds that economic progress elsewhere will depend on a partnership between businesses and local Labour politicians which victory for his party will help to cement.

However he admits Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership is a “concern” for some; an admission borne out on the streets close to Tynemouth Castle. Chris Moseley, a retired Marks and Spencer, manager is sitting outside a bar and says she will vote Labour but expects the Tories to win. “There is no real head of Labour,” she says of Mr Corbyn. “He’s a nice man but he’s got no charisma and he’s never going to appeal to the masses.”

Joe Hughes, who runs a training business, is even more scathing. He voted Leave and will back the Tories. “I can’t say I’m terribly impressed by the Conservative manifesto. But Jeremy Corbyn is unimpressive … he’s hopeless.”

However, Breanna Winger, 33, a registrar at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, will vote Labour and says Mr Corbyn is a “very honest, nice man”. She adds: “I believe in the welfare state and I’m horrified by what the Conservatives are doing for the NHS.”

In Balkwell, a less affluent area, a succession of residents tell Mr Campbell they are lifelong Labour supporters. Martial arts instructor John Atkin, 43, concedes Mr Corbyn is “not so hot on defence” but otherwise has policies which appeal to him.

Back in his campaign office, Mr Varley — who was raised in County Durham but has been living in the Chilterns, where he is a councillor — prepares for Philip Hammond, the latest Tory big gun to visit, confirming their optimism that Tynemouth could fall. He said: “On the doorstep, people have rightly judged this election to be about who leads us through this very challenging period and it’s Theresa May not Jeremy Corbyn they want.” Mr Campbell insists he will survive and suggests Mr Varley will suffer on polling day because of his “very tenuous” links to the area. “We keep coming up against this Tory machine that bangs away in the hope that one day they’ll beat us. We’re going to make sure they don’t.”

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