So reports The Times:
Nick Clegg mounted his most sustained assault on the Labour heartlands yesterday with a journey from Burnley to Redcar in which he pitched the Liberal Democrats as the party of the northern working class.
It was a bold thrust from a Westminster School old boy at the head of a party that has thrived in more prosperous parts, and he seemed to recognise the scale of the task as he made his appeal in a church in Burnley. “I understand that for some people it feels like almost a betrayal not to vote Labour but to start investing your trust in another party,” he said.
He delivered the same message in a park in the village of Marsden, on the side of the Colne Valley, and in Redcar, where the decommissioning of the Corus steelworks could put 1,600 out of work. Labour had betrayed its own voters, he said.
You can read the full story here.
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6 Comments
Thought you might enjoy this video on the ‘dangers’ of a hung parliament:
Burnley turned it back on the Labour Party some time ago. The question is whether the opposition to Labour will be too split again – or whether it will unite behind Gordon Birtwistle sufficiently for him to win. My guess is that it will.
Tony Greaves
Nick Clegg and Gordon Birtwhistle as the new Liberal Democrat MP for Burnley would do the best job to diffuse tension and unite the residents who deserve the best alternative to more salutary neglect from Labour.
I belief the speeches made by our Leader to the northern working class families in the marginals was done with total sincerity.
It is time to free the Northern Cities from the yoke of Labour control when local Liberal Democrats will do so much more responsible job on the issues that are important in the future.
The Times dilutes the message with their selective quotation. I think it’s worth quoting that section of Nick Clegg’s speech in full:
“I know lots of people who have not voted Labour in the last couple of elections but whose families, whose communities, have been supporting Labour for 20, 30, 40 years and remember what their grandfathers and grandmothers told them about being a Labour-supporting family.
“What I say to people in that position is, I understand how difficult it is to break those old habits.
“I understand that for some people it feels like almost a betrayal not to vote Labour but to start investing your trust in another party.
“But what I say to you is, you have not betrayed Labour, Labour has betrayed you.”
Trouble int’ marginals!
Labour support is now overwhelmingly from the CD social classes. Bigotgate might have loosened that grip a little, so we may as well go in for the kill and gun for second place.