Will they view things differently in the English Towns?

Will they view things differently in the English Towns?

Amber Valley – 6.3%
Barrow and Furness – 6.6%
Basildon South & East Thurrock – 5.6%
Batley and Spen – 6.7%
Bedford – 4%
Blackpool North and Cleveleys – 4.2%
Bolton North East – 6%
Bolton West – 5.9%
Brigg and Goole – 3.9%
Brighton Kemptown – 2.4%

Brighton Pavilion – 6.6%
Broxtowe – 2.2%
Burton – 2.4%
Bury North – 2.5%
Calder Valley – 1.4%
Carlisle – 6.7%
Chatham and Aylesford – 4.1%
Chester – 1.1%
Cleethorpes – 3%
Colne Valley – 1.3%

Copeland – 6.6%
Corby – 1.6%
Crawley – 0.05%
Derbyshire South – 2.7%
Dewsbury – 4.4%
Dorset South – 1.8%
Dover – 5.2%
Dudley North – 5.6%
Dudley South – 4.5%
Elmet and Rothwell 5.7%

Gedling – 4.8%
Gloucester – 6.4%
Great Yarmouth – 3.7%
Halesowen and Rowley Regis – 4.8%
Halifax – 4.4%
Harlow – 0.3%
Hastings and Rye – 1.3%
High Peak – 1.9%
Hove – 0.5%
Hyndburn – 6.9%

Ipswich – 5.9%
Keighley – 5.2%
Lancashire West – 7%
Leicestershire North West – 4.7%
Lincoln – 4.8%
Loughborough – 1.9%
Luton South – 7.4%
Milton Keynes North – 0.9%
Milton Keynes South – 1.5%
Morecambe and Lunesdale 5.8%

Northampton North – 4.5%
Northampton South – 1.9%
Norwich North – 8.3%
Nuneaton – 4.9%
Pendle – 2.7%
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport – 5.6%
Portsmouth North – 0.4%
Pudsey – 5.9%
Reading West – 5.7%
Redditch – 2.6%

Ribble South – 7.5% 
Romsey and Southampton North – 0.3%
Rossendale and Darwen – 4.2%
Somerset North East – 0.3%
Stafford – 2%
Stevenage – 4%
Stockton South 6.8%
Stourbridge – 1.5%
Stroud – 0.9%
Swindon North 3.1%

Swindon South – 1.8%
Tamworth – 2.9%
Telford – 7.5%
Tynemouth – 5.8%
Warrington South – 4.6%
Warwick and Leamington 5.2%
Waveney – 6%
Weaver Vale – 7%
Wolverhampton South West 2.6%
Worcester 3.8%

It was geographer, Blair Freebairn, who in his September 2007 guest slot highlighted something that I had not appreciated before – that the bulk of the key LAB-CON marginals are in the English towns away from the big conurbations.

Ever since then I’ve been meaning to go through the constituencies on the Press Association official list to try to get a feel for what Blair was saying.

I’ve stripped out LD-CON clashes, seats in the major conurbations, and in Wales and Scotland to highlight those encounters that will take place in the English towns.

Going through a list of all 650 seats I might have made the odd mistake but you do get a real sense of what this is about by identifying the English town seats.

Are things different there?

Mike Smithson

Comments are closed.