How a town with a history of hate for the Tories may turn blue

Wigan is a long and winding lane from the images portrayed by George Orwell in his book The Road To Wigan Pier.

It's where I was born, where I grew up, and first became a journalist. I had my wedding reception at the 19th century country house, Haigh Hall.

All my family were there including my grandad, a former miner and life-long Labour voter like so many other Wiganers.

Indeed, the Wigan I know has only ever been a Labour stronghold. It hasn't been blue for more than 100 years.

It was way back in 1910 that Conservative candidate Sir Reginald James Neville, a barrister, won the seat at the second time of asking that year. He served for eight years until Labour reclaimed the town and subsequently continued to dominate the polls for the next century.

Now though it's once again on the Conservative party hit list and this is why.

Wigan fits into the 'Workington Man' target group for the 2019 election. According to the right-leaning think-tank Onward, 'Workington Man' are working class rugby league town voters - over 45, white, without a degree and who voted Leave in the 2016 referendum. They want out of Europe and as soon as possible.

Wigan ticks many of those boxes but there's a problem.

Wigan has a history of hate with the Conservative party, particularly Margaret Thatcher who crushed the miners' strike back in the mid-80s. Coal ran through the veins of Wiganers. Everyone knew someone who worked down the pits and whenever there was a mining disaster it would devastate the town.

As a young reporter I remember an explosion at the Golborne colliery which claimed the lives of 10 local men. A build up of methane ignited and shot a fireball along a tunnel 1,800 feet underground. A shocked community came together to support those left grieving.

It was five years later when the miners' strike gripped Wigan and the town once again joined forces to rally around its mining community with food parcels and financial support for families brought down by a Thatcher government.

That though was more than 30 years ago and times have changed.

Tory is no longer a dirty word in my hometown. Instead Brexit is what seems to unite Wigan. Pushing two-thirds of people voted to leave in 2016. Wiganers expect their politicians to keep their word. They just want it done.

The question is are they angry and exasperated enough to turn their faces away from Labour and vote Conservative for the first time since 1910? We'll know by the week before Christmas.

Perhaps a worthwhile footnote. Last time the town turned out to vote Tory was during an election held in the cold, chilly, bleak month of December.

Kay will be reporting live from Wigan on KayBurley@Breakfast on Paste BN between 7am and 9am

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