It was clear that a decisive win in Stoke-on-Trent was very important to Keir Starmer. In the weeks running up to the election, the Labour party poured a huge amount of resources into its campaign in the city, and its leader visited multiple times. High-profile MPs such as the Birmingham MP Jess Phillips and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, were drafted in for door-knocking in the final hours before polls closed. The candidates had been chosen early to given them maximum time for campaigning. “It felt like the national party were operating on a level that I haven’t seen since 2010,” said Gareth Snell, a former MP and current parliamentary candidate for Stoke Central. “It was genuinely firing on all cylinders. In 2019, people weren’t interested in what we had to say, we were talking a completely different language, but now we’re back.” Labour sees Stoke as a crucial former “red wall” territory that it should be aiming to win back at the next general election, and Friday morning’s results – the party took back overall control of the city council with 29 seats – bode well.
The Conservatives, who had been running the council as a minority administration, lost eight seats, handing Labour control for the first time since 2015. “It doesn’t immediately translate to a slam-dunk victory in the general election, but it does put us very much on the pitch, and for once we’re playing the right game with the right equipment,” Snell said. On the high street in Hanley, the primary centre of the six towns that make up Stoke, mention of Labour’s victory prompted happy faces among some voters on Friday morning. “We need a change; everything has been rubbish around here lately so hopefully Labour can bring things up again,” said Anna, 36. “I work in retail so I speak to a lot of people and a lot are saying the same thing – they’re sick of it, people are making promises and not fulfilling them.”
Val Smith, 75, out shopping with her husband, Ken, said: “It’s great news. It’s been terrible around here for ages. I voted for them and I’m really glad they’re in.” Among others, the mood was more muted, and many said they had not voted but were ready for a change of governance in the area. “We need more investment in the town centre, the Conservative party are just running it down, it’s terrible,” said Joe Lewis, 70, who runs a doughnut stall in the central square. “Stoke-on-Trent was Labour for years and years. They’ve got a good chance, taking over again, let’s see what happens.”
Glen Watson, a Labour candidate who took a seat from the Conservatives in the Burslem Park ward, said he felt it was a combination of frustration over local issues and disillusionment with national government that had led to Labour’s success. “There was a general feeling that the area feels neglected and let down under the Conservative administration we had,” he said. “And that tied in with a sense that Stoke has been ignored by the Tories, and all the talk about levelling up hasn’t materialised, it’s more of a sticking plaster. “We’ve had a few million pounds to put up some car parks and vanity projects, but nothing that really measures up to the amount we’ve lost in central government funding since 2010.” The £15m multistorey car park recently built by the city council on the edge of Hanley town centre has been called a waste of money by local residents and has become such a sticking point that the council has rebranded another, £18.8m, car park due to be built nearby as a “mobility hub”. “They’ve built a monstrosity and nobody uses it,” said John Harley, 72, out with his wife, Maureen, from nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme. “They’ve done nothing for this area and if anything they’ve made it worse. I’m happy to see Labour back and I’m proud to admit it.”
The backlash against the project, in a city that the Conservative former council leader Abi Brown said was the “litmus test” for levelling up, will worry the government, which has committed to moving 500 Home Office jobs to the area. All three Stoke-on-Trent MPs are Conservative after a shift away from Labour in recent years, but Labour hopes Thursday’s victory marks a significant change. “It does feel, locally and nationally, that Labour has turned a corner and is regaining a lot of lost trust in the ‘red wall’ and further afield,” Watson said. “It feels like people are coming home to Labour.”