CHESTER, United Kingdom, April 22, (APP/AFP) –
With Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives dominating Britain’s opinion polls, opposition MPs are bracing for a fierce election fight — none more so than in Chester, where Labour’s majority is just 93.
The Roman fortress town in north-west England has long been a political bellwether, going Labour with the rest of Britain in 1997 and Conservative in 2010 — and it is now a key battleground for the June 8 snap election.
As elsewhere in the country, the outcome will depend in part on how the debate is framed — whether on local issues, party leadership, the government’s record, or Britain’s looming exit from the European Union.
In national opinion polls, Labour is running up to 24 points behind May’s Conservatives — but Chester MP Chris Matheson, who won the seat with the slimmest of margins in 2015, is bullish.
“We had a fight on our hands last time and we won, and we’ve got a fight on our hands this time — and we’re going to win as well,” he told AFP.
His local party says it is ready for the campaign — while the
Conservatives have yet to even choose a parliamentary candidate.
Local Tories are playing down expectations, admitting they were “bruised” by their defeat two years ago, which bucked the national trend — and also saw them lose control of the local council.
“It’s not a shoo-in. We’ve got nothing to lose now and we really hope to win,” said city councillor Pamela Hall.
But analysts say that Chester, an increasingly affluent pocket of Labour’s north-west heartland, is deeply vulnerable.
“This must be at the top of Theresa May’s hitlist of constituencies to win from Labour to boost her majority,” said Simon Lee, senior politics lecturer at the University of Hull.