Five years after the Tories won over the ‘red wall’ with a pledge to restore deprived areas, voters in the north-east say they’ve given up waiting for change
- No progress made on half of levelling-up targets
- Report card: how the Tories’ pledges stack up today
- Britain’s levelling up agenda stymied from the start
Two days after his landslide election victory in 2019, Boris Johnson practically crowdsurfed into Sedgefield cricket club. Jubilant fans at the venue in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, craned for a photo, one thrust upon him their family pet, and another begged him to sign a copy of the Northern Echo, headlined: “Tory tsunami from the Wear to the Tees”.
“There was an absolutely huge buzz in the place,” said Jean Gillespie, 69, in the same function room this week, whipping out her phone to show a picture with the former prime minister: “I got a snog and a selfie.”
