The run-up to a byelection triggered after the local MP was caught in a sting reveals an electorate with little faith in the main parties
Behind the facade of the bright lights on the Blackpool seafront is a town yearning for regeneration. The magistrates court, crumbling from Raac, no longer hears cases. Visitors to the South Shore area behind the famous pleasure beach attraction expecting hustle and bustle are instead greeted with a sombre mood created by disillusionment and a lack of trust.
“Scott Benton is a dirty rotten scoundrel,” says Dale Dodwell, the manager of the tattoo parlour Monsters Ink. “He keeps putting up pictures of him eating loads of food. What about the homeless? All good for you because you have loads of money.”
