Commentators cite city’s strong economy and Yorkshire’s conservative tradition
Leeds will be home to a new Conservative party headquarters, it was announced at the Conservative virtual party conference on Saturday. The move is intended to cement the party’s position in a part of the country that voted strongly to help Boris Johnson secure a landslide victory in the last election.
Experts are not surprised about the choice of venue, citing the city’s strong economy, universities and good transport links. Neil Lee, a professor of economic geography at LSE, said: “Leeds has been the unsung success story of the north in that the economy there has done relatively well compared to other cities such as Sheffield. It has done pretty well, and Yorkshire is often quite a Conservative place – there is a strong conservative tradition there, which is quite important.”
