Importance of Gorton and Denton

[Acommonreader]

I don’t want to get into the candidates or parties here! Please can someone tell me why huge attention is being given to this by election ?
I know that it’s been Labour for a long time but it seems to be publicised as hugely important to all concerned. Is it just a potential indication of future voting or something else?
I have been looking for information but it’s all about the candidates rather than the wider significance of the results beyond the victor. I’m genuinely just try to understand the wider picture. Thanks

Yep. The red wall is currently turquoise, as is large parts of Wales. All former Labour heartlands.

https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/latest-insights/more-in-common-s-january-mrp/

This is one of the most bizarre statements I've ever read re: voting. Who you vote for (in any election) isn't a defining part of your personality FGS !!

But it is. As a lifelong Labour voter I’d hold my nose and vote Tory if that was the only way of keeping Reform out. My aversion to Farage et al is visceral.

I can relate.

And if the polling data is a good guide, many feel the same way about Starmer. I don’t ‘do’ hate - but I utterly despise the person.

Except for me it really is.

Why can you see a move away from Labour? For what reasons, please?

Fair enough, to you, who you vote for is a defining part of your personality. For most people, many of who are floating voters, I don't think it's that tribal.

It’s clearly not tribal or I wouldn’t even think of handing my vote to a party I dislike in order to keep out one I detest.

Oh Starmer, another u-turn….

What's Goodwin up to?

Positive engagement, it appears.

Believe that you’ll believe anything.

He seems very cocky in that letter. I'd be very suspicious.

There is nothing remotely bizarre about it if you base your voting intentions on moral values rather than perceived self interest.

To shift from left leaning values to far right values overnight would necessitate a very dramatic personality shift indeed. You would basically have to abandon any pre-existing notions about right or wrong and start again from scratch. You would be a totally different person with a totally different understanding of morality.

Of course, if you base your vote on your own (perceived) self interest, then you won't see it in the same way.

It isn't tribal, it's about values.

This framing doesn’t mean much. We got landslides with Blair and Johnson and then post 2024 Labour voters moving to Reform. People don’t change that much, politicians just lose their vote.

Are you saying that people who vote for left leaning parties have higher moral values than those who vote for right leaning parties because I'd have to respectfully disagree.

Remember, Bloss - it’s the ‘far right’ who are a threat to democracy….

Ironically, the Labour councillors will now do worse than if Starmer had not tried to cancel the local elections in the first place.

Another own goal by your hapless leader.

I don’t think it’s correct either but I do see similar posts on here from Labour.

Starmer didn't try to cancel anything 🙄.

No, that isn't actually what I said at all (regardless of what I might personally think on the matter ). Read my post again.

I said that some people decide their voting intentions on the basis of their core values - whether those values might cause them to lean left or lean right is irrelevant. Core values are central to who we are as people. They don't tend to change very much, and so voting intentions are not that likely to change dramatically either. That doesn't mean that they might not shift allegiance from one party to another - e.g. Labour to Green or Tory to Reform. But they're unlikely to shift from one end of the spectrum to the other, where parties have next to no core values in common.

Other people just look at whichever party they believe will serve their own personal interests best at the time. In other words, it doesn't come down to a question of personal values and they don't perceive it to be a reflection in any way of who they are. Those people are typically the floating voters who switch around between parties depending on their priorities at any given time.

Your comment doesn't bear any relevance to the post that you have quoted. I can only conclude that you didn't understand the point that was being made.

I see that even the most hardcore Starmer apologists are struggling to defend this u-turn. Some are conspicuous by their silence.

It must be hugely tiring trying to constantly defend the indefensible.

Talk about Stockholm syndrome.

I don’t think your framing is correct.