London fascinates me

[WinkyWinkola]

So much red on the map there.

Why?

" Its funny the perception isn't it? The people I know who vote Labour would say they are working class people and that they vote Labour because Labour represent the working classes. They won't vote Tory because the Tories are posh and smarmy and only interested in the rich so they hate them (that's not me being mean about their political knowledge - that's what they actually say)."

Yes, Mint. I wish I had a £ for every time I've heard similar on the MN political threads.

oh and we are a low income working class family, I just don't buy that any particular party is and always was and always will be best for me JUST BECAUSE - which is why I challenged the commonly held views in my work place when I voted in central london. Of all the candidates, the labour one at the time seemed to me to be the least in touch with the working class members of the constituency (or any members of his constituency for that matter), but was getting voted in anyway. Really he wasn't even trying! That time I voted green because on a local level he was the only one that acknowledged the problems that I could see in the area and had sensible ideas about how they can be fixed/improved

one reason that hasn't been mentioned on here is that in the cities people have more access to services of the sort that Labour have invested in. If you live 15 miles from a Sure Start centre, for instance, you're not so likely to say 'Mustn't vote Tory, don't want to lose SureStart' (which lots of people have given on here as a reason not to vote Tory, btw, before anyone asks).
There are poor people in the country too (rural deprivation anyone?) but they often don't feel that the Labour govt has done much for them. IME, anyway.

I think it might be because Labour voting Londoners:

agree with and want to keep the minimum wage.

like free nursery places.

Like the government building new homes.

Like the all the equalities acts.

Like free health check ups.

Like crime going down.

They like pension credits and cold weather payments.

They like feeling like the government does actually care.

They like having more doctors, nurses and teachers, police.

and so on [there are tons of reasons].

Oh, and maybe they like foxes too.

so Lego, what's your take on the people who didn't vote Labour then - don't they like those things?

So basically Labour voters in London are foreigners, ethnic minorities have a chip on their shoulder are inverse snobs dont want to wear a tie to go to dinner...even though they can afford to...

Are you posting from the 1950s?

The trouble with you people is that you live in the past. London isn't just the biggest city in the UK, it is the biggest in Europe. You probably don't understand Berlin or Barcelona either.
London is the biggest city between New York and Istanbul. It changes all the time, people there get on with their lives with remarkably few problems considering how many folks live there. You should appreciate it and enjoy it, come and visit.

We have nothing against you wanting tea and scones, chatting to the sub post-person, having cricket on the village green, even when you cut down the countryside to get subsidies while covering it with chemicals, it's all good. We don't sit around going aren't the provinces full of backwards old people clinging to a byegone age, not yet in 45 years of being a Londoner have i heard that.

well said coolfonz.

and as for my take on those who dont vote labour; NO, they must not think those things are a good idea, if they did they would have voted for labour.

The bottom line is that the Conservatives do a lot better in London than other cities around the UK. It is not so much why Labour are so successful there but why they are so weak.

Look at Birmingham - no Conservative MPs. Manchester - no Conservative MPs. Leeds - no Conservative MPs. Sheffield - no Conservative MPs. Southampton - no Consevative MPs.

So evidently Labour have done terribly by the people of London given that there are 28 Tory seats there to Labour's 38, making London by far the best city for the Conservatives.....

My sister in law and her boyf vote Tory, live in Notting Hill. They say they will pay less tax, that is why.

Plenty of poshies in London init.

And you could fit Birmingham, Manc, Leeds, Sheffield, Southampton (?) into Hyde Park

What does Birmingham do by the way? Like apart from Wizard and ELO.

According to Wikipedia:

"Birmingham has a large incineration plant, the Tyseley Energy from Waste Plant which produces electricity for the National Grid through the process of burning waste. It was built in 1996 by Veolia"

Ah, it burns stuff. I knew it did something.

I've been pondering this ... and wonder if it has something to do with psychoanalytical stuff about imaginary identification when undertaking political action and housing costs.

Leaving the psychoanalytical stuff to one side , housing costs ...

In theory Conservative vote appeals to those who are currently paying more into the pot than they get out, and Labour, the obverse (that is a huge "in theory" ... and my subsequent analysis isn't going to take any account of intangibles, such as social cohesiveness, and stuff.).

In London, house prices, and transport, and so on, are so high that a lot of people use the state system for health and education. So a very large swathe of the population are in the income bracket of using state education and NHS - which they will not want to see de-funded. I think you'd be struggling to pull out of state provision for health and education on an income of 100K in London. And I know, from previous threads on mn that that fact provokes disbelief from non-Londoners. But 'tis true.

So perhaps the housing market is a cunning way of keeping the London vote red ... .

" I think you'd be struggling to pull out of state provision for health and education on an income of 100K in London. And I know, from previous threads on mn that that fact provokes disbelief from non-Londoners. But 'tis true. "

Agree - but I wonder how threatened tax increases factor into this?

I noticed that - its very interesting, I heard someone on a news programme quip that it was all to do with a Boris backlash.

Personally I rather like Boris but I can also see ...

'We have nothing against you wanting tea and scones, chatting to the sub post-person, having cricket on the village green, even when you cut down the countryside to get subsidies while covering it with chemicals, it's all good. We don't sit around going aren't the provinces full of backwards old people clinging to a byegone age, not yet in 45 years of being a Londoner have i heard that.'

Well, from the above post you obviously think that. Your problem is that you don't understand the countryside; we don't cut it down, neither is it covered with more chemicals than are necessary. If you want food, it has to be grown and farmed somewhere, and the countryside is where that happens.

Cornwall for example has been royally screwed by Labour, as have many other rural counties, hence the wish for a government that will help them.