What's the story, Northern Tory?
Living in the North East as a Brexit supporting Conservative isn’t exactly easy, especially in the ever leftward leaning education system, surrounded by Corbyn supporting Europhiles is never an easy surrounding but it’s people like me who need to stand up to these brainwashed Corbynistas and promote Conservative values and especially free market ideas.
However, is the tide turning? Boris Johnson’s election as Tory leader has certainly rejuvenated support for our party, especially among younger voters and as a Young Conservatives Chairman we have seen a bit of a boost in under 23 membership in my local Federation. Despite losing members to the Brexit Party and Lib Dems, the new Prime Minister has certainly restored a bit of confidence in the party and those numbers will only go up.
The scene up in the North East is certainly looking bright with the new PM promising more freeports around the country with Teesport being top of the list according to International Trade Secretary Liz Truss; not only that we have three Conservative MPs in the region with Anne-Marie Trevelyan representing Berwick-upon-Tweed, Guy Opperman MP for Hexham constituency and Simon Clarke representing Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland; plus council seat gains in Sunderland at the last local elections and more set to be won from Labour in Sunderland and South Tyneside especially in the 2020 local elections.
Labour led councils are failing and wasting taxpayers’ money all across the region and we as Conservatives need to mount a serious challenge to these crooks in red, Sunderland council has been under serious public scrutiny for dodgy deals and throwing money down the drain but now thanks to the Sunderland Conservatives who have had outstanding local election results, we can put some serious pressure on Cllr Miller, the Council Leader. In South Tyneside, discontent with the council is ever growing and there is a very good chance we may see the first Tory councillors sitting in the Town Hall in 2020; in Hartlepool, Labour is in turmoil, we need to capitalise on these failings and maybe not take control of the councils but ensure that it isn’t a Labour ran monopoly where they’re free to do as they please.
The North East voted overwhelmingly for leave with the exception of the student city of Newcastle, Sunderland was the first to declare the results on 23rd June 2016 with 63pc choosing to leave yet the city’s MPs Julie Elliott and Bridget Phillipson have been floating the idea of a second referendum.
Discontent with Labour in the region is rapidly rising with Corbyn abandoning the Labour heartlands in favour of the metropolitan elitists in London postcodes and that is when we step in as the true party for the people. Mr Johnson’s new wave of optimism with the idea of pushing through Brexit no matter what, boosting the economy of former industrial heartlands such as the North East with new investment promised in the towns and cities across the region. It is now more than ever that we can see seats like South Shields, who have never been represented by our great party, fall into our hands, eventually displace the remain supporting People’s Voters for true Conservatives who believe in Britain and believe in those areas abandoned by the Labour Party. Blue Collar Conservatism is on the incline once again with people from aspirational backgrounds in the so called lower middle classes and working classes such as our own Esther McVey attending Cabinet as a senior Minister of State, the new Home Secretary promising more Police, a key issue in the North East and Sajid Javid pledging more funding for the region with the help of Liz Truss who is relishing the idea of freeports with one in Teeside.
The problem I’ve found with the North East is that there are many Conservative believers but not many Conservative voters, voting habits seem to have scuppered our chances of late with some of those Conservative believers voting Labour purely and simply because of their parents and grandparents and great grandparents voted Labour. The old Labour has gone and now it’s the Conservative Party who represents the working man, the Blue Collar workers, the everyday person to use the stereotype, whereas the Labour Party represent the Islington elitists, the students who’ve been promised the Earth by Jezza the Red and the pro-EU citizens of our nation. It has been this way since about 1975 when one Margaret Thatcher was elected the leader of our party, this was one massive political revolution which inspired generations of Conservative voters, such as myself. The daughter of a grocery shop owner in the Lincolnshire town of Grantham, from a lower middle class heritage, became one of Britain’s greatest ever leaders and transformed how we not only see Britain but the whole world, one of the two great British reformers of the 20th century. It is that spirit and aspiration that Lady Thatcher had that we need today, that sense of pride in our party, in our nation and in ourselves which wins general elections with undisputable landslides.
Whenever the next election may be we need to be ready nationwide to battle the Marxists in the Labour Party, to battle the endless promises of Mr Corbyn and to battle the Brexit Party who are the very threat to Brexit by fielding candidates against staunch Eurosceptic Tories, that’s why we need to deliver Brexit on 31st October or seats in the North East that we have the best chance in our history to win will be lost to Farage and his party; as Boris Johnson says “we cannot kick the can down the road, we face complete annihilation”.
As I mentioned, I’m a Young Conservatives Chairman of the South Tyneside Federation, one of the newest YC branches so if you’re in the area then please make yourself known to us to get involved in our campaign days, guest speaker events and monthly meet-ups, even if you’re not but would like to get involved in some way, please email me yc@southtynesideconservatives.org.uk we have an event in October to launch us with The Rt. Hon. Lord Lilley and updates can be found on our Twitter and Instagram pages @SouthTynesideYC or on our website www.southtyensideconservatives.org.uk.
Ethan Thoburn
Member Views is a series of opinion pieces written by Blue Beyond members. Ethan is the YC Chair of the South Tyneside Federation, one of the newest YC branches in the country.
If you’re in the area then please make yourself known to him. You can get involved in their campaign days, guest speaker events and monthly meet-ups. Email him at yc@southtynesideconservatives.org.uk. Their launch event is in October to launch us with The Rt. Hon. Lord Lilley and updates can be found on our Twitter and Instagram pages @SouthTynesideYC or on our website www.southtyensideconservatives.org.uk.
"Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osbourne at Skanska" by UK Prime Minister is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0