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4 November 2019

In Wolverhampton South West, a love of Brexit may not be enough to turn the seat blue

The Conservatives’ hope that a strong pro-Leave message will regain the seat: but enthusiasm for Brexit seems confined to those who already vote Conservative. 

By George Grylls

“This is the first and last election at which the British people will be given the opportunity to decide whether their country is to remain a democratic nation, governed by the will of its own electorate, or whether it will become a province in a new European superstate.”

These are the words of a politician not in 2019, but in 1974. Enoch Powell, then MP for Wolverhampton South West, was the first Conservative to preach the gospel of Euroscepticism. Infamous for his “Rivers of Blood” six years earlier, he was arguably also the first politician to elide the issues of European trade and immigration.

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