The 2019 general election was triggered by Brexit but it has been defined by the historic defection of 50 “Red Wall” Labour seats across Wales, the Midlands and the North to the Conservatives – some for the first time in generations.
But while these “Blue Wall” seats have risen up the political agenda and underpin the government’s “levelling-up” ambitions, a nuanced understanding of their characteristics, challenges and opportunities has not grown to match. This matters, because clubbing these seats together as “old, left-behind Britain” both misdiagnoses these areas, and risks wrong-footing policy makers who want to support them.
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