Losses in Labour heartlands likely after Tory majority projected

Labour’s traditional safe-seats in the north of England have reportedly switched to Blue if the current Exit Polls are to be believed.

Large swathes of the North voted leave in the 2016 Election, and it appears that Boris Johnson’s strong message on delivering Brexit has swayed votes towards the Conservatives.

Bolsover, a seat in Derbyshire, has been Labour since 1950 – but early reports suggest that won’t be the case for much longer. The so-called “Red Wall”, a large group of northern Labour seats, appears to have finally succumbed to the Conservatives.

Tight marginals such as Barrow & Furness, and Bishop Auckland – a Labour seat since 1935 have seen the Conservatives apparently creep ahead.

Whilst it remains to be seen if this is actually the case, it is likely that Labour’s strongholds – traditionally the North of England and Wales – are slowly falling out of their grasp.

A strong indicator will be the seats of Sunderland South and Newcastle upon Tyne central- traditionally the first to declare their results. Both are currently large Labour majorities, meaning any swing in votes would indicate a larger pattern across the north.

On top of English losses, the SNP are confident they have taken some of Labour’s few remaining seats in another one of their old haunts – Scotland. Alongside the North and Wales, Scotland largely supported Labour during elections – but that support is now missing since the SNP’s surge in popularity.

With a potential loss of 71 seats in total, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is under heavy calls to resign the party leadership. Heavy losses to Labour’s Shadow Cabinet is not predicted, with the bigger names all running in safe seats, but Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Areas is predicted to lose her seat of Workington to the Conservatives.

As well as reported massive gains in the North of England, the Conservatives are also well positioned to take Labour seats in the Midlands, as well as a few in North Wales. Shadow Leader of the Commons Valerie Vaz has seen her 20% majority either completely lost or heavily cut – indicating a massive surge in Labour voters switching to Conservative.