"Nobody opened, once again, but there were some beautiful fir trees inside! " Melanie Dudley, a Labor candidate for the Dudley North constituency, will run for the December 12 general election in the United Kingdom. A small blonde woman with blue eyes, she shows her colleague at the Census of Labor supporters the three steps she has just visited. Red brick pavilions, bow windows whites through which we can see the glittering garlands of light. Melanie's nose is red with cold, the hat on her eyes and boots a little tired, but she adds almost playful: "Everyone is gone for Christmas shopping! " before going back to attacking three other addresses.
The air is freezing at the end of November, and the volunteers around Melanie are eager for the soliciting session to end. Not famous, this session: many houses are empty, this Saturday afternoon. We still meet some supporters of Labor, including a retired, John, " former member of the party, member for 55 years ", he chuckles before kissing Melanie. And Geoff Edge, former Labor MP for Aldridge-Brownhills, who predicts the MPP "Two-thirds majority" December 12th.
Melanie makes a selfie with Geoff but leaves him without illusions. And for good reason: Dudley North, in the heart of the West Midlands, forty-five minutes by bus from Birmingham, is among the most disputed constituencies in the country: 22 votes of difference between the Conservative candidate and Labor at the last elections in 2017 … so to say nothing. Worse: it is one of the most brexiters land in the country: 71.4% of people voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. A challenge for a candidate who supports a program promising a second referendum.
Budget cuts
Dudley North is one of those archetypal constituencies of the Red Wall ", that "red belt" going from Wales, in the west, to Newscastle, in the east, long ribbon of country acquired for Labor for ages. Now a succession of semi-urban landscapes crisscrossed by faulty train lines, these lands saw the birth of the industrial revolution at the beginning of the XIXe century. Like much of the Red Wall, the city of Dudley (population 80,000) has suffered a lot from the last nine years of Conservative government budget cuts: schools lacking investment, roads full of potholes, local hospital caught assault, etc.
