Hull Daily Mail

Your vote has been hard won, use it wisely

WITH the publicatio­n of most of the party manifestos, the “phoney campaign” of the past two weeks is thankfully past. There is now no doubt what each party is claiming to offer the electorate, and how they propose to finance their plans. We also now have final candidate lists for each constituen­cy, so voters can start to think properly about who they will vote for, and why - even whether it is actually worth voting at all. In our region, many voters face a change of candidates as a result of boundary changes to all six constituen­cies. Probably the least changed are Hull East (Labour’s Karl Turner standing for re-election) and Beverley and Holderness (Conservati­ve Graham Stuart seeking re-election). Karl Turner had a slim majority over his Conservati­ve opponent last time, but fresh opposition now. Will a growing Reform vote make a difference here? In Bridlingto­n and the Wolds (formerly East Yorkshire) the previous incumbent Greg Knight (Con) is retiring, so almost the entire slate is new including locally known Charlie Dewhirst on the Conservati­ve ticket. All three fully East Riding seats have long been safe Conservati­ve territory, holding well over 60 per cent vote shares, and look like remaining so. It would take a significan­t electoral earthquake to remove the strong majorities of Graham Stuart and David Davis, while Charlie Dewhirst also has a strong base vote to inherit. The greatest changes arise from voters in the Haltempric­e area being moved into two Hull constituen­cies from the old Haltempric­e and Howden seat, which gains instead the Pocklingto­n area and half of the extinguish­ed seat of Brigg and Goole, creating a new Goole and Pocklingto­n constituen­cy where Conservati­ve David Davies is standing again. It is in the two Hull seats, Hull North and Cottingham (Diana Johnson, Labour, seeking re-election) and Hull West and Haltempric­e (Emma Hardy, Labour standing again) where the interest lies. Both have fair majorities over second-placed Conservati­ves last time, around 7,600 and 2,800 respective­ly, with Libdems a distant third. Can extra Blue votes from west of the city boundary make a difference? In Hull West, Emma Hardy’s majority is much thinner, and there is a much stronger Conservati­ve base in Willerby and Kirkella now in her voting booths. Of some 11,000 voters transferre­d, the last Council elections had 49 per cent blue in a 28 per cent turnout, with 26 per cent red and 25 per cent orange. There is much more scope here for an upset given the more volatile political sentiments at present, but Emma Hardy also has a good track record as a constituen­cy MP, and her opponents this time are also new faces. Everything hangs on the remaining progress of party campaigns, and how much of a personal vote the returning incumbents can rely on. One final thing remains to be said. Given the events of the first two weeks of this election period, some commentato­rs have dubbed this the D-day election. Your right to vote has been hard won, so make sure you use it, and use it wisely.