"Blue Wells"

[doktorb🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️]

A new label for a certain clump of constituencies.

Article here: www.politics.co.uk/news-feature/2024/03/15/the-blue-wells-42-conservative-strongholds-that-could-fall-at-the-next-election/


Seats called "Blue Wells" include Cities of London and Westminster, Southport, York Outer, Hexham, Croydon South, and both IoWs. 

[johnloony]

Mar 18, 2024 8:09:54 GMT doktorb🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ said:

A new label for a certain clump of constituencies.

Article here: www.politics.co.uk/news-feature/2024/03/15/the-blue-wells-42-conservative-strongholds-that-could-fall-at-the-next-election/

Seats called "Blue Wells" include Cities of London and Westminster, Southport, York Outer, Hexham, Croydon South, and both IoWs. 

"North Numberland"

but anyway

[Pete Whitehead]

Truro & Falmouth "never won before" - the Penryn & Falmouth seat won by Labour in 1945 had quite similar boundaries
Wycombe "last won in 1945" - last won in 1950
Chingford & Woodford Green last won in 1966 - Not really comparable to the Epping seat
Rushcliffe last won in 1966 - almost a totally different seat
Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner last won in 1945 - Not really, would not have been on those boundaries
North Bedfordshire last won in 1966 - No North Bedfordshire is not the old Bedford seat
Basingstoke never won before - true but it was never a compact urban seat to the extent it will be now

[YL]

Mar 18, 2024 12:27:13 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

Truro & Falmouth "never won before" - the Penryn & Falmouth seat won by Labour in 1945 had quite similar boundaries
Wycombe "last won in 1945" - last won in 1950
Chingford & Woodford Green last won in 1966 - Not really comparable to the Epping seat
Rushcliffe last won in 1966 - almost a totally different seat
Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner last won in 1945 - Not really, would not have been on those boundaries
North Bedfordshire last won in 1966 - No North Bedfordshire is not the old Bedford seat
Basingstoke never won before - true but it was never a compact urban seat to the extent it will be now

It also says that these seats "stayed loyal to the Conservatives throughout the Blair landslide years". Truro & Falmouth, Southport, Colchester, Isle of Wight (x2), St Austell & Newquay, North Northumberland, Weston-super-Mare?

[greenhert]

Mar 18, 2024 17:24:21 GMT YL said:

Mar 18, 2024 12:27:13 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

Truro & Falmouth "never won before" - the Penryn & Falmouth seat won by Labour in 1945 had quite similar boundaries
Wycombe "last won in 1945" - last won in 1950
Chingford & Woodford Green last won in 1966 - Not really comparable to the Epping seat
Rushcliffe last won in 1966 - almost a totally different seat
Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner last won in 1945 - Not really, would not have been on those boundaries
North Bedfordshire last won in 1966 - No North Bedfordshire is not the old Bedford seat
Basingstoke never won before - true but it was never a compact urban seat to the extent it will be now

It also says that these seats "stayed loyal to the Conservatives throughout the Blair landslide years". Truro & Falmouth, Southport, Colchester, Isle of Wight (x2), St Austell & Newquay, North Northumberland, Weston-super-Mare?

Several of those seats did not even exist during the Blair years. Furthermore many of these were, or would notionally have been, Liberal Democrat in 1997 and 2001. It is also rather dubious whether St Neots (then part of Huntingdonshire; remember that Huntingdonshire was not merged with Cambridgeshire until 1974!) & Mid Cambridgeshire would have been Labour in 1945 had it existed then-I personally think not.