The Greater Manchester 'ghost town' desperate for hope

When Conservative MP Mark Logan quit the party to throw his support behind Labour at the upcoming general election, it sent out a clear message. After 14 years of Tory rule, even the most diehard blues had had enough.

Outside of his Bolton North East constituency, it is unlikely that many had heard of Mr Logan before his surprise announcement back in May. Elected in 2019 with a majority of 378 votes, he was one of several new Conservative MPs in Greater Manchester as the party swept to victory across the country.

His time in Parliament was spent on the backbenches before he thrust himself into the national spotlight just days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election.

READ MORE: 'I'll vote for anyone who will sort the potholes out. They are an issue on every single road'

Mr Logan made headlines when, in an interview with the BBC, he announced he would not be seeking re-election, claiming the Tory party was 'now unrecognisable' from the one he joined. Instead he would instead be backing Labour on July 4.

Mr Logan said he believed Sir Keir Starmer's party could 'bring back optimism into British life', adding that he planned to join the party. In Bolton, he is not the only one turning his back on the Tories at the upcoming election.

Carol Kruger, the owner of The White House Dry Cleaners in Bromley Cross, voted Conservative in 2019 but plans to back Reform UK this time.

"Nigel Farage is the only person who has the balls to say what everybody else is thinking," she said.

She believes Mr Farage's party has the answers when it comes to tackling illegal immigration, fixing the NHS and supporting older people.

"We have a lot of older customers and they are barely scraping by," she said. "I want someone to look after them and the NHS.

"Charity starts at home and we need to look after our own before we can look after others. All these older people that have paid tax all their lives are struggling to put their heating on."

Ms Kruger described Mark Logan as a 'coward' over his decision to defect to Labour.

"It's terrible," she said. "He came in our shop a few months ago and called Keir Starmer Captain Flip Flop and said Labour policies never work. Now he has jumped ship.

"How can you suddenly change your views? I wouldn't listen to a word he says."

Ms Kruger, originally from South Africa, but moved to the UK 16 years ago, may not be voting for the Conservatives, but she does approve of their plans to bring back national service for 18-year-olds.

"The kids leaving school are disillusioned," she said. "They leave school and have not got a clue what they want to do.

"It would teach them something. My husband was in the army for two years and said it was the worst two years of his life, but it was good for him."

One of the most marginal seats in the country, Bolton North East had been Labour since 1997 before Mr Logan won it for the Conservatives five years ago. Replacing him as the Tory candidate this time is Adele Warren, who has served as a councillor in Breightmet ward since 2018.

Labour, meanwhile, has selected charity worker Kirith Entwistle as its candidate to fight the seat. Polls suggest the party is set to win back the seat at the general election, with the Tories predicted to lose all their seats in Greater Manchester.

Unsurprisingly, Bolton North East is one of Labour's key targets and the party's leader Sir Keir Starmer paid a visit to the constituency last month.

As well as part of Bolton town centre, the seat includes the traditionally Labour-voting wards of Breightmet, Crompton, Halliwell, and Tonge with the Haulgh, as well as the Conservative heartlands of Bromley Cross, Bradshaw and Astley Bridge. New constituency boundaries will also see some of Little Lever and Darcy Lever added to Bolton North East.

Zoe Cowan, who runs a florist and a sweet shop at Little Lever Market Hall, is another who voted for the Tories last time. She hoped it would improve her fortunes and those of the wider town.

"I thought they would make a difference, but I don't think they have," Ms Cowan added. "If anything, they have made a lot of people's situations worse. The last couple of years everything has declined. The nail in the coffin is trying to send people's children to war."

A mum-of-three, Ms Cowan is fiercely opposed to Rishi Sunak's plans to reintroduce national service. "I can't see many people wanting their sons sent out to a war because some idiot thinks it is a good idea," she said. "If he thinks I would send any of my children to fight, there is no way. Will he be sending his own?"

She said she sees Mr Sunak as a 'posh boy', adding: "He needs to go. Maybe if we all travelled first class everywhere, we might be able to be blasé about things. Not everyone is in that position."

Ms Cowan is also concerned about the cost of living crisis, which she says has taken its toll on her business and others in Little Lever. "You do it notice," she said. "People don't have the money for luxuries.

"The spending has just plummeted. We had three shops across the road and over the last six months, they have all closed. The footfall we have is ridiculously low. No matter who we vote for, I don't think it's going to make a huge difference for us businesswise."

Anti-social behaviour is also a 'massive problem' in Little Lever, according to Ms Cowan. "It's really bad," she added. "There's nowhere for kids to go and there's nothing for them to do.

"We slag them off, but if kids had something to do they probably would not be getting involved in half the things they are. It never used to be like this. Little Lever used to be somewhere that was really nice and people wanted to live here. Now people want to get out. That's not all down to the Conservatives, but it's definitely gone down the pan."

While she believes Labour and the Conservatives are 'equally as dismal as each other', she hopes Sir Keir's Starmer's party will change things.

She said: "I'm not massively convinced but when the country is stuck in a rut, do we just keep digging or try something new? It can't get any worse than it is and a change is better than nothing."

Relaxing on a bench in Little Lever's village precinct, John Wakefield has still not decided which box he will place his X in on Thursday. A lifelong Tory, he is reluctant to vote for them after 'what has happened over the last 14 years'.

"It's not been held to Conservative values," the 77-year-old said. "For the first time, I'm totally undecided." Mr Wakefield said he is unhappy about having to pay income tax on his pension, and is also worried about the state of the NHS and illegal immigration.

"There's just too many people," he said. "I don't have a problem with migration, we've always had it and we need people to work in our NHS, but these boat people are all young men."

While he does not want to vote for the Tories, he is even less keen on Labour. "I certainly can't vote for them," he said. "They are full of promises, but I can't see them delivering what they are promising without taxing us more. The money has to come from somewhere."

Over in Bolton town centre, Gaffar Patel is another who is undecided. In the past, he has backed both Labour and the Conservatives but he is not inspired by either this time.

"Things are terrible nowadays," the 71-year-old explained. "Everything is going up pricewise, there are no jobs, inflation is killing you and the cost of living is just too high.

"We are spending money on weapons but the public are suffering. All taxpayer money is going in the drain and what are we achieving?"

On the hottest day of the year so far, groups of people are basking in the sun on the steps of Bolton's grand town hall. But across the square, the dilapidated Crompton Place shopping centre makes for a sorry sight.

The site has long been earmarked for demolition as part of Bolton council's ambitious plans to regenerate the town centre. However, little progress has been made since the town hall purchased the shopping centre in 2018.

Its boarded-up stores are a far cry from the bustling high street that many Boltonians remember. For decades, shoppers travelled from far and wide to visit Bolton town centre - home to iconic stores such as Whitakers department store and Prestons of Bolton jewellers - known to many as the ‘Diamond Centre of the North'.

But as shopping habits changed, both businesses vanished for good alongside favourites such as Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and BHS. Mr Patel is saddened by the present state of Bolton town centre and hopes the next government will invest money into it.

"Bolton was one of the busiest towns when I came here," he said. "All the shops were open and it was booming. Now it's a ghost town. "Things have been going down the drain for the last 10 to 15 years. All the towns like Bolton are dead now."

Mr Patel says he would like to see more done to tackle homelessness and housing problems in Bolton. "You see people begging all the time," he said. "The house and rent prices have gone through the roof, people can't afford mortgages.

"People are just surviving. For some of them, the food budget is so tight.

"Why has it gone so much worse? It's one of the richest countries in the world and still things are terrible." Factory worker Austin Rothwell was a Labour man before he and his wife Sharon 'gave up' on politics during the pandemic. He doubts whether he will even vote this time around.

"We had family in hospital and we could not see them, and they were all partying," said the 60-year-old, from Tonge Moor. "It's one rule for them and one for us. I just think we need a complete break from Conservatives and Labour."

Kathryn Lawrence, from Breightmet, is slightly more enthused by the upcoming election. She has already sent off her postal vote and is backing Labour. "I'm a working class girl," said the 75-year-old. "The Tories haven't done anything for us.

"They keep saying cut taxes but where are they getting money from? It would be so much easier if everyone that works paid an extra penny in the pound to get us out of this situation."

Ms Lawrence is on her wait to the dentist, where she is due to undergo surgery. She has been forced to go private after waiting for treatment 'since before Covid', she claims.

"It's costing me £900 to get my teeth sorted," she said. "It's ridiculous.

"If you are working and earning 35 grand, you can afford it, but not people like me. That's why everyone has got rotten teeth." Back on the streets of Bromley Cross, an affluent suburb four miles north of Bolton town centre, Charlotte Atty says she is not keen on either of the big two parties.

While she would be happy for Labour to win in Bolton North East, she will be voting for the Green Party instead.

"I'm not going to sway," she said. "If I thought it was going to be close, I would consider voting tactically but I do feel Labour have moved too far to the centre. I really don't like that Keir Starmer dropped that £26bn green pledge."

The 39-year-old works in the housing sector, where she says she has witnessed the impact of 14 years of Conservative rule firsthand. "The housing shortage is a massive issue," she said. "After 14 years of austerity people are in absolute crisis.

"The amount of people that come in and say their rent has gone up four times in a year - landlords have got people over a barrel because there is such a shortage of housing. It's hard to deal with and the reason is the Tories."

In a town desperate for hope and change, it may not take many of Mr Logan's former constituents to follow his lead for the seat to turn red again.