Boris Johnson ‘must woo new Red Wall voters’ in the North to stay in power

BORIS Johnson and the Tories must permanently pivot towards the needs of the North to win elections, a report says.

The PM can target safe Labour seats if levelling-up plans succeed, it claims.

He needs to woo new Red Wall constituencies rather than safe ones in the South to stay in power, think tank Onward says

High-profile seats would include Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s in Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, and former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron’s Westmorland and Lonsdale.

Onward says six in ten battleground seats at the next election will be in the North, compared with just two in ten in the South.

And it says Labour will struggle unless it extends its support beyond liberal-left voters.

Will Tanner, director of the centre-right think tank, said: “The next election, like the last, will be won in the North of England.

“While the South’s steadily becoming less Conservative over time, there’s no Blue Wall waiting to fall across the home counties in two years’ time.”

Mr Tanner, ex-PM Theresa May’s former deputy policy head, went on: “But there are dozens of traditional Labour seats in the North that could yet switch.

“This report underlines why making headway on levelling-up is utterly essential for the Conservative Party and why Labour still has a mountain to climb.”