‘Waste of money, waste of time’: The unwanted by-election in the constituency destined for the scrapheap
The resignation of former energy minister MP Chris Skidmore will mean a by-election for his Kingswood seat, near Bristol – but there is a sense of disenchantment in the air
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Your support makes all the difference.It’s a freezing cold morning as wrapped-up shoppers shuffle along a high street on the edge of east Bristol – the eerie quiet only broken by noise from a distorted speaker wailing from a scrap metal dealer’s van.
There’s a queue outside the door to Greggs for breakfast, some activity inside the several charity and discount shops, and a small gathering of smokers on the paved terrace outside the Wetherspoon pub.
Kingswood High Street feels half asleep – and the news that the local Tory MP is stepping down in a seat which is due to be scrapped in boundary changes is met with derision.
“No one really cares,” says Lesley Wood, who works at discount store CM3, when asked for her reaction to Chris Skidmore’s shock announcement in January.
“How can someone voted in for a few months do anything – we have had people in for years promising us things we haven’t got like new shops and support, so I’ve got little faith.”
The shop manager Deb Johns agrees, adding: “It is all a bit silly – not that he’s [Chris Skidmore] done a lot, but he didn’t need to step down and create this situation which is only going to make more people disillusioned with local politics.”
As a lead supporter of “net zero”, Mr Skidmore has acted defiantly against government plans to issue more oil and gas licences – although he could have just resigned the party whip rather than his seat, which he’s held for 14 years.
It means the constituency – considered a bellwether seat – will now have a by-election ahead of a general election later this year, costing South Gloucestershire Council around £250,000.
It is even more nonsensical to some as the upcoming boundary changes mean the current constituency will effectively be broken up at the next general election. Mr Skidmore had already declared he wouldn’t stand again.
Opposite CM3 discount store is The Kingswood Colliers Wetherspoon, which takes its name from the area’s strong historical link to coal mining with the last pit closing in 1936. For 9.30am, it’s busy with regulars tucking into breakfast and supping early-morning pints of beer.
Retired printer Mark Jones is a former Labour party supporter, like many of his friends in the once-industrial town. But he “got fed up and left behind” in the Nineties and has since not voted for any political party.
He said: “The MPs are so out of touch from reality I don’t see the point anymore. They don’t deal with the price rises in the shop, the crime levels or a lack of things for people to do. Why would I even bother voting at the by-election?”
Mr Skidmore kept his Kingswood seat at the 2019 general election by increasing his majority to more than 11,000 votes, beating off second-placed Labour. His local priorities included fairer school funding, protecting the countryside from development and the regeneration of Kingswood town centre.
Yet despite a major funding announcement, little has still been done with council consultations on a £25m masterplan for the town centre still continuing. Disgruntlement over a lack of progress will give confidence to Labour, which started canvassing quickly after the Mr Skidmore’s announced resignation.
Its strong working-class roots should also help Sir Keir Starmer, who will take encouragement from Labour’s overturning of a near 25,000 majority in Mid Bedfordshire in October.
There is a fascinating book in Kingswood Heritage Museum, built within an 18th Century brass works, that tells the story of the town’s mining community.
But the problem for Labour is that the constituency now includes leafier areas such as Hanham and Bitton – places the Tories could count on votes – after boundary changes in 2010.
The Green Party is also standing with Lorraine Francis the candidate. Reform UK’s leader Richard Tice initially said the party would not stand after claiming the by-election should not happen due to the “grotesque abuse of taxpayers’ cash”. However, the party changed its mind and Rupert Lowe is its candidate.
Among those Labour will be targeting is Chris Hunt, a jewellery maker who used to vote for them until concerns over their environmental policies led him to the Green Party. He is currently preoccupied with a mobile butcher’s fight to get his street trading spot back outside the town’s Kings Chase Shopping Centre.
Standing next to the bus stop in Kingswood High Street, he said: “Labour need to prove they are a relevant party to people living here. The problem is, is it too late? Many people are too busy with their own lives to care what an MP has to say.
“And how can you convince them to vote for someone who will be in for only a few months. I think the turnout will be really low. It is all a bit silly, really.”
Less than a mile’s drive from Kingswood High Street is Hanham; another suburban town which lies on the edge of east Bristol. Mr Skidmore has recently shown his support to some residents in the town facing development on green belt land.
But Geoff Maynard, who has run Hanham Florists on the High Street for 41 years, said he hardly heard from the MP. He added that Mr Skidmore’s announcement had been met with a muted response.
“I don’t see any point in having a by-election with the general election coming up so soon,” he said. “It’s a waste of time and money which could be spent elsewhere helping people in the community.”
Experts in Westminster say a Kingswood win for Labour will be the precursor for the party taking the newly-created Bristol North East seat at this year’s general election, with the Mayor of Lewisham, Damien Egan, already selected as the candidate.
In January, the local Labour group said he would also stand for the short-term Kingswood seat.
He is up against local councillor Sam Bromiley, standing for the Conservatives, along with Ms Brown, Green Party, Rupert Lowe, Reform UK, Andrew Brown, Liberal Democrats, independent Mark Coleman and Nicholas Wood, UKIP, who make up the rest of the candidates.
But speaking to those on the ground, the very real disillusionment with politics could threaten Manchester Central’s 2012 record for the lowest turnout in by-election history – a dismal 18.2 per cent.
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