The Greater Manchester town was a Labour stronghold before 2019. Will it be once again? Helen Pidd reports
Leigh in Greater Manchester used to be a Labour party stronghold. A former mining and mill town, it was once Andy Burnham’s constituency. But in 2019 that was swept away as the town voted for Boris Johnson.
Helen Pidd, then the Guardian’s northern editor, visited it often – and in 2020 people there told her why Labour had lost its shine for them. Four years later, with Labour cautiously hopeful it can regain the town, she returned to find out what has changed.