You might think the idea of pounding the streets and banging on doors during a cold January would not be too enticing, especially when the prize for the victor vanishes in a few months time.
But Damien Egan, Labour’s candidate for the Kingswood byelection, was beaming as he marched up and down the streets of a modern housing estate at the heart of a constituency in South Gloucestershire up for grabs after the sudden resignation of its Conservative MP, Chris Skidmore.
“It definitely wasn’t something I was expecting but I’m really excited about it,” Egan said. “I grew up in Kingswood. I really know the area. Once you’re on the streets, you get the feeling you have the chance to give a voice to those people you grew up with.”
Skidmore, a leading Tory voice on green issues, resigned in protest againt his party’s dash for oil and gas, setting up a difficult byelection for Rishi Sunak.
Over the last half century, Kingswood, has swung between the Tories and Labour. Skidmore won the seat in 2010 and had built up an 11,000 majority by 2019.
The constituency is being abolished at the next general election, when Kingswood voters will find themselves in one of four different constituencies. Egan, who until last week was the mayor of Lewisham in south-east London, had previously been selected as the candidate for one of these, Bristol North East, a key Labour target. But when Skidmore stepped down, Egan resigned from his Lewisham job and headed to South Gloucestershire to fight for Kingswood.
He is staying with his sister and looking for somewhere to rent, so is getting firsthand experience of a key election issue here – soaring house and rental prices. “There are a lot of people with kids living at home in their 20s. Getting on the housing ladder is hard,” he said.
Egan has been struck by how rundown some things have become here. “People also talk a lot about how hard it is to get a GP or NHS dentist. Someone said it’s like the Victorian era, with people pulling out their own teeth.”
Out campaigning with Egan was Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East and the shadow climate change minister, who got on well with Skidmore. “He’s gone for genuine reasons and it’s quite nice to have someone who hasn’t gone because of sleaze,” she said of the former Tory minister.
McCarthy said people in the area, which has traditionally provided workers for big manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Airbus, were interested to talk about the transition to green jobs. “They get that net zero is the way to do it,” she added.
The Kingswood byelection is also an important test for Labour’s hopes to challenge the Tories and the Liberal Democrats in south-west England.
Luke Pollard, the Labour MP for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, said: “There are about 60 parliamentary seats in the south-west. We have six currently and our objective is to get to 17. That makes this region as important as any in the country.
“Whether it’s seats in Cornwall or Bristol, the best way is to get on the doorsteps and have those conversations. There’s a lot of people who have left the Tories but haven’t necessarily arrived at their new destination.”
There are clearly people in Kingswood looking for something new. ‘We definitely do need a change,” said Graham Bond, a delivery driver. A Scot, Bond said he would vote Scottish National party if he could. “But obviously they’re not standing. It’s between Labour and the Greens here for me.”
His wife, Ruth Bruce, a businessperson, said: “All the Tories are interested in is what they get out of it, what directorships they are getting, what connections they are making.”
Ken Comley, a retired tour operator, stopped Egan and asked him to sort out a local graveyard. “But I won’t be voting for him,” Comley said. “I’ll always vote Conservative because Mrs Thatcher gave us the chance to buy shares.”
Aimie Green, who works in a florists on Hanham High Street in the constituency, said the byelection campaign was not the talk of the town. “I don’t think there’s that much interest,” she said. Mat Knight, who owns a cycling shop in the high street, said he thought Skidmore had jumped ship because his constituency was disappearing. “The Labour candidate has been here already – he talked well about the high street and green issues,” said Knight.
The Green party came fourth in Kingswood in 2019 but since then has the largest group on Bristol city council. Its national co-leader Carla Denyer said Skidmore’s resignation was a damning verdict on the Tories but argued that Labour should be doing more to challenge the government’s oil and gas policies. “Kingswood is on the edge of Bristol, a city that is turning Green. We see increasing support for greens in surrounding areas as well,” she added.
Meanwhile, Egan rejects the notion that the Kingswood campaign is a warm-up for his Bristol North East push, saying: “It’s not a practice run. The voters here need an MP.” He accepted the Tories had a big majority. “That’s why have to be out every day. We’ll be in our thermals speaking to as many people as possible.”
