Stereotypes can linger even when long debunked. The “Red Wall” is still — to some tired parts of Westminster — a synonym for depleted industrial towns and a working class “left behind” by politics. But that is only half the story. Those areas of the North and Midlands that flipped Tory in 2019 also contain sleek middle-class suburbs. These seats have a greater share of homeowners, and in them people tend to own cars. In recent years pollsters have started to suspect that these areas might, in fact, have voted Tory in 2019 not because life was bad but because it was good.
So it is with the other stereotype that dogs us — Londoners as out-of-touch metropolitan elites. That is not the whole story either. There is, of course, great wealth in the capital but alongside Islington’s townhouses and Westminster’s ancient architecture there is also great poverty. In fact, the typical neighbourhood in 24 of 32 boroughs is more deprived than England’s average. Homelessness is a major problem.
