Green gains in red-brick England
Voter disaffection with Labour councils has given opportunity for Green growth in some of the most unexpected parts of England.
Harry Gorman is a 20-year-old student at the University of Chester. Two years ago, the day after finishing an A-level exam, he was told by the local Green Party that he was going to be their council candidate for Prenton, Birkenhead, on the Wirral peninsula.
On 6 May he’ll be standing for a seat that Labour won with 60 per cent of the vote the last time it was up for election in 2016.
Gorman is not the first student to stand for election, but those who enter politics early usually don’t expect much success. Gorman, however, is optimistic. While his “youth and inexperience”, as Ronald Reagan once put it, might be seen as an Achilles heel, he believes that in an arena of ageing local politics his youth might actually prove a benefit.