DEBORAH MATTINSON’s book Beyond the Red Wall studies three areas lost to the Tories in 2019 Darlington, Hyndburn and Stoke-on-Trent.
That the author is Keir Starmer’s recently appointed director of strategy and that her book covers matters vital to the Labour Party and the left makes this an important read. Beyond the Red Wall has two key strands.
One is the privations of these areas compared with the rest of the country and the dire need for “levelling up.”
Hailing from Darlington herself, Mattinson quotes studies showing “that those areas have been affected by cuts twice as much as the more affluent south, with deeper cuts across the board.”
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