READERS of the News & Star have been discussing what has gone wrong for the Labour Party following a disastrous tally in local elections. The poor performance was highlighted by the loss of the Hartlepool by-election to the Conservatives. The constituency is part of the so-called ‘red wall’ of seats that historically backed the Labour Party – indeed, it had been held by the party since 1964. The shift has also been seen in Cumbria – the party no longer has any MPs in the county since the 2019 election. Mike James said: “The problem with the Labour London/Westminster-centric Champagne Socialist Party is that they don’t like the fact that the majority of Labour Party electorate have always been conservatives with a small c and they are loath to accept this.