Following my extremely informative and balanced ReformUK Party article last week many people said to me ‘Bri, tell us more about your early footballing career for Llanallgo 10-year-olds on the island of Anglesey’. But instead, what I thought I’d do was take off any political hat I might be wearing and have a look…. from a historians perspective….which is what I am…at Bridgwater’s politics today.

From a totally neutral and unbiased perspective.

So, we’ll start with the bloody Tories.

New Fox on the Blox

Bridgwater has a new Tory MP. That’s Sir Ashley Fox. But we’ve had Tory MPs since 1950 when the popular wartime celebrity MP. Journalist Vernon Bartlett (progressive independent) decided not to stand anymore (as he supported the 1945 Labour government). At the same time Labour took the old Borough council under the guidance of second world war Czech resistance fighter Fred Phillips. And has been the strongest party in the town ever since.

Sir Ashley is everywhere. In your papers, on your Facebook, down your street, at your meetings. So if you wonder why, well, he has to be. Since the 2024 election Bridgwater is now a ‘marginal seat’. Tories only just won followed closely by Labour followed closely by Reform. Barely a thousand votes between them.

Little Stranger no more

People used to call Ian Liddle Grainger ‘little stranger’. He didn’t need Bridgwater’s votes to win because until 2024 the Bridgwater constituency was a different shape and stretched all the way across the coasts and Moors of West Somerset to the North Devon border. As long as he had those votes he’d win. Often by majorities of 20,000. This is what they called a ‘safe seat’. Labour have them too. My Uncle Joe in East Leeds used to say ‘If they put a red rosette on a donkey here, they’d vote for it. I should know, I’ve voted for a few.”

In 2024 Sir Foxley won by just 1,000 with the new boundary now even closer to Bridgwater town itself. He has to fight for every vote now and at a time when the Tories, from coast to toast, are doing very badly indeed.

Left Leaning Town

Bridgwater has always been a left leaning town. For centuries the division was ‘progressive left town’ vs ‘reactionary conservative country’. There was a riot in 1850 when out of town farm folk and industrial town radicals were double booked for a skittles match at the White Hart in Eastover. On the ‘blue’ Poldens a red or yellow townie canvasser daren’t set foot. Maybe memories of the civil war Polden Clubmen (who’d beat up ‘any’ one with political views that ventured there) still lingered.

Towns were historically ‘left’ because their independent civic and municipal powers as they gained them as Feudalism and the law of the country squire who literally owned them collapsed were hard won and they needed to defend them. As towns grew people in them needed to be more community focused by necessity and so voted for the parties that reflected that with collectivist policies as opposed to the individualism of the hardy countryside. First the Whigs, who became Liberals and then as industrialisation centred on towns, and common inequality focused on the lot of the working classes, joined trades unions and moved to the Labour Party.

Town v Country Divide

In the civil war the town was for Parliament and had to be occupied militarily by the Royalist army to keep it loyal to the King. At Sedgemoor in 1685 the Somerset towns, with Bridgwater at the fore, rose up to support Monmouth against any return to Feudalism but lost heavily. And in 1785 Bridgwater was the first town in the whole country to petition against the evil Slave Trade.

Bridgwater’s radicalism is historic, a source of pride and is still with us.

Today the political system is being shaken up. What Reform are actually doing is appealing to 2 groups of voters who have historically lent their votes mainly to the Tories but also to Labour. The culprit at the heart of this is our First Past the Post voting system. This system relies on internal coalitions. Tory led or Labour led. They form before an election. Red or Blue. People vote mainly to stop the other one winning.

In many European systems with PR (proportional representation) systems there are more parties and more choice so people can vote closer to how they feel….but….and it’s a big one…they still have to form a coalition to form a government. Because no matter what system you have you need a majority to win and to win any vote anywhere it’s the same.In any vote there’s 2 choices. For or against.

Right isn’t ‘Right’

So, the Tories have been hit most by a clear new Far Right party that seeks to replace them. Which is where politically Reform are on the spectrum. At the same time Labour are being hit by the same effect, but to a lesser extent. 1 in 8 Labour voters are swinging to Reform. But  the Labour vote is also being fractured and on all sides with key swings to the minor parties, Greens and Lib Dems , who in the Bridgwater area are very minor with no local councillors, and who voting for here would only help the Tories or Reform. And that’s what the effect of protest votes is. The ‘nose face spite’ argument. Happy nosebleed.

There’s no election here until 2027. That’s for Town and County. Absolutely no one is taking anything for granted anymore. But even if you don’t vote, at the end of the day,remember, ‘someone’ gets in…