Election focus: Luton South
In a general election dominated by bitter rivalries, relations between the main candidates in Luton South are full of sweetness and goodwill. Perhaps the expenses scandal has given them enough acrimony for now.
This is the seat where the last MP, Labour’s Margaret Moran, went down heavier than most in 2009’s expenses scandal. Her £22,500 claim for dry rot on a house in Southampton – nearly 100 miles away – led to her being suspended from her party. She reportedly sold her home in Luton only a few days ago.
There is anger on the streets of Luton South about expenses – although it’s hard to tell exactly how much disengagement is due to Moran’s antics. Most people who would never have voted simply shout something about her claims when asked why they aren’t going to bother going to the polling station on May 6th. One thing is for certain, though. This is a seat which has been disappointed many times.
Luton seems to have got a raw deal throughout much of the last few decades. It was known as the ‘repossession capital of Britain’ during the last recession, when one in ten people were on the dole. It is surrounded by pricier Home Counties villages and towns, making Middle England rather sniffy about its scruffy neighbour. And now it has had an MP whose expenses claims have underlined constituents’ feelings of neglect. Politicians argue the town has not had an MP fighting the case for Luton for 13 years. That, it seems certain, is about to change.
For the 2010 race is, as one candidate puts it, “one of the most exciting, high-profile and unpredictable races in the country”. It is a pivotal constituency, placed exactly in the bracket which David Cameron’s Conservatives need to win if they are to form a government. Its bellwether status underlines that. If you count its predecessors Luton and Luton East, Luton South has a track record of predicting the overall winner at national level going back all the way to 1951.
It has also attracted a raft of independent candidates which have added yet another – potentially decisive – layer to the contest. One of them is Esther Rantzen. “I am the protest vote that’s not BNP,” she declares. “Everybody’s seen what I’ve been up to in the last 40 years.”
In case you are aged under, say, 30, here’s a little resume of Rantzen’s achievements. She broke through in the 1960s on shows like Man Alive and Braden’s Week. The jewel in the crown of her broadcasting career was That’s Life, a consumer-oriented show in which individual cases were taken up and fought. Fighting for other people has been the cornerstone of her career. Nothing’s changed now.
“The major downside I have to face is when I get coverage it’s all very trivial,” she says. “What I’ve been able to do is make a real difference in transforming the lives of individuals.” Despite approaching 70, Rantzen has campaigned energetically in Luton South for the last year and claims – repeatedly – to have “fallen in love” with the place. She was in London on the day I visited, but knew exactly which cafe I was talking about when I described the view. “They do a marvellous apple pie.”
The other candidates – in fact, pretty much anyone who comes into close contact with Rantzen – have something of a rabbit-in-the-headlights approach to her. Most are a bit fed up with the amount of coverage she’s been attracting. Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative candidate, even goes so far as to call the media’s coverage “morally bankrupt”.
“I don’t resent it, that’s the way the media works. People locally see through that straight away. They’re not making their decision through the filtering of the media,” he says. His rival, Labour’s Gavin Shuker, is a touch more diplomatic. “I’m not surprised that candidates are queuing up to represent Luton South – it’s a wonderful place.” He adds, grinning: “Esther’s adding a lot of life and energy to the race.”
Both are convinced the independents will not make a decisive difference, in what increasingly looks like a hard-fought two-way race between the two. Both Huddleston and Shuker say this is a close fight; Huddleston insists he will win, but he doesn’t expect a victory of more than a few percentage points. What will single one out above the other?
“It’s almost as if there’s two election campaigns going on in Luton,” Huddleston says.
“There’s the one the media are playing, which is all about celebrity candidates and Margaret Moran’s expenses – and then there’s the one on the doorstep, which I’m talking about.”
The real campaign in Luton South
It’s hard to get away from the impact of the recession in Luton South. At the small business level, the proprietor of a cornershop I visited complained about rising energy bills, falling sales and high business rates. At the other end, on an industrial estate close to Luton airport, I talked to the chief executive of a company which recycles waste plastic into a plywood substitute. He was cross because state-owned RBS hadn’t offered him a decent financing deal. Labour hadn’t fixed the problem, he said.
“Although times are tough for people, Labour’s actions have safeguarded the economy and mean that in a place such as Luton which did disproportionately badly under the Tories, it’s doing quite well,” Shuker says. Huddleston earnestly admits he has “a lot more work to do” to win over wavering small businesses, but is clear on the second issue. “Cashflow is such a key issue, we’ll make sure that keeps going and overall make sure the economy is improving.”
There was one other way in which the recession reared its head: pressure caused by immigration. Luton has a bad reputation when it comes to community relations; only last year violent scenes marred the homecoming parade of the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment. Two white men I spoke to pointed towards the Bury Park area and called it “little Pakistan”. “You feel left out,” one said. Another said he felt “left behind”.
All the mainstream candidates downplay the significance of immigration as an issue, Huddleston explains. It’s not about ethnic tensions; second- or third-generation Asians talk about it as contributing to restricting their access to housing, school spaces or surgery bookings. “It’s not a race issue, it’s a straightforward social services issue.”
Shuker uses immigration to talk about the “lack of opportunity”. Qurban Hussain, the Liberal Democrat candidate, says Luton South is “completely in harmony” – although he adds a very small number of extremists do cause trouble. Rantzen says it is only an issue in one in every 50 houses here, but is also aware of far-right fanatics.
“I came across them yesterday in Bury Park, leafleting telling people not to vote,” she says. “They say elections break sharia law. I think that’s a very dangerous extreme view because I think our democracy is what protects us, keeps us tolerant, keeps us sane as a society.”
Later in the day I saw some graffiti – ‘Polish out’ – outside the General Motors plant. Despite the universally upbeat comments of all the candidates, it seems immigration remains an extremely sensitive issue.
Perhaps their comments are something to do with the common theme which emerges: the need to improve Luton’s reputation. It is perfectly located, after all: close to London, with motorway, air and rail links. But its “brand” has suffered in recent years. Rantzen thinks getting rid of the condemned concrete car park which dominates the town centre would be a start. She understands, like all those standing here, the importance of improving Luton’s battered reputation. Whoever wins this race needs to “offer Lutonians what they should have had years ago – which is real hope and a real way of expressing their creativity and energy”.
But the presence of Rantzen and the other independents, combined with the likely reluctance among past Labour supporters to bother voting at all, could swing this the Tories’ way. Shuker appears to know that.
“The key issue is: does it hurt Labour’s chances on election day? I think it does to some degree. It’s such a tight race here.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure our vote comes out and we win round people who are wavering on the doorsteps.”
His determination to fight means it looks like this seat is going down to the wire. I ask Huddleston how he can be so confident; his reply reflects his three years of intensive campaigning.
“I’ve been doing this for several years and particularly now when we’ve got a lot of canvassing on doorsteps, we’re definitely ahead of Labour, there’s no doubt about that. I just don’t know how much.”
