It's the Red Wall town that turned blue for the first time ever - but would it vote for Boris Johnson now?
manchestereveningnews.co.ukWorking class town Heywood helped turn the northern Labour red wall Conservative blue at the last election. The town was always a Labour stronghold until Chris Clarkson won it for Boris Johnson's Conservative party.
While it was reasoned the communities in both Heywood and neighbouring town Middleton turned blue due to voters wanting an end to the stalling of Brexit and more control over immigration, the 'left behind' communities quickly became part of the Prime minister's 'levelling-up' agenda. READ MORE: GMP computer system branded ‘absolute scandal’ could be ditched within weeks So, as the Prime Minister hits the headlines over attending a BYOB party in the grounds of Number 10 and further reports of Downing Street lockdown parties on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral, the Manchester Evening News headed to Heywood to ask "Would you still vote for Boris now?" Steve Mulqueen, a butcher of 30 years, has owned butcher shop 'Steve the butcher' on Market Place in Heywood for five years.
Despite not having 'a huge interest in politics', he says he has a 'moral opinion' that partying on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral was wrong. "It absolutely broke my heart to see the Queen sat on her own as a single figure, grieving her husband, " he says.
Steve says he was brought up working class and would not vote Tory on principle but thinks lack of decent opposition has caused a problem. "That's the problem with democracy," he says, "If they had had a leader that was popular, it might have been different. "People voted for the best of a bad bunch." Michael Macdonald, 28, is the manager of Vaping store TGI Vapors and says although he would have voted Conservative in the past, he is in doubt that he will in the future.
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