Kirkpatrick Factory in Walsall (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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Blakenall Heath, Walsall
The writing is almost on the wall in Blakenall Heath. Only the K and N of Blakenall remain on the sign that marks the entrance to this small suburb of Walsall in the West Midlands. “It’s about right,” says one local man with a hearty laugh. “Now it says: ‘Welcome to ***k*n Heath.’”
The only time this part of the world attracts national attention outside of the electoral cycle is when it receives the accolades no town wants. “‘Hell hole’ Walsall named in top 50 worst places to live in England,” reported the Birmingham Mail in January. Walsall has the worst community spirit of anywhere in the country, according to a 2016 poll. Giles Fraser once ministered to the folk of Blakenall Heath and wrote afterwards that the area “seethed with the anger of the unheard”.
When I visit, a sense of despair hangs in the air. The ground, meanwhile, is littered with the detritus of an area that has lost the respect of its own residents: fly-tipped waste, general litter and dog mess.
Blakenall abandoned its traditional loyalty to Labour, in the local elections this month, electing a Tory councillor for the first time in at least half a century (certainly as far back as records at The Elections Centre go). It was a remarkable victory for a party at a low ebb nationally, in one of the poorest areas of Britain during the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. Blakenall is the most deprived ward in Walsall, which is itself within the most deprived 10% of districts in the country. On average, its residents are more likely to be economically inactive, be victims of crime and have no formal qualifications.
The recent electoral coup was either a vote of confidence in the local Tories, who actually managed to increase their majority on Walsall Council, or a last-resort howl of disaffection from voters sick at being taken for granted. Not that most here cared either way. After walking around its centre for 90 minutes, I can only find two people who voted. The rest look almost taken aback to be asked the question. Turnout was 22%.
“I never vote,” says a retired lorry driver in the local butcher’s. “It doesn’t matter who you vote for.” A 13-year-old is asked by the shopkeeper: “You understand voting? You know, when you’re 18 and you get the vote?” The boy gives a blank expression and walks off with his sausages.
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SubscribeWhen Labour canvassers come to my door, I usually deal with them by asking them to define “woman”, or by telling them that most of my family is Jewish
The woman who chooses to work when she would be better off on benefits because she doesn’t want to have that attitude is the person I admire the most in these stories. There is something seriously amiss in our welfare system.
Or maybe in our employment system? Or, possibly, both.
It’s difficult to make an economic choice that leaves you worse off when you are close to the line, not only is it less attractive, but it becomes a real tug of war with regards to your responsibilities to your dependents. And getting underpaid in unappreciated work, that may seem to be useless work too, isn’t going to offer much satisfaction either. It’s probably not just chance that the woman in the article thought her work was important in itself.
Thank you for listening to the people of Blakenall.
No easy answers for what looks like multi-generational deprivation and serious neglect by politicians, local and national.
All I can offer is that, faced with these levels of need, start with the absolute basics: housing, food, education. Government’s role would be to establish some kind of support structure and resources, up to and including ‘Government Works Programmes’; if that sounds a bit 1930s, it is, but we are approaching, if we haven’t already got there, those levels of need.
Labour have had the same problem since Ed Milliband was leader – they only represent the chattering classes, fringe nutters and naive students, plus a few hotbeds of militant Islam and wokery. The anti-Brexit “youthquake” only happened after the referendum because the Tories represented Brexit in the eyes of little Tarquin and Jacinta. None of the little darlings knew, or researched, Jeremy Corbyn’s history with the EU, and let’s not forget that Theresa May had all the leadership qualities, and personality, of a cactus!!
Blakenall is just one of hundred of communities in England that Boris & Co should be investing in rather than squandering trillions on ever greedy parasites such as the Northern Irish & the Scotch. ‘We’ve manage to jettison the wretched EU, now let’s dissolve the Union.
An English Referendum on this subject is long overdue, and should be addressed before the looming ‘cost of living crisis’ erupts into anarchy, as it surely will.
Afterwards Scotland would have a failed economy and an open-borders policy. After this the refugees would all move south for real economic opportunities. Great Britain needs to have only one border. No part of it should be allowed to secede.
Surely you wouldn’t deny Sturgeon and her SNP?
and enjoy every second of doing so.
As a resident and now a non aligned Councillor of the Blakenall ward,(long disenchanted with the Labour Party) I can concur that APATHY reigns at local election time. The voting turnout this time was 21.7%….. almost 8 out of 10 DID NOT VOTE, The System is broken. There is a massive and growing DISCONNECT between the “Authorities” and the people they purport to represent. The folk round here know this but are unsure of the answer/what they can do to change it…especially as the 2 main Parties behave almost identically once in power.
THE MAIN PARTIES COMPETE TO RUN THE SYSTEM. SOME OF US RUN TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM!
Cllr. Pete Smith.
non-aligned Councillor for the Blakenall ward, Walsall.
What people need here is a purpose in life, not hand-outs. Labour abandoned them under Blair, it has just taken this long for them to realise it isn’t coming back.
Labour is now a party of middle class socialists. For years they have paid lip service and pocket money for the working class to just shut up and keep voting. Now Keir and Co are giving up even on that and instead looking to use minority groups the way they previously used the poor.
It’s going to take a massive effort for Tories to make much impact. But at least knowing what a women is may buy them time to come up with a plan…
OMG! It finally works. Thanks chaps.