General Election called - why we will be seeing a lot of Westminster's big beasts over the coming weeks
A General Election has been called for July 4.
Sir Keir Starmer seems to have been omnipresent in the West Midlands over the past few months. And we can expect to see far more of the big beasts of the Westminster jungle as the election campaign unfolds.
The region has a long history of being where general elections have been won and lost. In 1979, the key marginals of Dudley West and The Wrekin played an important role in putting Margaret Thatcher into office.
Tony Blair's landslide of 1997 saw the Tory strongholds of Stafford, Stourbridge and Shrewsbury turn red for the first time in years. And it was the voters of Wolverhampton South West, Dudley South, Stourbridge and Halesowen & Rowley Regis who helped put David Cameron in Downing Street in 2010, ending 13 years of Labour rule.
Sir Keir and Labour know that to stand any chance of forming the next government, they will need to make up considerable ground this time around. As well as the traditional bellwether marginals of Dudley, Cannock Chase and Wolverhampton South West, the 2019 General Election also saw the Conservatives sweep into the so-called 'Red Wall'.
