Gorton is the place where my great-grandmother was born into a railway family in 1875. At that time, it was world-famous for making locomotives, and was one of the most industrialised and polluted places in the country. When I first knew it in the 1960s, the great engineering works were closing, putting thousands of skilled men on the dole. The close-knit terraced streets were being torn down, leaving just abandoned pubs on the street corners for a while. It was one of many northern towns that seemed to have died.
To me, it is inspiring that the locals have not, in the main, voted to elect someone who would blame the area’s misfortunes on migrants (Report, 27 February). I am still a supporter of Keir Starmer’s government, but Labour needs to learn from this result and reclaim some of the fire and enthusiasm for a better world that have given momentum to the Greens and their highly motivated candidate, Hannah Spencer.
Robert Hartley
Elston, Nottinghamshire
