In Gorton and Denton, I found a long-festering sense of fury that Labour has no idea how to tackle | John Harris

2026-02-01 - 15:36

The people I met were disconnected and angry at the same time. Even if Labour somehow wins this byelection, how does it arrest the slide into hopelessness? The route of the No 201 bus begins in the regenerated wonderland of central Manchester, and follows a straight line through the neighbourhoods to its east. The city’s box-fresh skyscrapers and gleaming new hotels quickly recede – and within 10 minutes you arrive in Gorton, at the outer edge of the constituency that, in not much more than three weeks’ time, will see the byelection that could have profound consequences for the future of both the Labour party and British politics. Gorton is hardly a social desert. Millions of pounds are being spent on a regeneration scheme that – among its other benefits – will bring the area new housing and a revitalised high street. But in the covered market that is about to be upgraded to a “food and drink cluster”, when I ask people questions about the looming vote, I mostly hear expressions of fierce resentment. In that sense, the story of what is about to happen here may crystallise one of this year’s big political themes: a long-festering sense of disconnection and fury reaching a new extreme, thanks to a government that seems strangely powerless to even begin to tackle it. John Harris is a Guardian columnist John Harris and John Domokos’s Anywhere but Westminster film about the Gorton and Denton byelection will appear later this week Continue reading...