黑洞社区

Equal opportunities

As voters gird their loins in preparation for the general election, or attempt to ignore it altogether, we take a look back to 1997, as the long hard of slog of general election campaigning was coming to an end.

黑洞社区 visited Colchester to see which way local industry would be voting, describing the constituency as 鈥渁 political no-man鈥檚 land鈥� because the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats were all in with a chance.

Tony Howe-Smith, director of contractor TJ Evers, wanted a Labour government, which he thought would boost investment through 鈥渢he release of capital receipts for social housing鈥�. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen the industry go downhill under the Conservatives and feel we鈥檙e going to get more of a shot in the arm from Labour,鈥� he said.

However, Richard Hayden of Huttons was worried about the 鈥渋nflationary side-effects鈥� of Labour鈥檚 potential to spend, despite what he called the Tory party鈥檚 鈥渂anana skins鈥�.

Come election day, neither construction man鈥檚 choice won, with Colchester taken by Bob Russell of the Liberal Democrats until 2015, when it was once again flooded by the blue tide that has traditionally submerged Essex.

To read the full article from 25 April 1997, download the PDF below.