Dartford has done well under Labour. More and more businesses are moving to the area; unemployment is a fraction of what it was a generation ago and the new Ebbsfleet International Station and Bluewater Shopping Centre have helped to transform perceptions of the area. It is no longer an economic backwater struggling to come to terms with the contraction of its industrial base, but a growing and increasingly diverse economy well placed to take advantage of ever-closer links with the continent.
To this list I could add the new, state-of-the-art hospitals, health centres, schools and nurseries that have radically improved people’s experiences of public services in this area.
Yet you’ll only find grudging respect for this record among Dartford residents. People may be better off now than they were twenty years ago, but the rising cost of living and jitters in the housing market are making them feel decidedly nervous about the future. The wolf may not be quite at the door yet, but they’re conscious of it prowling around with intent near the front gate. And while escalating fuel and commodity prices may not necessarily be the government’s fault, repeated inflation-busting rail fare increases have exposed the government to heavy and not altogether undeserved criticism.
The cost of rail tickets is no small issue in Dartford and in similar seats in and around London. Over a third of Dartford residents commute to work by train and their annual season ticket is often their biggest single purchase in any given year. Regular commuters, many of whom are on tight budgets, don’t appreciate being told by the government that from now on they will have to shoulder a much higher proportion of the cost of running the network – especially when these services are often groaning at the seams. It suggests to them that the government is somewhat out of touch with the concerns of ordinary commuter towns in the south-east.
It is an issue that sums up the growing sense of disgruntlement about the quality of life on offer in the south-east. People resent the amount of time they have to spend travelling to and from work on dirty and congested roads and trains and feel guilty about the sacrifices this forces them to make in terms of time they are able to spend at home with their family.
They also hate the fact that so much of the urban landscape around them looks so unkempt and unloved. They want to be proud of the towns in which they live and have something worth coming back to at the end of the day; otherwise what is the point of working so hard? The contrast between our own impoverished townscapes and the casual way in which they are maintained and the level of resources and priority given to this on the continent could not be more stark in their eyes.
Everyday frustrations such as these may seem relatively unimportant compared to the great affairs of state that the government has to grapple with each day. Yet local issues such as these influence the way in which the public see the world and ultimately view the politicians that govern them. Get the political mood music right and the public are much more likely to look positively on the government’s other undoubted achievements and successes. Attending to these basic quality-of-life issues and investing in the fabric of our communities could make all the difference to Labour at the next election.