Bolton may be the Greater Manchester Town of Culture 2024, but its constituents are hoping the town centre sees some change after the General Election. In the 2019 election, the Conservatives' Mark Logan won the Bolton North East seat with a majority of just 378 votes. He took over from Labour’s David Crausby, who had represented the constituency since 1997.
Now, both parties have new candidates standing, with Breightmet councillor Adele Warren taking over from Mr Logan for the Conservatives - following his shock resignation from the party last month and public backing of Labour - and Labour's Kirith Entwistle. The other candidates are Hanif Alli for the Green Party, Rebecca Ann Forrest for the Liberal Democrats, Trevor Jones for Reform UK, Syeda Misbah Kazmi for the Workers Party, and two independent candidates, John Partington and Kevin Allsop. The latest YouGov poll predicts that Labour will take back the seat with 53.
2 per cent of the vote compared to 25.4 per cent for the Conservatives. But what do people in Bolton think, and what issues do they want to see addressed? Major regeneration plans are in the pipeline to transform the town centre including the redevelopment of Crompton Place shopping centre.
But some are critical about the current state of the town centre. Mark Scott, 66, from Horwich , said he will be voting for Labour. He said: “It’s broken my heart for the past 14 years to see the situation the country’s in.
“Look around you- boarded up shops, not.