A POLL predicting the majority of the so-called Conservative ‘Red Wall’ seats would return to Labour has been dismissed by a Bury Tory MP.

Conservatives took both Bury North and Bury South seats at the December 2019 election - and made unexpected gains in the likes of Leigh and Burnley.

But research by Channel 4 News claims Labour would now win 36 of the 45 seats the Tories gained a year ago.

Bury North MP James Daly has little time for the results of the J.L. Partners survey.

He said: “If I succeed in bringing more jobs, more businesses, more investment into Bury and get voted out in five years’ time, or whenever the next General Election is, I will consider that a success.

“What happens to me, is neither here nor there in the bigger scheme of things.

“What I hope people will judge me on is the nature of the person I am, the effort I put in and whether I can actually bring some positive outcomes to people locally.

“What happens to me on a personal level – I genuinely don’t think about that. What bothers me is unemployment and the hospitality industry on its knees.

“What bothers me is getting more money into public services in Bury, trying to work with the council to get a Towns’ Fund deal, trying to rejuvenate the market and get Bury Football Club going. All these things are what bothers me. I never once considered my political future.”

His Bury South counterpart Christian Wakeford accepts Covid has changed perceptions - and has branded the Dominic Cummings saga, in which the Prime Minister’s aide was accused of breaching government guidance with a trip to Barnard Castle, as a “’fiasco”.

“The perception about it was one rule for the ‘political elite’ and one rule for everyone else,” he said. “The entire Barnard Castle thing became a massive joke.”

He says the political atmosphere is still polarised.

“I think there’s still a lot of support from those who voted Tory perhaps for the first time last year,” he said.

“I think the general thought is with Covid, yes, we’ve got some things wrong. But most people get that with a global pandemic that’s constantly evolving, you’re going to make mistakes.

“There’s a lot of sympathy out there. But we were already in a very polarised atmosphere and unfortunately, it’s become even more so. Every mistake is now a political choice as opposed to something you realise in hindsight just wasn’t right.”