BBC The World Tonight (Greg Stone)

BBC The World Tonight

September 26, 2009 12:15 AM

Radio 4's The World Tonight programme featured a report on voting intentions in Newcastle, including interviews in Newcastle East.

Link to the programme here (16-24 minutes)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mq870

Quotes:

Newcastle University politics expert: "You can't disavow that disappointment that people have experienced.... that loyalty can no longer be taken for granted by the Labour party"

Man in Heaton: "I would say they're definitely not the classic Labour voter not from the posters I see going in the window at election time - you're seeing a lot more yellow"

BBC reporter: "Labour voters in Newcastle began to seem like an endangered species. I contacted the spokesman for one constituency here and asked if he could introduce me to some still loyal Labour supporters. Two days later he got back to me to say he hadn't been able to find any."

Man in Newcastle Labour Club: "The Labour party is going through exactly the same experience as the Conservatives did. They were in power for eighteen years and look at the hiding they took. I think the Labour party's going to have exactly the same. It's going to be a situation like being on the Titanic. It's going down and there's nothing they can do about it to bail it out"