Labour hoping for revival close to Morrissey's cemetery gates

The suburb that inspired one of The Smiths' best-known songs deserted Labour at the last election. Ben Chu returns home to find out whether the Lib Dems can repeat their 2005 success

(SUSANNAH IRELAND)

At the heart of the Manchester Withington constituency sprawls the brooding presence of Southern cemetery. The 19th-century graveyard is said to have been the setting for Morrissey's paean to plagiarism, "Cemetery Gates". But this is only one strand of the musical heritage of my old home.

The Gallagher brothers, of Oasis fame, were brought up in nearby Burnage. The Bee Gees attended Oswald Road Primary School. And the disused Wilbraham Road railway station witnessed a concert of American blues and gospel legends – including Muddy Waters and Sister Rosetta Tharpe – which became a minor musical television landmark when it was broadcast by Granada in 1964.

Music, it seems, runs in Withington's blood. And in the last general election in 2005, its voters sang a rather unusual tune. The Liberal Democrat candidate, John Leech, unseated the Labour incumbent with a massive 17 per cent swing, the largest seen anywhere in the country. I met Leech in his bustling constituency office, where the 38-year-old former local councillor takes me through some of the reasons for his astonishing victory five years ago.

"There were national issues that resonated a lot locally such as Iraq and student tuition fees," he says. "There were considerable local factors too. In 2004 Labour had cancelled the Metrolink tram extension [to the area]. There was a lot of bad will towards Labour."

Despite the resurgence of the Conservatives nationally since the last election and although for several decades after the Second World War Withington returned Tory MPs, Leech expects the next election to be another straight Lib/Lab contest.

"This is not natural Tory territory," he says. "People in south Manchester are liberal with a small 'l', even if they're not liberal with a big 'l'. The problem that David Cameron has in the North goes back to the days of Margaret Thatcher. She was responsible for the Tories being wiped out in big cities in northern England. That void has been taken on by us."

The local candidate for Labour, Lucy Powell, agrees that the Conservatives are nowhere in Withington, although she expects the prospect of the Tories taking power nationally will help drive local voters back into the Labour camp.

"They realise that the only way to stop there being a Tory government is to make sure that they elect a Labour MP here because it's going to be that close," she says. "We are finding that a lot of people who left Labour last time over Iraq and other issues are coming back to us."

But Powell does agree with Leech on the general political orientation of Withingtonians. "Most people would probably describe themselves as left-of-centre in their politics, with a social conscience and a green ethic as well."

Chris Green, the local Conservative candidate, does not deny that he faces daunting odds. And he puts the constituency's dramatic journey over the decades – from Tory blue, to Labour red, to Lib Dem yellow – down to demographic changes and the high number of students who now live in the area.

"There are a lot of big, old houses but the people who lived in them have moved to north Cheshire," he says. "People start appreciating Conservatives more when they have children and start using schools and the health service."

Yet, as everyone knows, there is a wild card at this election: MPs expenses. When I spoke to Leech, he suggested that public anger over the manner in which many parliamentarians have abused public funds will not be a significant factor in Withington. "Whenever people have spoken to me about expenses, they've spoken to me positively about the fact that mine are so much lower than all the other Manchester MPs for the second-home allowance."

So much for the partisan point-scoring. After meeting the politicians, I head into the constituency to see what some of the voters think. Wilmslow Road in East Didsbury is a prosperous thoroughfare with a sprinkling of upmarket retailers. Evans of Didsbury sells delicacies such as Arbroath Smokies to the barristers, doctors and small-business owners who live in the surrounding area.

The proprietor, Ian Middlehurst, is fuming because he has just found out that the Labour-controlled Manchester council is raising his business rates. But he is not hugely enamoured of the Liberal Democrats either. When I ask about Leech, I'm told, "We never see the guy".

A short walk down the road, Billy, a regular at the Royal Oak pub, is enjoying a pint and a cigarette outside his favourite watering-hole. He has a kinder word for the incumbent. "He's a good local MP but they've got no chance of getting in nationally." He says he will be voting Labour, because "they have got the experience".

The politicians are all correct about one thing at least: Withington has a lot of students, owing to the proximity of the vast Manchester University, with an estimated combined student population of more than 73,000. A little further down Wilmslow Road, I bump into Paul Leeming, who is studying electrical engineering. I wonder whether he is attracted by the Liberal Democrats and their pledge to get rid of university tuition fees. He admits that university is "quite difficult money wise". He adds: "My family are well off, but it's hard for some of my friends." Yet he is not in favour of scrapping fees. "The problem," he says, "is that the quality of education would go down."

Next stop is the crumbling old Victorian-era Withington Hospital, where I was born three decades ago. Or, rather, it would be, had it not been knocked down in 2002. In its place is the smart new Withington Community Hospital, which provides day surgery and a walk-in health centre. Outside I meet Maria, who looks after patients' notes at the hospital. She tells me that there was a strong local campaign to save the old hospital, which is why the local primary care trust decided to build the smaller facility here in its place.

Maria takes issue with the idea that MPs' expenses will not play a major part in how people cast their votes in the election. Although she does not mention her own MP, she is furious about the way parliamentarians in general have behaved. "We work hard for our money. But they spent it on luxury hotels. I wish I had a cleaner for when I'm at work." She also thinks anger will affect turnout. "I didn't vote last time. And I think a lot of people who work here aren't going to vote this time."

Didsbury might be the wealthiest part of Withington, but the nicest, in my view, is Chorlton, on the western edge of the constituency. On Chorlton Green sits a local landmark: the Horse & Jockey pub. When I was growing up, this inn, fashioned out of a row of Tudor-style cottages, was a rather scruffy establishment with a boisterous quiz night. But last year it changed owners and had a makeover, leaving it with cream-painted walls, fancy sinks in the bathrooms, and a menu that offers supreme of halibut and slow-roasted pork belly (though this being Chorlton, where pretention does not go down too well, the owners are keen to stress that it is not a gastropub).

Outside, I speak to Jennie Bateson, a freelance BBC journalist who is relaxing with friends after a yoga class. Jennie seems to be the sort of swing voter who will decide the fate of Withington at the next election. "I voted Lib Dem last time and just stuck," she says. "I'm not planning to vote Labour, but I could swing. The Labour candidate seems quite good and because she's a woman it's almost a solidarity thing." If the politicos are looking for "Withington woman" they should speak to Jennie.

The short route between my old home and my former school, Chorlton Church of England Primary, is still familiar after all these years. Half-way, is a small and neat park with a children's climbing frame. Sitting on a bench, Krishna Nayak, a software engineer, is tucking into pie, chips and curry sauce with his two sons, Luka, four, and Kipp, two. Here is one voter whose support none of the large parties will attract. "The class divide has got far greater under Labour," he says. "I think they're liars. I might vote Green but it's really kids who are at the top of my agenda."

As chance would have it, Luka has just started at my old school. Krishna might not rate Labour, but he does like the little state primary down the road. "They're all artists and poets there," he says with a laugh. And that's Withington for you: a cosy home of poets, artists, musicians, students, health workers, barristers, liberals, and an election that is simply too close for this prodigal son to call.

Manchester Withington: Result in 2005

*Liberal Democrat: John Leech, 15,872, 42.4 per cent

*Labour: Keith Bradley, 15,205, 40.6 per cent

*Conservative: Karen Bradley, 3,919, 10.5 per cent

*Green: Brian Candeland, 1,595, 4.3 per cent

*Turnout: 37,458, 55.3 per cent

(Liberal Democrat gain from Labour, swing 17.3 per cent)