News Politics Society: Professor Oliver Heath 05.10.2023

On Thursday lunchtime, the Politics Society heard from Professor Oliver Heath, Professor of Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London, on the Labour and his research into the 2019 election.

As an expert on elections, Professor Heath was able to give us a ‘deep dive’ into the research he has done on the 2019 election. He argued that it revealed trends in voting behaviour that had been underway for some time and were dramatically revealed by the Corbyn/Johnson dichotomy, arguing that the ‘Red Wall’ is now lost to Labour and so they face a serious challenge if they are to win the next election. Discussion following the talk was primarily focused on the upcoming election and how the major parties might fare with shifts in culture, demographics and voting behaviour.

Students enjoyed the experience of a university-style Politics lecture and the chance to question Professor Heath on how Labour and the Conservatives will need to adapt their strategy to succeed. Many thanks to Professor Heath for giving us a really interesting perspective on the challenges facing the Labour party in particular, which has sparked much discussion amongst staff and students.