New party HQ set for Leeds
The Conservative party is set to open a new campaign headquarters Leeds in the next 12 months as it seeks to cement the party’s gains made in the Yorkshire and beyond in the 2019 election.
Amanda Milling, the co-chair of the Conservative Party explained that this move demonstrates that the party is committed to supporting the voters who were crucial in electing Boris Johnson as Prime Minister last year. She said: “This new headquarters will provide the party with a base at the heart of the blue wall because we’re in it for the long haul.”
However the news of this new base for the political party, which will still keep its London HQ, saw the deputy leader of Leeds City Council, James Lewis, tweet: “After 10 years of conservative austerity cuts has taken £2 billion out of Leeds Council’s services there’s a few empty council buildings we could sell them…”
According to Neil Lee, a professor of economic geography at LSE there are multiple reasons for the party selecting Leeds for this second base of operations. He told the Guardian: “Leeds has been the unsung success story of the north in that the economy there has done relatively well compared to other cities.” He added that Yorkshire also had some strong conservative traditions and is home to “good transport networks”.
Although no details have yet been given on the scale of the Conservatives planned operations in Leeds, it is understood that the new office will open in 2021
