Liberal Democrats battle for heartlands in Cornwall

By Chris Mason
Political correspondent, BBC Radio 5 live

The closure of tin mines in this part of Cornwall has led to unemployment

The first person to greet you when you pull up at Camborne bus station in Cornwall is "Danielle".

She is a young woman from Brighton, wearing a grey plaited scarf and a suitably concerned expression.

Looking down on passengers from two large Conservative campaign posters, she says: "I've not voted Tory before, but I want to mend our broken society."

But this is Liberal Democrat country.

When you look at a map of the parliamentary seats in the south-west of England, it looks like someone has thrown a tin of yellow paint at it.

David Cameron needs big gains here - at the Lib Dems' expense - if he is going to make it to Downing Street.

There are five parliamentary seats in Cornwall - and the Lib Dems have the full set.

But that support is not just a recent whim.

Losing grip

Historically, there is a religious dimension to their success here - the link between Methodism and the Liberal political cause has strong roots, in the same way as the Church of England has been dubbed "the Tory Party at prayer".

But there are signs that the Lib Dems might be losing their grip.

Local authorities they have controlled for years have been lost to the Conservatives recently, and some of their narrow parliamentary majorities leave the MPs very vulnerable.

Tory candidate George Eustice used to be David Cameron's press secretary

Across much of the south-west, the Labour Party trail in a distant third in parliamentary contests, and in just a handful of seats do they have even a sniff of a chance.

The new seat of Camborne and Redruth - renamed and redrawn from the old Falmouth and Camborne seat - is one, providing the region's only three-way marginal battle.

The Conservative candidate here, George Eustice, 38, has impeccable local credentials - his family has farmed here for 400 years.

His Tory credentials are not bad either - he has been press secretary to both the current party leader David Cameron and his predecessor Michael Howard.

But it is where he was born and grew up that is more politically valuable to him right now.

Big picture

Nevertheless, there is a danger for Mr Eustice, and David Cameron, that - given the track record of support for the Liberal Democrats in Cornwall - the bigger national picture is obscured.

"We need to focus people's minds on the fact that this is a national election, and if they want to change the government, if they really don't want five more years of Gordon Brown, then this is a seat that the Conservatives simply have to win," Mr Eustice says.

"If we don't win seats like this, we won't get a majority and Gordon Brown will cling to power."

Incument MP Julia Goldsworthy is determined to hold onto her seat

The current Falmouth and Camborne MP, Lib Dem Julia Goldsworthy, 31, has to hope the bedrock of support for her party here, and her local campaigning, is sufficient to beat the Tories.

But it will not be easy.

"One of defining characteristics is the fact that we really do think that local issues, doorstep issues, are really, really so important", she says.

"I think that might be an explanation as to why we have been so successful here in Cornwall.

"Our needs are so unique and this often gets lost in national policy pronouncements.

"There is a feeling down here that too many decisions that impact us are taken far, far too far away."

She adds: "Other political parties should be very wary of thinking that they can treat voters here as pawns in a bigger political game."

Mining legacy

The towns of Redruth, Camborne and Hayle challenge stereotypes about Cornwall.

Put aside those images of summer holidays, ice creams and cliff-top walks.

Of course, they are here, but so are parallels with places like Barnsley, Blaydon and the Rhondda.

The mines here might have been for tin rather than coal, but the social impact of their closure was certainly similar.

Labour's Jude Robinson was the party's local agent from 1997 to 2005

And the political impact means Labour have a solid base of support to tap into.

The Labour Party held the seat from 1997 to 2005, and its agent then, Jude Robinson, 54, is its candidate now.

"To a large extent the Labour Party is not the party in power in Cornwall, and a lot of the resentment goes to the Liberal Democrats, who have all five MPs here," she says.

"But Labour has got a really good story to tell in Cornwall.

"For the first time ever, young people don't have to leave to go to university [because] we have built the university campus here."

She admits many voters are angry with Labour, but hopes her core supporters will still turn out for her.

Still undecided

Speaking to voters here, a number of recurring themes come up.

Many people regard the government "up country" as, at best, not understanding their lives - at worst, ignoring them altogether.

That has worked to the Lib Dems' advantage, so far.

But others say they have been ignored because they have not been represented by one of the two big parties at Westminster. And plenty have not yet decided how they will vote.

Come polling day, it won't just be the big three Westminster parties battling for votes here. The UK Independence Party, who have an MEP for the south west of England, will hope to build on the 1,800 votes they secured five years ago.

And Mebyon Kernow, which campaigns for greater self-government for Cornwall, point out that they currently have councillors on Cornwall Council - unlike Labour.

This might not be a battle against Labour for the Conservatives, but it is no less significant for it.

* A full list of all the candidates will be posted on the BBC website when the election campaign formally begins