Starmer knows he must offer hope to hard-hit ‘red wall’ towns | Richard Partington

As Labour leader journeys north again the task of building a new narrative has only just begun

It is a cold night on a Stoke-on-Trent industrial estate and Keir Starmer is in town again. It's at least his seventh trip here in search of redemption after Labour's historic defeat in 2019, in a sign of how important he sees the Potteries to the party's future.

I feel I'm getting to know Stoke quite well," he tells me. And we'll keep on coming. I think it's very, very important. The sort of discussion we want to have tonight is not a discussion we could have in London. You've got to have it where people live, in their place, in their town, about the issues that matter to them."