In a new constituency where the river ‘is our lifeblood’, people speak of being taken for granted by the Tories

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By conventional political logic, it is a long jump from the Conservatives to the Green party. But in Waveney Valley, voters are making that leap. Political history, party stereotypes and predictable voter behaviour are sailing away down the river that meanders through this new constituency, carved from five ultra-safe Tory seats on the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

Waveney Valley should be a win so comfortable for the Conservatives that they barely need to turn up. One of its former constituencies has been Tory since 1885; all five had Conservative majorities of more than 18,000 in 2019. “It’s been Tory since the Norman conquest,” says Robert Lindsay, a Green councillor who is part of an eager team of party activists descending on this rural heartland to boost co-leader Adrian Ramsay’s hopes of victory.