The seaside town that turned a lighter shade of blue

As recently as 2021, Aldeburgh's MP, county council and district council were all Conservative, cementing its status as a Tory heartland.

But fast forward just five years, and the seaside town is one of the most politically fragmented areas of Suffolk.

These days, Suffolk Coastal, the parliamentary constituency to which it belongs, is represented by Labour MP, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter.

In dethroning stalwart Thérèse Coffey, its MP for 14 years, at the 2024 General Election, Riddell-Carpenter turned it from blue to red for the first time in 41 years.

East Suffolk Council's Aldeburgh and Leiston ward has also been slowly turning its back on the Conservatives.

First came a Green Party by-election victory in 2021. Then, at the district council elections in 2023, the Greens went on to become the authority's largest party, winning all three Aldeburgh and Leiston seats.

They didn't quite secure overall control, however, having had to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and the Independents.

At Thursday's county council election, there was yet more change. Reform UK's Rachael Tecklenberg won the Aldeburgh and Leiston seat, turning it a lighter shade of blue.

Conservative TJ Haworth-Culf, who won the most votes in 2021, had chosen not to stand this time round, instead clearing the way for colleague, Thomas Faulkner.

But he lost out to Tecklenberg by 213 votes, adding yet another political party to the mix in Aldeburgh.

For residents, it makes for a confusing cocktail of political representation which they say is indicative of a topsy-turvy landscape and people's desire for change.

Ian Abbott, 63, who voted Conservative, said he was "not surprised" by Reform's success in the area and across Suffolk, where it won control of the county council.

"I think people would prefer it from a main party, but the main parties don't seem to be able to make the changes that people want, and Reform promise they will," he said.

"I think it could be a bit of a protest vote against the main parties, but I can't vote for Reform and I don't want Reform.

"But I can see a lot of people's anger with the mainstream parties and that they've not really listened to people and not achieved much."

Given the amount of change in power in the area recently, Louise Morse, 71, said Reform taking control of both Aldeburgh and the county council "was on the cards".

"I didn't vote for Reform because I don't entirely agree with their ambitions, but I'm not entirely surprised, but we'll just have to see how they do," she said.

"I've always voted Conservative and I did again, so I just stuck to what I know. It's not perfect, but none of the parties are perfect, are they?"

One resident who did vote Reform was 88-year-old Brian Parkinson, who believes the party's victory marks a "step in the right direction".

"It's been the Tories for a long, long time and now it is time for a change," he said.

Elizabeth Hoad, 84, meanwhile, wanted to see neither Reform nor the Conservatives secure the majority in Aldeburgh and Leiston.

"I've always been a Liberal Democrat and just recently I voted for the Green Party," she said.

"But to think of Reform… I'm not overly surprised but very, very disappointed and really despondent about what it is coming to."

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