‘Dirty rotten scoundrel’: Blackpool voters terrified of Tory MP Scott Benton

BBehind the facade of bright lights on Blackpool’s seafront lies a town yearning for regeneration. The Magistrates’ Court, disbanded from Raac, no longer hears cases. Visitors to the South Shore area, behind the famous beach attraction, expecting the hustle and bustle, are greeted with a somber mood of disappointment and distrust.

“Scott Benton is a dirty, rotten scoundrel,” says Dale Dodwell, manager of Monsters Ink tattoo parlor. “He keeps posting pictures of himself eating a lot of food. What about the homeless? Everything’s good for you because you have plenty of money.

Dodwell’s words symbolize the feeling that many local residents have given up on politics. A by-election will be held on May 2 to replace Benton, who resigned as the Conservative MP for Blackpool South on Monday evening.

This represents another political headache for Rishi Sunak ahead of the election, which polls suggest Labor will win.

Scott Benton. Photo: Beresford Hodge/PA

Last year, Benton was caught by undercover Los Angeles Times reporters posing as a fake investment fund, claiming he would lobby ministers on behalf of the gambling industry and leaking a confidential policy document worth up to £4,000 a month. He was found to have breached the standards of MPs and faced a local vote on whether to remove him after being kicked out of the House of Commons.

Blackpool South was the seat of the Labor Party from 1997 to 2019, but Benton won the seat by a majority of 3,690 votes. Before Labor MP Gordon Marsden won in 1997, this seat, in one of the most deprived areas of England, was under Tory control throughout its existence.

Ian Graham, a Blackpool-born postal worker, said politicians like Benton promote leveling the playing field in order to get elected, but Graham says he hasn’t seen anything come to fruition.

He said: “This is the tip of the iceberg and he was caught with his hands in the jar. Many politicians do this and they don’t get caught.

“I saw him in person in this area, talking to people, showing his face in PR stunts. I’m not a politician, to be honest. I don’t think voting for the two main political parties is the right solution. One is Tory, the other is a lighter shade of Tory.

“You’d be better off at a Green Party or another upcoming event.”

Julie Kirkham, seen waiting for her car to be repaired, says she wants an MP who will bring life and soul back to Blackpool. Photo: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

Julie Kirkham, a retired special educational needs teacher, said the next MP must think about refurbishment and that the city had “sufficient parking”.

“In the 1980s, we had a vacation block on the South Shore, behind Pleasure Beach, and when people came for a two-week vacation, it wasn’t just deer and chickens,” she said. “It just needs someone who cares and can put some life and soul back into this place.”

Kirkham added that as a long-time Conservative voter she was undecided who to vote for, but noted that the Labor candidate, Chris Webb, was born in Blackpool and expected “lots of leaflets on her doorstep”.

Tattoo artist Zoe Sarah Neil at Monsters Ink tattoo parlor. Photo: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

Zoe Sarah Neil, Dodwell’s colleague, said the vote was particularly important for women because of her affinity “with the suffragettes”, but she didn’t think anything would change.

“Tattoo artists were the first to close and the last to open [during Covid],” she said. “It wasn’t good for self-employed people.”

Neil, who is making up lost wages, added: “You’re only two paychecks away from homelessness.

“I started my own business in September [2019]before March [2020]. I was on the verge of bread; I called and was told, “I’m sorry you’re one of those out of control people, but we can’t help you.” Now that taxes have gone up and food prices have gone up, it’s an uphill battle.”