DEMOS

 This report offers a new understanding of this bellwether constituency. The research combines fresh analysis of the results of the last two elections with recent in-depth interviews into attitudes to politics and society. The pamphlet is co-written by Dennis Hayes, who was part of the team which first investigated the phenomenon of Basildon Man after the 1992 election. Now Hayes and colleague Alan Hudson have returned to Basildon to find out how this town, which supposedly fell in love with Margaret Thatcher, has fared under New Labour. The results show a surprising level of disenchantment with the government and, more worryingly for all politicians, a disengagement from politics itself. The pamphlet raises serious questions about how all the political parties will connect with Basildon voters - and people just like them throughout Britain - in the run up to the election. The vast majority of people interviewed showed little or no identification with any political party.

Dr Dennis Hayes is Director of the Education and Work Research Group and Head of the Department of Post-Compulsory Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College.

Alan Hudson is Director of Studies in Social and Political Science in the Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford.