Six years ago Gordon Brown walked down a Rochdale street and into a whole heap of trouble. During the 2010 general election campaign he met Gillian Duffy, a pensioner and lifelong Labour voter, who expressed concern about immigration. A microphone mistakenly left on caught him calling her a “bigoted woman” and the disastrous vignette was seized upon as proof of the political elite’s disdain for the grassroots voter.
So today, with border control high on the agenda, what is the prevailing mood in Rochdale regarding the EU referendum? Geoff Taylor, who runs a fruit and veg stall in its open market, is in no doubt how he’ll vote. “I’m out. Definitely out,” he says vigorously from behind his stall. “Europe’s a federal state led by