Tories play down northern hopes

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The Conservatives have acknowledged it could take "years" for them to make a major breakthrough in northern England.

Vice chairman Eric Pickles said the party had a "steep mountain" to climb, as it goes into the local elections on 3 May, but would not stop trying.

He named five councils in the region without any Tory councillors, including Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

But he said they had more councillors across England than anyone else - and said they expect to win more on 3 May.

This was despite, he said, Labour going into the elections at a "30-year all time low" and were down to their core councils, therefore unlikely to lose many seats.

Dwindling fortunes

With 166 councils, the Conservatives are significantly ahead of Labour on 55 and the Lib Dems on 34, he said.

While the Tories made considerable gains, particularly in London and the South East during the 2006 local elections, in the North East they gained just one extra councillor

In January party leader David Cameron set up a group, the Northern Board, to boost the Tories' dwindling fortunes in the region.

I think we have got to recognise that the mountain we have to climb, particularly in the North East, is a very steep one Eric Pickles

But Mr Pickles, the party's local government spokesman, acknowledged that the problem would not be solved overnight.

Asked about his expectations for successes in northern seats, Mr Pickles said: "We are a national party and we are hoping to do well right across the country."

But he added: "I think we have got to recognise that the mountain we have to climb, particularly in the North East, is a very steep one.

"What we have tried to bring to the modern Conservative Party is a recognition that something like this is going to take more than one year, more than two years - and it's going to be incremental."

Tory MP Boris Johnson apologised for his comments about Liverpool

He said the party was in the process of trying to "re-engage" with the north, but added he did not regard winning seats in the north as "a big test" of the Conservatives' fortunes on 3 May.

"We tend to always go for one big push and it's going to take years to establish a local organisation ... and to make that breakthrough," he said.

"If at the end of this we don't have councillors ... we are not going to stop trying."

He rejected suggestions that the "Cameron effect" had not worked in the north.

Mr Pickles, himself a Yorkshireman, said it was "patronising" to say that people from Yorkshire thought differently to people in the south of England.