SNP and Labour are battling it out over the area, which has a rich mining heritage and aspirational new housing estates
Beneath the red brick chimney at Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange, Midlothian, the Tuesday morning tour is under way. Now home to the National Mining Museum Scotland, this was one of seven pits that employed thousands of men until the industry’s bitter demise.
Miners and their families voted one way, the tour guide explains. “Everybody voted Labour back then. A ham sandwich could get voted in as a Labour MP.”