The Tory areas outside the North-West were numerically and strategically very significant. The traditionally Tory areas of London and its hinterland, the West Midlands, and the South coast ports, collectively contained more working-class seats than the North-West and were as important to the Liberal victory in 1906. New Liberal policies and a Progressive Alliance were as much a part of Liberal politics in these areas as they were in the North-West. As in the North-West, however, Liberalism's historic weakness in some parts of these areas suggested that there was an electoral space which Labour might exploit. The economic realities of many Tory working-class areas were very different from those areas where the Liberals were generally successful. ‘Liberal’ conceptions of what was possible and desirable were less of an obstacle to the creation of a ‘Labour’ political allegiance. Labour historians have thus tended to argue that the Liberal revival was temporary because it was lacking in cultural foundations. Nonetheless, the conditions were not obviously favourable to Labour. Nonconformity and trade unionism were weak in most of the areas discussed in this chapter. Moreover, Liberal policy – which was not ideally suited to the conditions of people in parts of these areas – was not without its economic attractions, while Labour had yet to construct a viable alternative. Social forces did not point in a single direction; economic factors did not necessarily help Labour to appear a more credible force. There were both opportunities and constraints.