On the spot – candidates answer vital questions in the final countdown
ROCHDALE has found itself at the centre of a national political storm.
What was expected to be a straightforward by-election for Labour has turned into one of the strangest and most chaotic in recent memory.
Triggered by the death of Labour stalwart Tony Lloyd, the poll will be held tomorrow (Thursday). As the sun rises on Friday, the town will have a new MP.
It’s been a busy - and dramatic - few weeks for candidates on the campaign trail.
Controversies have seen two hopefuls ditched by their parties.
Following ‘deeply offensive’ comments made by Azhar Ali about Israel at a meeting last year came to light, the Labour Party revoked its support.
Former Green Party candidate Guy Otten effectively pulled out of the race following ‘regrettable’ social media posts ‘a number of years ago’
They will both still appear on the ballot. Mr Ali is still vying for the seat, but Mr Otten has withdrawn from campaigning.
People living in the town told the Observer it had all become a ‘bit of a farce,’ urging candidates to focus on local issues and, simply put, tell them what they’ll do for Rochdale.
With that in mind, the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked each candidate - bar Mr Otten three questions.
Here is how every candidate responded:
over many years as well as having family and friends in the town and have seen the townships through the high and lows and how things have changed over many years
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
There are major challenges facing Rochdale after 14 years of devastating cuts to local Council services to the tune of £160m.
The NHS is on its knees, people on the doorstep feel the country is broken and that has a knock on effect on all Rochdalians.
There is a massive cost of living crisis with thousands of families on the breadline, crime and the fear of crime on the rise and the lack of well paid jobs coming into the area.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
I have set out a clear five point plan for Rochdale’s proud townships
Tackle the cost of living crisis
Ensure more visible policing so each community has a named police officer as well as tackle Speeding cars
Reopen the Maternity Unit at Rochdale Infirmary
Investment in our town centre to deal with the empty shops
Free breakfast clubs in all primary schools to give every child a great start to their school day and to help with school uniform costs
In addition secure more money for the council to help deal with the fly-tipping and potholes after 14 years of Tory cuts.
We need to work closely with the police and local community to tackle CSE and rebuilt Rochdale’s proud reputation and I want to work with universities and colleges to develop a university campus in Rochdale so we can develop the talent our town has rather than have a brain drain out of the area
I will hold regular high profile surgeries from Littleborough to Spotland and Milnrow to Kingsway to ensure that the local residents have access to their MP.
●●How are you connected to Rochdale?
I have lived in Rochdale since 2014. I served as Vicar of Rochdale getting to know people through Christenings, weddings and funerals, visiting schools and nursing homes, organising community events, often with Muslim community and Imams.
I won a church-mosque partnership award. I worked with the council to host arts, literary and music events. I served as the chaplain to three mayors of Rochdale, am a trustee for the foodbank, educational trust and Petrus.
Upon my retirement I decided to stay, moving from the vicarage in Spotland to a house we bought in Kingsway, both in the constituency.
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
Rochdale will face major challenges from climate breakdown. It might not feel like it now, but if we don’t take urgent and significant action - the King said we need to get on ‘a war footing’ - then we will face food shortages, a worsening cost of living crisis and devastating weather events including storms, floods and heatwaves, and ultimately the breakdown of law and order and societal collapse.
There needs to be investment to make the town resilient; building skills, strengthening institutions, co-operating (as we do so well in Rochdale) for the future.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
I want to listen to the people of Rochdale, and will be guided by them. I will hold people’s assemblies and will be guided by them.
People will come together and listen to each other. They find common ground and agree on priorities. These priorities I shall take forward in parliament.
Specifically, ordinary people should not have to pay for clean air. The oil and gas companies are making obscene profits while ordinary people struggle to pay energy bills.
We pay them billions in subsidies and tax breaks. I would work to ensure that this money is redirected into free home insulation and retrofit for all, leading to lower bills and carbon emissions, free, electric local public transport and help to switch to electric vehicles (taxis first as a priority).
Reform UK
●●How are you connected to Rochdale?
Unlike any other leading candidate, my connections to Rochdale are well known and longstanding.
Having represented the town as its MP between 2010 and 2017 I know it and its issues very well and they are close to my heart. I still have a house in Newbold and my children go to school in the town.
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
Rochdale faces many challenges, some that are common to many smaller towns in the area and some that are specific to here. The level of deprivation after years of broken promises have left it struggling to gain investment, and the sight of so many half used and vacant commercial and retail properties is a consequence of the ruinous and wildly expensive net zero policies of this government.
Rochdale’s transport links to central Manchester and beyond are a disgrace and need to be improved immediately.
Sadly, years of denial means that we have to prioritise the protection of local people from those who prey upon them. There is a culture of silence and cover up that I will not accept, and Rochdale must not accept.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
My children are growing up here in Rochdale, and I want to make this town one that they are proud to call their home.
We need to crack down on the crime, and the gangs that give the town its appalling reputation. We need to bring in investment to the town centre, and to ensure that there are good, high skilled jobs for our young people.
Liberal Democrats
●●How are you connected to Rochdale?
My family have lived in the borough for many years. Personally I moved here in 2020, (having previously been a Manchester councillor for 19 years) and have been a member of the Rochdale Lib Dem executive since that point.
I have previously been the candidate in North Heywood and am currently the Lib Dem candidate for Hopwood Hall Ward in the local elections.
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
The cost of living crisis has been biting people across the country and in Rochdale its effects have been particularly acute.
When I was younger my dad was a fitter in engineering and my mum worked in kitchens.
As a family we knew what it was to struggle paying the bills and putting food on the table.
Now far too many families are going through the same situations, forced to make impossible choices to keep their children fed, warm and with a roof over their head.
The state of social housing in our area is dire. Vulnerable households are having to put up with unsuitable and frankly dangerous residences.
Mould and damp infests far too many homes and many families are of course worried about the damage it could be doing to their children.
It is undeniable that there is a crisis in our NHS.
Many in Rochdale will have experienced the excruciating delays in simply getting a GP appointment. It should not be too much to ask to get medical help when you need to, but on the doorsteps, nearly every conversation I have includes issues with getting the care people deserve. The Israel-hamas conflict, as it is everywhere, is a big issue in the constituency. I have been appalled by the awful scenes since the dreadful terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7.
I have put my weight behind the Liberal Democrat call for an immediate permanent bilateral ceasefire in Gaza, which will provide the space to get the hostages home, stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and provide the space to deliver a two state solution.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
I plan to serve the people of Rochdale by taking their issues and concerns right to the heart of Parliament. For far too long, residents have been taken for granted by the local Labour party and badly let down by this awful Conservative government.
I would do this through a physical constituency office in which residents have accessibility to their MP and talk to me about the issues they are facing and want me to raise.
I would work with the local police force and press Ministers to ensure that there is a more visible police presence in Rochdale. This would help tackle the staggering amount of burglaries that go unsolved and provide a sense of security for the local community.
United Utilities need to be held to account. They have dumped a shocking amount of sewage into our waterways and this can go on no longer.
What I have been doing throughout this campaign and would continue to do if elected, is to try to rebuild Rochdale into a positive place. Where our community’s issues are addressed and listened to, where businesses want to come and invest, an education system that does not abandon people in our community, and where hardworking families don’t have to choose between heating and eating.
Iain Donaldson
Conservative
●●How are you connected to Rochdale?
For over 30 years people have seen me out community, from creating Rochdale’s Got Talent during lockdown, to making the borough a horticultural success through a large number of Royal Horticultural Society in Bloom initiatives, I have always looked to make the town a better place and a place to be proud of.
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
If elected, whether I am here in Rochdale or at Westminster, my plan would be simple - to ensure the people of Rochdale have a voice that they know will be heard by their MP and that their MP will always put the voice of the people first and foremost, when representing them outside the borough.
Sometimes the image of Rochdale outside the borough is a negative one, which really frustrates me as there is far more to our
hometown than is portrayed by others at times. I see so often hard-working people in the community helping one another, I see businesses investing in our high street, creating jobs, and I see those taking a stand for doing what is right.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
People who know me know that I am someone who prefers action over words and, for those who don’t know me, I am looking forward to showing you my passion for Rochdale. I have been truly honoured to meet and work alongside so many people over my years, so many of whom share the desire to do what is right.
It is with that enthusiasm and desire to champion the people of Rochdale that I am standing for election on February 29.
Workers Party of Britain
●●How are you connected to Rochdale?
I’ve been coming to Rochdale for 25 years, and have had Rochdalians on my numerous aid convoys over the years. My two sons live here, my daughter was born here, and if elected I’ll be based here myself too.
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
Rochdale has suffered relegation after relegation after relegation - and I’m not just talking about the football club. The political class have left a once great town in a dire state.
From the lack of maternity and A&E services at Rochdale Infirmary, to the failure to tackle criminal grooming gangs. We need an MP who will speak up on these issues and more and with my 30 year track record in Parliament I feel well-placed to get Rochdale back on the map for the right reasons.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
They say it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. I’ll do more than squeak I’ll roar in the commons to get Rochdale its fair share.
I won’t rest until maternity services are reinstated and people can once again be born here. I will demand meetings with the police and ministers to tackle grooming gangs and use my experience to bring investment into the town.
Already, I’ve secured the reopening of the Rochdale open air market - and I’m not even the MP yet.
Independent
I’m a local lad, born and bred, still living and working in Rochdale. I have hospitality venues in the borough and therefore I am in the town everyday speaking to people. Because of listening to people and hearing their thoughts, this is why I decided to stand as I believe I can make a difference.
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
The biggest challenges are creating confidence and a positive outlook from people in Rochdale. All Communities need to pull together and work as one - but it’s an individual’s personal responsibility, working with me, for helping to make Rochdale be a great place to be.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
I plan to encourage new and expanding current businesses; channelling the energies of youngsters into activities - helping them find work with the aim of having a meaningful future and opportunities. If elected, anything I said in my pledges can be revisited and judged as to whether I have delivered what I promised. ●●How are you connected
to Rochdale?
I am a Rochdale born, father of two and grandfather of two.
I have lived in Rochdale all my life and I am the founder of Parents Against Grooming uk (Paguk), which has been going since 2010.
●●WHAT are the greatest challenges for the town?
The cost of living.
Many in the town live under the breadline.
Even working families are having to choose between eating or heating and it’s only going to get worse with the burden of CAZ and ULEZ about to be introduced.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
Its no secret (anymore) that the town suffers at the hands of sexual predators.
Many are still in the borough.
With the release of the third CSE (child sexual exploitation) report into Rochdale, I plan to push for more public protection and for this review to follow up with two things: Justice to offenders that were not brought to justice before, and accountability of those knowingly allowed our town’s children to be abused.
It’s also my desire to ensure not one home in Rochdale is a risk because of damp and mould.
I will also serve Rochdale by lobbying the Home Office, with legal action if needs be to have the Rochdale Three finally deported.
And finally I will on behalf of Rochdale oppose the plans for CAZ (Clean Air Zone) and ULEZ Ultra Low Emissions Zone). and growth of the Rochdale community.
Committed to principles of integrity, transparency, and inclusivity, now, as a local lad, it’s my time to step up and find practical solutions for the benefit of our town.
I want every voice to be heard and not to leave the decline of our town for our children to deal with.
I must make a stand and the people of Rochdale can make this happen.
●●What are the greatest challenges for the town?
Rochdale faces significant challenges, including issues such as drug-related concerns, speeding and reckless driving.
The town currently lacks adequate measures to effectively address these problems made even worse by a shortage of law enforcement presence.
Additionally, the community faces obstacles in healthcare access, with lengthy wait times of up to six weeks for GP appointments.
I want to help ease the strain on our GPS and make it a better system for everyone.
A related concern is the advocacy for the reinstatement of the maternity ward, aiming to ensure that Rochdale’s approximately 223,000 residents can take pride in having their children being born locally.
●●How do you plan to serve the people of Rochdale?
These are just a few of the local issues I want to tackle, and I will do this through challenging our council and gaining transparency and accountability within our town.