Poll rivals stake their claim for Valley votes
WITH the general election less than a week away, we asked all the candidates vying for your vote to pitch their plan for the future of the borough.
The first winter election for nearly a century, the election has been labelled ‘The Brexit Election’ by some, as it was called in an attempt to break the parliamentary deadlock over the country’s withdrawal from the European Union.
There are four candidates standing in the December 12 election in the Rossendale and Darwen seat - Alyson Barnes for Labour, Conservative Jake Berry, the Green Party’s Sarah Hall, and Paul Valentine for the Liberal Democrats - and we have given them their own column to pitch for your vote.
Mr Berry is defending a majority of 3,216, having held the seat ever since gaining it from Labour in 2010.
ALYSON BARNES - LABOUR
As a long standing resident, I know that people in Rossendale want an active local MP. One who will work hard for our community and speak up for residents.
I moved to Rossendale 30 years ago with my son Tom, the area gave me a warm welcome and a home when I needed one. My children have grown up in Rossendale and my grandchildren are growing up here – the place matters to me.
Rossendale is full of passionate people who want the best for our area. Since becoming Leader of the Council in 2011, and despite savage cuts in government funding, I have worked hard with our communities to bring investment into the valley to improve our proud town centres and to protect services and facilities that people care about but there is only so much I can do as the leader of a small district council.
Services need to be fixed, infrastructure needs to be put in place, and people need to be cared for the way that any decent society would support people at their most vulnerable moments.
Our area and our country are so unequal, so unfair, things simply aren’t working the way they should.
Nor are people getting the opportunity to fulfil their potential. We need to get the basics right – jobs, health, housing and the environment. Labour has the solutions to all of this.
The Conservatives only want to talk about Brexit at this election. Brexit will get dealt with. The real question is what kind of country do we want to live in? One that accepts the continued rise in the use of food banks, and sees 3m children growing up in poverty despite having at least one working parent or a modern country that works for most people, not just some.
JAKE BERRY - CONSERVATIVE
Gridlock. Delay. Uncertainty. That’s been the story of the last few years. We need a Parliament that will get Brexit done so we can get on with the country’s priorities but we need a majority Conservative government to do it.
We’ve got a plan, Brexit done with a deal that protects jobs and trade, £33.9 billion extra for the NHS, 20,000 extra police officers, more funding for every pupil in every school and a growing economy. But this could all be at risk if Corbyn wins.
Locally, I’m working to deliver my positive plan to make the Rossendale Valley an even better place for all of us to live:
1. More money for our local NHS. Including £25 million for Blackburn & Burnley Hospitals.
2. Improve transport connections to Manchester. I’m backing plans to restore Rossendale’s rail link, extend the M65 and upgrade the M66.
3. Good schools for our Children. More money for every pupil in every school across Rossendale.
4. Regenerate our towns. It’s great to see improvements underway. £20 million regeneration scheme underway in Rawtenstall and a £3 million heritage plan approved for Bacup.
But there’s more to do.
5. Protect the Greenbelt. I will always support local residents to protect our open spaces and countryside.
6. Repair our local roads. Everyone tells me how bad our local roads are and I agree. That’s why we’ve increased the local highways budget to £50 million to repair and resurface our damaged roads.
People here in Rossendale can help to end all the uncertainty, all the gridlock, all the arguments. It’s a twohorse race here between me and Corbyn’s candidate. Don’t risk five long years of Jeremy Corbyn. On the 12th of December vote Conservative to secure a majority government.
● SARAH HALL - GREEN PARTY
I am a 26-year-old Nursery Practitioner and Councillor on Burnley Borough Council.
I believe that everyone has the right to have their voice heard in this election, and I am proud to stand as a Green in Rossendale and Darwen to enable this.
I stand for those who care about the climate and our planet, and The Green Party pledges to invest £100bn a year to cut emissions by 2030 as part of our Green
New Deal, as well as removing fossil fuels from the economy.
With Brexit looming, I am advocating a People’s Vote so that voters have the final say on the future of their country, based on all of the information now available.
I also firmly believe that the NHS should remain in public hands, and support the Green Party’s pledge to use its tax policies to invest a further £6bn in the service.
Further to this, a vote for myself and The Green Party is a vote for scrapping tuition fees, building zero-carbon housing, and a vote against single-use plastics and the current first-pastthe-post voting system.
● PAUL VALENTINE - LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
I have heard from many constituents so far who are undecided in this election.
Here, in Rossendale and Darwen, some polls suggest the result is predetermined; that your vote doesn’t matter. Your vote does matter.
For too many people, things aren’t working as they should be.
That’s why in government, my Lib Dem colleagues and I would stop Brexit on day one, generating a £50 billion Remain
Bonus for public services and to tackle inequality.
For struggling working families, childcare is expensive. To give our kids the best start in life we’ll give every working family 35 hours free childcare from 9 months old. Many kids have now’t to do and antisocial crime is rising. We will double cash for local youth services to help address crime. We’ll fund an extra two police officers per ward.
Local schools need support and more teachers so we’ll recruit 20,000 more. We’ll extend our free infant school meals to junior children too.
Residents in Rossendale and Darwen wait too long to see their GP and for hospital appointments. With a penny in the pound on income tax we’ll raise £7 billion per year for more staff and resources.
We’ll properly fund social care and put mental health on a par with physical health. Many workers commute out of the constituency. We suffer poor roads, poor trains and poor buses. I will demand investment in local infrastructure and more buses and better trains.
We’ll freeze commuter season tickets for five years.
Rossendale needs new homes. My party will build 300,000 homes a year by 2024, including 100,000 new social homes.
We have a plan to cut carbon to fight the climate emergency, saving the planet for future generations.
I would be an accessible, community MP, fighting for you.