I can confirm that I will be requesting the permission of the NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election.
I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years. I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics.
Ten years ago, I decided to leave Westminster. Why? Because, after 16 years, I came to the conclusion that our national political system does not work for areas like ours. I learnt this fighting its failure to invest in the Wigan borough, for justice for the Hillsborough families and against its treatment of Greater Manchester during the pandemic.
Over the last decade, I have been challenging this failure from the outside and building a new and better way of doing politics. We have built Greater Manchester into the fastest-growing city-region in the UK and put buses back under public control, introducing a £2 fare cap to help people with cost-of-living pressures.
However, there is only so much that can be done from Greater Manchester. Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again. This is why I now seek people’s support to return to Parliament: to bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people.
Millions are struggling and they need the Labour Government to succeed. It has already made changes to make life better for them in its first two years. After this week, we owe it to people to come back together as a Labour movement, giving the Prime Minister and the Government the space and stability they need as the by-election takes place.
I want to recognise the difficult decision taken by Josh Simons and the sacrifice he and his family are making. I have worked closely with him as Mayor on issues like flooding and illegal waste dumping and have seen first-hand how effective he has been. He has put the communities of Makerfield first, made a real difference for them and should take great pride in that.
Finally, I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times. We will change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again.
ENDS
The Tories spent £700m of taxpayers money to send just 4 volunteers to Rwanda.
It is the most shocking waste of taxpayers money I have ever seen.
Instead of gimmicks we need hard graft. Labour will boost our border security instead.
Sunak talking about his "first flat "
When Sunak was 29 years old..
he and his wife rented a beachfront flat in Santa Monica, California
for $20,000 A MONTH
Just like all of us eh?
#ITVDebate
The tories genuinely plan to spend £2,500,000,000 a year making every 18 year old in the country do either 12 months of military service or 25 days of mandatory community service...
Every single time the Conservatives come to power they increase the size of NHS waiting lists.
Please don't let them blame it on Covid or anything else; they were doing exactly the same thing in the 90s.
Please RT if you think everyone should be clear on this.
The number of sick people waiting 12 hours or more for a hospital bed is 3,000 times higher than when the Conservatives came to power
THREE THOUSAND TIMES
Please RT if you think everyone should know about the damage the Government have done to the NHS
https://t.co/OBfHszzkFH
📢 We are recruiting 'Band 6 Rotational Pharmacists' 📢 you'll spend most of your time working outside dispensaries, delivering direct patient care 🤒...but don't just take our word for it...👇 meet Keith Howard, a Band 6 Clinical Pharmacist
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I’m not quite sure how to explain what’s happened tonight, because it’s still happening - but here goes…
At 4:40pm I jumped on a train from London to Edinburgh..
It was comfy, it was quiet
In hindsight, too good to last…
Ukraine, a war-torn country, built more wind turbines in the past year than England
A damming indictment of the Conservative Party’s failure to move the UK to a greener future
Just wanted to give a quick shout out to all of the pharmacy staff across the UK, who are enhancing more lives than ever before.
Your role has never been more vital and we are so grateful to all of you 💙
The government is boasting about 900 new hospital beds, but they’ve cut 12,000 beds since 2010
The 900 beds won’t even be in place for winter
And with 40,000 nursing vacancies, how will they be staffed?
It’s just more nonsense from the Conservatives
https://t.co/N97xR1ovRf
The UK only has 3.2 doctors per 1,000 people.
The 2nd lowest in Europe and fewer than:
🇦🇹 Austria: 5.5
🇨🇿 Czech Republic: 4.1
🇩🇪 Germany: 4.5
🇮🇹 Italy: 4.1
🇱🇹 Lithuania: 4.5
🇪🇸 Spain: 4.6
We simply cannot afford to lose any more of them.
They just want fair pair.
Had a great day today. Its the first full day I have spent on my ward as a pharmacist, answering queries from the doctors and nurses confidently, completing medicines reconciliation, and sorting medications for discharge