The local and general elections on 7th May are arguably the most important for a generation in Stockport. This will be your chance to tell the Lib Dems and Tories that enough is enough: Stockport needs change and Labour is ready to deliver it.
Our manifesto sets out how a Labour Government will ensure that this country works for everyone, rather than only for a privileged few at the top. Our announcement last week that we will abolish non-dom status is just one example of how Labour will start to deliver this change.
We will ban exploitative zero hours contracts, raise the minimum wage to £8 per hour, make sure energy bills can only go down – with a price freeze until 2017, and provide 25 hours free childcare per week for young families. In Stockport, the Labour Group has already pushed our Council to become a Living Wage employer, and the next step is to persuade as many businesses as possible to pay workers a Living Wage.
Nationally, Labour will also balance the books and cut the deficit every year, but this will be in a fair way which protects services for the most vulnerable. Compare this to ideological Tory plans to cut public spending back to levels not seen since the 1930s, a time before the NHS, and there is a real choice at this election.
I am proud that Labour created the NHS, and will always protect healthcare free at the point of use for everybody. Our Time to Care Fund will see an additional 20,000 nurses and 8,000 more GPs, 3,200 nurses in the North-West alone, and Stockport Labour Group are committed to joining up services from home to hospital to improve care for local residents. Labour will guarantee GP appointments within 48 hours and cancer tests within one week.
Labour will place controls on immigration, acknowledging the contribution which those who come here make to this country, whilst ensuring that people aren’t able to claim benefits for at least two years after they arrive, and that fair rules are in place making it illegal for employers to undercut wages by exploiting workers.
Labour is committed to building a country where the next generation can do better than the last, which is why we will reduce tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 for university students, guarantee an apprenticeship for every school leaver, and ensure smaller class sizes for 5, 6 and 7 year-olds.
Labour can be trusted to protect our emergency services; we will safeguard over 10,000 frontline police officers over the next three years. The Coalition Government have already cut almost 11,500 officers since 2010, including more than 1,100 in Greater Manchester.
The contrast with the Lib Dems in Stockport, who have let our town down and supported a Coalition Government making life harder for people in Stockport, couldn’t be starker.
As I argued during my response to the Lib Dem Council Budget in February, it is those most in need in our borough – and those who support them – who suffer most from these unfair policies.
Stockport Labour Group’s 2015 policies and pledges show how things can be different. Labour has both the ideas and ambition to make Stockport an even better place to live, work and study.
We will deliver a thriving local economy, affordable homes, outstanding schools, cleaner streets and safer neighbourhoods, but we can only do this if you vote Labour and give us the chance to change Stockport and the country.
I look forward to speaking with you about our plans.
Alex
Cllr Alex Ganotis – Stockport Labour Group Leader
You can view the 2015 Labour Party manifesto here: http://www.labour.org.uk/manifesto/all
You can view Stockport Labour Group’s policies and pledges here: http://stockportlabour.org.uk/campaign2015/
To contact Alex, drop him a line here: