We have been out in Spalding this week and last and it is clear from our conversations with people that the quality of life crisis is biting hard for many.
This is coupled with concerns about public services coming under pressure from an increasing local population and the ongoing government cuts reducing services and affecting council spending and priorities.
At the last budget Conservative Chancellor George Osborne told us: “The sun is starting to shine – and we are fixing the roof”.
Well, one of residents we spoke to would tell George he might be fixing his roof, but she can barely afford to even fix her bathroom ceiling!
This Government’s austerity cuts are clearly hitting hard. Local councils are being massively underfunded and ours is no exception.
Your local Labour Party want voters to remember that you don’t have to stick with what you know ‘just because’. We know that John Hayes has helped many people – he is clearly a very good constituency MP.
Yet he has been a member of a government that has done much damage to the well-being of people in this constituency and beyond. Maybe now is time for a change. For example, even whilst praising John’s responsiveness, one constituent we spoke to expressed frustration that “he has voted for policies that have hit my pocket hard”.
The Conservatives if re-elected have committed for the next five years to deliver another £12b of cuts, which will make things even harder for people. Who knows where the axe will fall?
We also spoke to voters concerned over the impact immigration has had on the area. UKIP have told people Labour don’t have policies on immigration, but they are wrong. For instance, if elected we will stop wages being under-cut by banning jobs being exclusively advertised overseas, we will put a two-year ban on benefits for new migrants, ensure NHS workers speak English and put 1,000 extra border guards in place.
But people also tell us how hard-working the majority of immigrants are who settle here. It’s clear UKIP want to paint a picture of every migrant being a bad egg. This is nothing short of hate-mongering. Immigrants are people just like you and me. The truth hurts – and it is a truth UKIP would like everyone to conveniently forget. We forget UKIP are “more Tory than the Tories”. Nigel Farage and his gang believe in Margaret Thatcher’s approach and will deliver tax cuts for millionaires, scrap workers rights, scrap sick pay and maternity leave and privatise our NHS. Does anybody really want that?
We know of the pressure on local services due to the population increasing and that many of the new arrivals are Eastern European migrants. However, let us not forget many of these migrants are here to fill an increase in manufacturing jobs. The jobs would still need to be filled, even if the workers were from the UK only, unless we closed all the factories! Which means a population increase is inevitable.
So at the heart of what has failed is local investment in services to support our growing population. We clearly need to invest and grow our public services to ensure access for all residents. This is what a vote for Labour will achieve.
Use your vote to kick out a government that has punished the weakest through a cruel bedroom tax, austerity policies and an attitude to the EU that creates uncertainty for the 1,700 businesses in the East Midlands that export to the EU. (Businesses that will almost certainly shrink if not shut once those trade levies reappear, in the shameful event that we slink away, tail between our legs, from Europe.)
Voters must ask, where will UKIP and the Tories find work for the thousands if not millions who rely on trade with Europe in their jobs? This is another hard truth that will hurt all of us.
Instead of expressing rightful anger against the Tories for the last five years of austerity by voting for an extremely right-wing party that idolise the anti-worker policies of Thatcher, are more Tory than the Tories and promote easy answers to complex questions despite no understanding of the consequences, we are asking voters to make a sensible choice and vote Labour.
Labour established the NHS, and we are the only ones who can protect it. We have always cared about workers’ rights and want to improve quality of life and living standards for all. We are the only party who care about the needs of working families and individuals.
Your vote for Matthew Mahabadi of the Labour Party is a vote for a better South Holland and The Deepings and a better Britain that helps everyone, not just those at the top. Only Labour will change things for the better. And this is a hopeful truth that heals, not hurts.
Matthew Mahabadi & Rodney Sadd
