General Election 2019: Rutland and Melton - Labour Andy Thomas

Voters here have been taken for granted for 27 years. I will take an active interest in your welfare. I’ll open an office very near to the voluntary agencies and find local solicitors willing to work “pro bono”. I try to be kind, and will listen. I’m tenacious and determined.

I grew up in a village police station with Ministry of Agriculture posters about potato blight and the Colorado Beetle on the walls.

To fight parasites and disease, my father’s duty was to count sheep through the pen into the dip and as a boy I went with him.

I’ve used that determination rehousing families from slum clearance in Salford; fighting racial discrimination in Manchester and London; and working for urban regeneration in Loughborough and Leicester. I will use it for the people of Rutland and Melton.

Your near neighbour from Market Harborough, I understand the issues you and your families face, and know there is so much to do:

• Fighting for local NHS services; and keeping our NHS out of private hands.
• Creating real, affordable housing, to rent or buy, such as within the planned St George’s Barracks, and Melton developments.
• Providing proper funding for youth services and putting a Sure Start centre in every community.
• Establishing a regular and reliable bus service so that people are no longer trapped in their homes. Tory cuts cause the lowest bus use in the country here. Labour will take bus travel into public ownership and reinstate lost services.
• Repairing the damage caused to education by Tory austerity. Education cuts never heal. Labour will fund schools properly in the future.
• Slaying the “Universal Credit” monster that brings poverty and despair.

Farmers face a loss of subsidies from Europe, risking farms turned into farming theme parks and “experiences”. I voted Remain but respect the electorate. In the referendum next year Labour will include an option for a better deal to leave, or to remain. Either way, Labour will protect our standards, our reputation, and keep sustainable farming alive.

Don’t tell me it can’t be done. Join me - “We’ll do it, like this…”

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