HIGH PROFILE MP Jess Phillips emphasised the importance of grassroots politics as she spoke as a special guest at Mid Worcestershire Labour’s campaign launch on Saturday.
The Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding spoke at Droitwich’s Norbury Theatre following speeches from several Labour candidates.
There was also a question and answer session by the audience.
The Birmingham Yardley MP, whose aunt and uncle live in Droitwich, said she was able to change the lives of ordinary people much more effectively and quickly when she was a councillor in Northfield than she could now in Westminster.
“In local government when you are fighting for something that you think matters, it’s so much more likely to directly affect someone’s real life.
“No one talks to politicians about policies in Westminster on the doorstep, they talk about their local area, the bins the bus and whether the high street looks nice.
“I don’t think that anyone is beyond the idea that we were all meant to keep progressing and that’s been taken away in recent years by the Conservatives.
“My children most likely won’t go to university and I don’t think there’s a single person in the country who doesn’t use a service that isn’t as good as it used to be.”
Labour is putting forward six candidates for Wychavon District Council and the party will be contesting 11 Droitwich Spa Town Council seats during the elections on May 4.
The party currently has two representatives on the Droitwich Town Council and none on Wychavon District Council.
Mid-Worcestershire Labour chair Alex Knudsen, standing for South West and Witton in the local elections, said the state of Droitwich and Evesham town centres was among the biggest issues for residents.
He added solutions to get more people and shops into the town centre could include looking into business rates for start-ups and offering free parking for an hour for shoppers.
Other issues Mid Worcestershire Labour will be focusing on include the South Worcestershire Development Plan and looking to get councils to have greater control to help improve the bus service.
First published in the Droitwich Standard 5th April 2023.
