Local Labour Party and trade union members are coming forward to endorse Karen as the best candidate in Elmet and Rothwell to beat Alec Shelbrooke at the next general election.
Recently retired GMB Trade Union Convenor at Leeds City Council, and local Rothwell Labour Party member, Bob Dyson said:
“A good local councillor who knows the constituency like Karen is just what we need to beat the Tories and win Elmet and Rothwell back for Labour.”
Since publicly announcing that I’m seeking selection as Labour’s candidate for Elmet and Rothwell in the 2015 general election I’ve been honoured and humbled at the number of people who are pledging their support and offering their endorsements.
Labour Party members from across the constituency as well as councillors are all pledging their support and stressing how important it is that we have a local candidate that has the experience and expertise to take on Alec Shelbrooke and win Elmet and Rothwell back for Labour.
I’m humbled and honoured that local Labour Party members and councillors have asked me to stand as Labour’s candidate for Elmet and Rothwell in the 2015 general election and want to let you know that I’ve decided to stand for selection.
We don’t yet know what the timetable will be, but over the next few weeks I want to meet every single local party member to talk about how we win Elmet and Rothwell back for Labour.
As I live in Rothwell, in the constituency, and am a councillor here, I believe that I’m in the strongest position to beat the Conservatives. In fact because of council ward boundary changes I’ve actually been a councillor in three out of the five four council wards that make up the constituency as I used to represent Garforth, Swillington and Methley. I’ve also lived in both Methley and Swillington. This gives me a unique local knowledge and experience.
Elmet and Rothwell is a seat that Labour must win if we are to beat the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition. I know just how hard that fight will be and I’m more than up for the challenge. Since I won the first council seat back off the Liberal Democrats in 2011 we’ve won a second so there is only one left in the constituency. However, we still have a strong base of Conservative councillors that highlight the challenge that we’ve got.
I already use this blog and my Twitter account to take on the Liberal Democrats here in Rothwell and also to challenge Alec Shelbrooke MP our local Tory MP in Elmet and Rothwell. You’ll be seeing even more of that over the next few weeks as we can’t put fighting the Tories and Lib Dems on hold while we decide who Labour’s candidate will be.
I’ve also set up a Karen for Elmet and Rothwell Facebook page that initially I’ll mainly use to have conversations with Labour Party members so that I can build a strong campaign platform to beat Alec Shelbrooke.
I’ll be contacting the local Labour Party members who already know me (and that’s most of you!) shortly to arrange a good time to meet. But in the meantime don’t hesitate to get in touch with me by texting 07534 822479 or using the contact form.
UPDATE: Quick thanks to Alec Shelbrooke MP for pointing out the typo where it should have said five wards, not four!
UPDATE 2: Added photograph so that the post will display properly in the featured posts list.
At Rothwell Tenants and Residents meeting last night people were very angry and upset about the Tory/Liberal Democrat ‘bedroom tax’. People found it hard to understand why this was happening when there aren’t any properties coming up for people who will be hit to move into to ‘downsize’. Comments like ‘unfair’ and ‘ridiculous’ were made.
In Elmet and Rothwell constituency for every home that comes up there is a very long list of people applying for it. Many of these people are high priorities so are desperately in need of a home, but they are turned down as there are so many applications above them.
Stark choice between eating and heating or losing their home
Time and time again I have been contacted by people wanting to downsize often by people whose families have ‘left the nest’ and are living alone in a three bedroomed house but are simply unable to find a suitable smaller home. These are some of the people who are suddenly being hit with finding up to £22 a week extra just to stay in the home they’ve lived in for years. For many the stark choice is between eating and heating or losing their home.
Some of those worst hit by the bedroom tax include parents who are separated or divorced whose children only stay with them part of the time, soldiers on leave from Afghanistan or Iraq who want to stay with the parents, disabled people living in adapted or specially designed property.
The biggest problem for those wanting to move to a smaller home is that there just isn’t enough social housing for the demand in the Rothwell ward or indeed the rest of the Elmet and Rothwell constituency.
This Tory/Lib Dem ‘bedroom tax’ is designed to hurt some of the most vulnerable and deserving people in society. And the Tories claim they are no longer the ‘Nasty Party’!
We shouldn’t be surprised, but I’m still disappointed that my local MP Alec Shelbrooke voted for the bedroom tax. In doing so he will cause misery for many of his constituents who will lose the essential money they need to live just because the Tory government thinks they have too many rooms. I don’t see Alec Shelbrooke complaining about the spare rooms in the mansions of millionaires.
Before the last election the Conservative Party fooled voters into thinking it was no longer the ‘Nasty Party’, but cruel and unfair policies like the bedroom tax show it’s just the same as it always was.
As a Rothwell councillor my postbag and advice surgeries are always full of local people desperate for social housing. We should be looking at what we can do to improve the quality and availability of homes for everyone and not penalising those in need.
People won’t forget the Tory government’s cruelty and won’t forgive Alec for his part in it when it comes to the general election and they vote him out.
Rothwell was the first ward in Leeds to benefit from weekly collections of food waste, but because of how the collection routes are worked out it didn’t benefit the whole ward. While about 8,500 homes were included in the pilot scheme there were about 300 homes in Carlton and on Leadwell Lane that missed out.
The good news is that those homes will very soon start to get a weekly food waste collection.
It’s something that I’ve been asking to happen since even before I became a councillor, so I’m delighted it is finally going to.
Lots of local people have told told me that they like to do their bit for the environment and are keen recyclers, but I’ve always had complaints that not everyone could recycle their food waste and it had to go into landfill.
Initially some people might find the new collection cycles to be confusing, but the council is trying to make it as easy as possible for people by making the collections on the same day every week. Black waste bins will be emptied one week with the green recycling bins emptied on the alternative week and the food bins every week. So all you need to do is know what day of the week to put your bins out and then to make sure it is the right colour one.
The new food waste bins and information packs will be delivered to homes over the next few weeks and the new collection scheme will start in April. You’ll get two bins, one for inside your house and one for outside.
The Leeds City Council website has lots of information about bins and rubbish collection including what goes in your food bin and what goes in your green recycling bin. It’s not always easy to know what goes in the green bin as lots of things that can be recycled can’t be put in the recycling bin! One of the odd ones is tetrapaks (juice cartons) which can be recycled, but can’t be put in the recycling bin and have to be taken to a recycling centre along with glass bottles. The brown bins are for garden waste such as grass cuttings, hedge clippings and leaves. The brown bin collection service will start again in March and happens every two weeks.
The more I talk about HS2 to local people in Woodlesford the more angry I become. There is a legitimate debate to be had about the pros and cons of HS2. There is a legitimate debate to be had about the exact route it should take. There can be no debate about how the consultation and compensation process has been handled. It is a complete and utter disgrace.
It is more than two weeks since the government announced the proposed route for second phase of HS2 yet local people still haven’t been contacted by HS2 Ltd. Both HS2 Ltd and Tory secretary of state for transport Patrick McLoughlin have shown utter contempt for local people that they can’t even be bothered to send letters to the homes that will be immediately affected. David Nagle and I have already written to every home in the immediate area so we can start to collate a list of peoples’ concerns that we will present to HS2 and the secretary of state.
Last Saturday the three Rothwell councillors and Elmet and Rothwell MP Alec Shelbrooke met local residents from the Maltings and Locks estates at two open air meetings attended by more than 100 local people.
I’m also dismayed that Alec Shelbrooke doesn’t want to stand up in the House of Commons and ask the prime minister David Cameron and Patrick McLoughlin to answer questions. Local people quite rightly expect more of their MP and it’s not good enough for Alec to glibly dismiss asking questions in Parliament as “just pontificating” as he did on Saturday when I challenged him about this. He’s happy enough to pontificate on taking benefits off working families that need them, but not on behalf of his constituents! As all three political parties support the principle of HS2 I really thought that all local politicians could work together on this.
Alec is the only one of us that can stand up in Parliament and ask those questions. He’s the one we elected to send to Westminster. My colleagues and I would certainly be asking those questions.
The consultation process is so feeble that neither HS2 or the Department of Transport have even bothered to contact local councillors so that we can properly help our constituents. Both residents and ourselves are forced to rely on an inadequate website and residents who’ve emailed HS2 haven’t even had a reply.
The responsibility for this incompetent shambles lies directly Patrick McLoughlin. He might claim the plans for consultation were drawn up under his predecessors Justine Greening and Philip Hammond, but that’s no excuse for not improving them. I’m calling on McLoughlin to start treating local people with some respect and consideration. It is unacceptable that neither HS2 nor his department have yet been in direct contact with local homeowners and local councillors.
The Tory/Lib Dem government has already demonstrated its incompetence in managing transport with the fiasco of the west coast rail franchise so McLoughlin needs to get a grip on his department. I’m calling on him to instigate an immediate review of the consultation and communication for HS2 and to implement a new plan that truly listens to local people and lets them know what is happening.
The route into Leeds through Woodlesford is one of the most important sections of the HS2 line so I’m writing to Patrick McLoughlin to ask him to visit us and see for himself how it is affecting local people.
It’s been a very busy couple of weeks as not only have I been dealing with all of the normal duties of a councillor, but both David Nagle and me have been inundated by people contacting us about the proposal that the new HS2 high speed railway line should come through Woodlesford.
The news came as a bolt out of the blue both for residents and councillors – I found out about when I saw local people talking about it on Twitter and Facebook. Understandably some Woodlesford residents have been absolutely devastated to find out that their quiet, picturesque and peaceful canal side community will potentially be fundamentally changed with a viaduct to carry a high speed train.
The news came as a shock to us all, but I’m also angry about the way it has been handled so far. As an elected councillor I’m shocked at the incompetence of the so called consultation as there has been no attempt by the government or HS2 Ltd to contact us directly, simply leaving us to find things out for ourselves and hindering our ability to help and support local residents. Neither have local residents been contacted directly. It shows a staggering contempt for the views and needs of local people and makes me question just how genuine the consultation actually is.
I’d like to praise those residents who have already started to work together and I think that it is essential that myself and Councillor David Nagle, Rothwell’s two Labour councillors, and Liberal Democrat councillor Stewart Golton work together to support local people. All three of us attended the Woodlesford and Oulton Action Group meeting on Wednesday Tuesday which was packed with worried local people. David and me met Andrew Hall, from the Leeds City council transport department on Tuesday Monday for our first briefing on HS2 and despite the short notice I persuaded Andrew to come to the action group meeting the following evening.
So far I haven’t heard anything directly from Alec Shelbrooke our local Elmet and Rothwell Tory MP. If we are to get the best result for local people then it’s important that local politicians put aside their political differences and work together.
I am writing to HS2 Limited and Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative secretary of state for transport, to ask that they come to Woodlesford to see and hear for themselves how local people will be effected. We’ve had far too little information about the consultation process and we especially need to know far more about proposals to provide compensation to those affected. One of my concerns is that people living just outside the 60m distance from the centre of the track will lose out.
I’m sure that everyone living locally has already seen the HS2 map, but for anyone that hasn’t you can view it on the Department for Transport website and I’ve reproduced the key section here:
UPDATE: There is a Facebook group for SO WHAT (Swillington, Oulton and Woodlesford HS2 Action Group).
I was shocked and disgusted on Wednesday to find out about our local MP’s outrageous attack on local families in Elmet and Rothwell. Alec Shelbrooke obviously has far too much time on his hands – probably because of his lack of activity to help people in this constituency – as he’s found time to dream up a ludicrous scheme to give the poorest families a ‘Welfare Benefit Card’ to stop them frittering away what little money they receive on ‘non-essentials’.
I was so outraged by this that I’ve written my first article for the national LabourList website. You can read the article: ‘My local MP and his vicious attack on welfare claimants’ here.
Santa will again be making a flying visit to Rothwell and dropping into Springhead Park on Sunday, December 23 from 12:30. It was great fun last year so I look forward to seeing you all this year. As ever it’s wonderfully organised by the hard working Rothwell Circle (with help from ex Round Tablers).
“There will be refreshments for all the family a chance to win prizes on our chocolate tombola and the opportunity to buy reindeer food to sprinkle on your driveway on Christmas Eve.
The fun begins at 10.30 with Santa flying in a little later on.
Please wrap up warm and remember to bring your Christmas lists!”
Why not let us know you are coming by joining the event on Facebook.