THE LEADER OF Harlow Labour has praised the New Year keynote speech given by the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer.

Councillor Chris Vince said: “Keir Starmer’s speech on Thursday gives hope to the country and to communities that have been let down for too long. The Labour leader recognises that the phrase used in the Brexit referendum ‘take back control’ did resonate with people in our communities, but that this wasn’t just about leaving the EU, it was also about giving control to our communities.

Sir Keir Starmer has made this a centrepiece of Labour’s message for the future.  We know that for 13 years, communities like Harlow have been starved of funding by a Conservative government which doesn’t care, resulting in a lack of investment by cash strapped Conservative led Essex County Council, which leads to the shocking state of our roads, traffic islands and the number of street lights that aren’t working. 

Meanwhile people are dying waiting for ambulances. People are dying in ambulances when they do get in them, waiting for admission to A and E, 13 hour waits in Accident and Emergency. Health service workers are on their knees. Public services are crumbling. Inflation is soaring. People in our communities are really struggling. And Rishi Sunak seems to think that the answer to this omnishambles is to make maths teaching compulsory for all school pupils from 16 to 18 years old! 

Sunak’s plan for more maths teaching is supported by Harlow’s current Conservative MP, Robert Halfon, who claims to know a thing or two about education – he should know better. He should know there is a shortage of Maths teachers. Too many are leaving the profession and far too few are being trained. This is a situation that has worsened every year the Conservatives have been in power and is likely to only get worse again as the Government seems hell bent on picking a fight with teaching unions. 

Let’s be clear, Sunak’s speech yesterday was an attempt to distract the electorate about the real issues that our community faces.  Keir Stamer has not shirked away from this; his speech gave us hope and not soundbites.  It talks about the importance of supporting our communities, about the need to reform our political system and most importantly find long term solutions to the issues that we face rather than put a sticking plaster over them, which is what the Conservatives have done for the past 13 years. 

“Labour has a plan, which is costed, to ensure that we have more nurses and more Doctors, who are paid a decent wage, and help tackle the crisis in our NHS.  The Conservative Government is still blinkered about the issues, and still governed by vested interests in their own party”.