Chris Webb 11 August 2023
Labour candidate Chris Webb on his priorities for Blackpool
Transcript
00:00 Hi, I'm Chris Webham, Standing as Labour's parliamentary candidate from the hometown
00:04 of Blackpool South.
00:05 Why do you want to be the MP for Blackpool South?
00:09 I believe Blackpool finally needs a local voice representing them in Parliament.
00:13 For too long we've been let down by politicians who have never put Blackpool as the priority
00:17 and that's what I want to do.
00:19 When I speak to local residents week in, week out, they want a local voice who understands
00:23 their concerns, lives in their communities and knows what they go through day in, day
00:27 out, fighting for them in Parliament and across the country.
00:30 And that's what I'll be doing as the next MP for Blackpool South.
00:34 What is your priority for local residents?
00:37 For me, top priorities have to be eliminating child poverty.
00:40 We have 11,000 children living in poverty in Blackpool.
00:44 That's scandalous.
00:45 We saw a big increase of 30% in Blackpool South in the last year.
00:48 We need to eliminate child poverty.
00:49 We need to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
00:52 Anti-social behaviour is four times higher than the national average here in Blackpool.
00:56 We need our police back on the beat, a fair deal with police funding formula and seeing
01:00 our neighbourhood teams boosted once again to tackle crime and act as a deterrent.
01:04 And we also need to help those suffering with their mental health across the town.
01:09 People are waiting over 20 months, adults and children, to get the support they need.
01:13 We need to support those organisations with the funding but also work with the third sector
01:17 and charity organisations to reduce those wastes.
01:20 They'll be my top priorities as a Member of Parliament for Blackpool South.
01:23 That's a big wishlist.
01:26 How could a Labour government do that?
01:29 Would a Labour government continue to support the council's regeneration programme?
01:34 That's about giving control back to local communities to make the choices that improve
01:38 those areas.
01:39 Local people know what the best options are in their town and their communities.
01:44 They know what's needed.
01:45 So we need to empower them with a Bring Back Control Bill for local communities so that
01:49 they can empower local residents, local organisations, businesses to make the change they need and
01:55 make the choices that they can do to improve their areas.
01:58 Whether it's health inequalities, poverty, crime, we need to empower local communities
02:03 and that's what a Labour government will do.
02:04 Thank you.
02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]