I am delighted to be able to introduce myself as your Labour Party candidate at the upcoming local elections on the 2nd of May.
I spent my career working as a senior executive in the NHS and have served on Eynsham Parish Council for over ten years including a year as Chair. I’m passionate about Eynsham having lived in the village for nearly forty years.
We desperately need change. Under the coalition and the various Tory party leaders since I can’t think of a single public service which has improved. The cost-of-living crisis has made most of us significantly worse off and the tax burden is as high as I can remember.
I know from experience that the only party that will sort this out is the Labour Party. My lifetime working in the NHS tells me that over the years only Labour has seriously invested in the NHS resulting in reduced waiting times and improved outcomes for all patients. Along with the crisis in social care – an issue Boris Johnson said he would fix and then like many others didn’t – so many are now struggling not only financially but in terms of their health and limited access to care and support of any kind. And all of this began with the Liberal Democrat / Conservative Coalition.
And many of our schools are crumbling and desperately under resourced.
We face many challenges as a village not least the developments to the west and north of us and the proposed nearby solar farm. My time on the Parish Council has led me to realise that we must keep up the pressure to make sure that we benefit from these and that they must both protect our precious green spaces and help deliver net zero. Thames Water must invest to protect our waterways and stop the disgraceful dumping of sewage into our rivers.
Only Labour will be able to make the change we need linking both local and national government to improve the lives of all of us. Only Labour will focus on the widening inequality in our country and put people, not profit, at the heart of politics.
So, on the 2nd May please vote Labour and send a clear signal to our tired and ineffective government that it is time for change. We all deserve so much better.
And please ensure you can vote either in person or by post. When voting at the Polling Station in the Village Hall, remember to bring with you an identification document with a photo, e.g. a driving licence or a passport.
And finally, if you want to discuss any of the issues above or anything else that might be done to make our community a better and happier place, please email me at nickqrelph@gmail.com.