Affordable housing not fox hunting

Attending my first Labour Conference as a Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) was always going to be an interesting experience. And whilst Conference was rightly focusing on the strategy to win our all important key seats in seven months time, both the fringe events and policy announcements showed that there is now a clear policy platform to allow us to take our One Nation Labour Party to the doorsteps of even the most challenging seats.

Having been selected for a ‘safe’ Tory seat, our Parliamentary campaign has nonetheless allowed members engage with campaigning like never before. For a while now we have been knocking on doors across Hertford and Stortford to hear the concerns of local people. Conference addressed lots of the worries that we have been hearing time after time on the doorstep.

Despite widespread affluence in my seat of Hertford and Stortford, there are still people struggling, caught in the trap of so many across the country who are in work, but reliant on housing benefit (there has been a 75% increase in people in this situation in Hertfordshire since 2010). And people across the political divide in the area agree that it makes no economic sense for taxpayers’ money to subsidise low wages. So the announcement that the Labour Party will increase the minimum wage to £8.00 per hour by 2020 and that Labour will halve the number of people in low pay nationally has been met with approval on the doorstep, even in the ‘leafier’ local areas.

Small business owners across the region have told us repeatedly about the challenges they face with high rates. People in my area feel that the state of local high streets is central to the area’s identity – in Hertford, despite relative affluence, we currently have an empty, desolate feeling central area where shop keepers cannot afford the high rents and rates. So again, Chukka Umanna’s announcement that a Labour Government will cut rates for Small and Medium Businesses by 1% in 2015 has gone down well locally.

A recurring issue with local people has been the future of transport services across the constituency, especially the future of local bus services. There is growing concern that proposed cuts to local bus funding will mean that evening and weekend services will all but disappear. Across the political divide, people deplore what has happened to local bus services since the 1980s, particularly in rural parts of the constituency. Mary Creagh, Shadow Transport Secretary, comments that Labour is strongly committed to local bus services and to making them “faster, fairer and more affordable” has strong local resonance as do Labour’s commitments to making rail work for people again by capping fares.

Given the chronic shortage of affordable housing in Hertford and Stortford, Labour’s plans for a concerted house building effort have also gone down well locally. People we talk to generally want to think that their children could remain in the area where they grew up – currently not the case for the majority. But as John Denham MP pointed out at a fringe event, communities often feel suspicious of new housing developments because they still feel as though these will not be for their children, relatives or friends because so often the promise of ‘affordability’ is betrayed. We have a lot of work to do locally to let people know people that ‘affodable’ will mean truly affordable under a Labour government.

Finally, Ed Milliband’s strong commitment to rebuilding the NHS has also has local resonance. In our region we have seen the impact of lower investment in the NHS with ever worsening ambulance wait times and problems getting GP appointments. There is a widespread understanding across the political divide that extra investment will help to address these problems and ensure that the NHS is there when we need it once again.

Perhaps bizarrely, it was at a fringe organised by the Countryside Alliance that the local relevance of all these policies struck me most forcibly. There the discussion was not of fox hunting but of affordable housing, rural transport, access to the NHS and support for the economies of small towns. My experience since conference tells me that PPC’s, members and supporters from across the Party should take heart from the fact that we now have a policy platform that will allow us to engage with residents in seats that would never normally think about campaigning. Of course our primary focus should remain on the seats that will see a much needed Labour Government. But there is time for the party to truly be for the many and not the few between now and 10:00pm on Thursday 7^th May.

Katherine is the Parliamentary Candidate for Hertford and Stortford, keep up to date on her campaign at www.katherine4hertfordstortford.org.uk