How we’re fighting to turn the last Tory council in Greater Manchester red

Local elections are fast approaching and this week much of the spotlight is on Trafford – my local authority. We’re fighting hard here to win the last remaining Tory council in Greater Manchester.

Outsourcing and privatisation of services has been a key focus in our campaign. In 2015, Tory-run Trafford Council outsourced its environmental services to a company called Amey on a 15-year contract with the possibility of extending to 23 years. The result of such a long contract? Little accountability and a steep decline in quality. Every canvassing session is dominated by conversations about potholes, and the people I have spoken to are appalled that they can’t hold their council to account for the delivery of repairs. Labour says under a Conservative council you pay more and get less. That’s certainly true in Trafford.

The main battleground for Labour centres around three wards in the Urmston part of the borough – Davyhulme East, Davyhulme West and Flixton. All three have long been held on a knife-edge by three Conservative councillors in each ward, but in recent years there has been a growing dissatisfaction on certain local issues, particularly in relation to building on greenbelt land in the area. Towards the north of the borough, former footballer Gary Neville’s proposed plans to turn green belt land into training pitches has led to widespread anger. A formidable grassroots campaign has formed: ‘Save Turn Moss’.

These issues have fed a growing perception among residents that the local Conservative group will protect services, communities and green spaces in the affluent, leafy suburbs in the south of the borough, at the direct expense of those in the poorer northern parts of the borough. The Labour manifesto puts communities first, with plans to build social homes on a brownfield-first basis, protect green spaces and take further steps to engage and consult with local residents.

We have been extremely successful here in Trafford in bringing together the skills, knowledge and resources of the CLP, Momentum and Young Labour. No where has this been better demonstrated than at Momentum’s ‘Unseat Trafford Council’ event. In late April, as North West Young Labour brought swathes of young activists and Trafford Labour group leader Andy Western shed light on key local issues, Momentum activists trained us in persuasive conversations on the doorstep and Owen Jones delivered a barnstorming speech on Labour values in local government.

At the event we saw close to 200 Labour activists from all stripes flood into our key battleground seats to engage in valuable conversations with people on the doorstep. Many of those who came had never been canvassing before and went away with a new enthusiasm for the importance of local government and for taking the fight to the Conservative Party on a grassroots level.

The collaborative effort involved in this event should not be downplayed, and it is really encouraging for the future of our party. Although we have internal political differences, we can come together to take on the Tories locally and nationally – and there lies our strength.