Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! In, in , in!

by Christine McLaughlin
Last night I watched Margaret Westbrook make an excellent impression at a question and answer session for all of Stretford and Urmston's parliamentary candidates at Shawe Hall, Flixton.  The evening had been organised by a prayer group who felt angry about the main parties' increasing alienation from ordinary people.  It was a useful opportunity to hear what the other candidates had to say for themselves.  Besides Margaret there were five others:

Smooth-talking Steve Cooke for the Lib Dems had obviously spent a long time swotting up on his own party's policies (well, I assume this is the case; I had forgotten the Lib Dems existed until last night so I cannot say how accurate he was) but made himself look a tad foolish when he incorrectly claimed the Green Party had a policy of 'telling you you can only have one child' and comparing us to the Chinese government!  This  crass remark made the audience wonder whether there was any substance behind his style and I'm afraid the answer's probably not. 
Stephen Farnham for UKIP was standing in for the party's actual candidate who was too busy to come and talk to the electorate (still at least he wasn't in prison like this UKIP MEP).  I loved listening to Stephen: some would call his performance faltering, others would say quirky, but either way his offerings to the discussion provided welcome comic relief.  When asked what his party had done for the environment, Stephen replied, "I put my recycling bins out when required."  Knowing me, Stephen Farnham, Knowing you the electorate.  Aha.
Mega Tesco fan Alex Williams had quite a few things to say, I'm sure, but I'm afraid I kept drifting off whenever he spoke, indeed at one point I was shocked to realise I had inadvertently applauded something he had said which I hadn't listened to.  It's probably a key Tory strategy these days: bore the electorate into a stupor and they might vote for you by accident.  There was a ripple of suppressed laughter, however, when Alex - who, by the way, lives in Hale, some 10 miles away from the site of the Mega Tesco development he eagerly supports - stated the need to 'build a manufacturing industry' in the UK.  Like the one your party systematically dismantled the last time they were in power, Alex? 
Labour's Kate Green came across as an assured political orator, having clearly attended the Gordon Brown School of Very Precise Enunciation.  She spoke of the need to invest in youth employment (well the war her party dragged us into certainly took a few youngsters out of the dole queue) and agreed with many of Margaret Westbrook's points about the need to campaign against the Mega Tesco in Gorse Hill and protect local businesses.  Just as I was warming to her, however, she made a massive blunder by claiming that inequalities had not risen under the current Labour administration.  Yes, the former chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, who describes herself on her own website as "a longstanding campaigner against poverty and inequality" claims that inequalities haven't increased under our current Labour government.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Kate's got her facts wrong:

So it is fair to say that youth unemployment and income inequality have risen under Labour, and that, on a very narrow, and potentially uninformative, measure, the incomes of households with the lowest incomes are now lower than they were in 1996-97. But, although the performance of the last Conservative government is not necessarily a guide to a potential future administration, the record on youth unemployment was no better, and on poverty and inequality considerably worse, in the Thatcher and Major administrations than under Blair and Brown.

Is the Institute for Fiscal Studies in some way biased?  Not according to Kate's leader, Gordon Brown:

"As every government finds sometimes to its cost, [IFS is] an institution that is rigorous in research, proudly impartial and objective in analysis, forward-looking in the causes it adopts and fiercely independent - yielding to no-one, friend or foe, on its way."

Alongside the above assortment of political desperados, Margaret Westbrook could only be described as the voice of reason.  Margaret spoke about her work in the community, having helped set up a family centre in Partington, working with vulnerable people at the Citizens Advice Bureau for many years,  campaigning to improve Longford Park and championing local businesses as a principal campaigner in the fight against the Mega Tesco threatened to engulf Gorse Hill and Stretford.  She explained various innovative Green Party policies, including the Green New Deal, the Robin Hood tax and the non-means tested Citizen's Pension of £170 per week. 
More details of Green Party policy can be found here and more about Margaret here.  You can find out more about Trafford Green Party here and follow Margaret on Twitter. 
Finally, we'll be knocking on doors and canvassing support in neighbourhood centres across Stretford and Urmston, so if you see us, please stop and answer our 2 minute survey.  And if you care about the planet, about social justice and about local communities, please vote Green.