Angela Rayner’s message to Merseyside ahead of the general election

As rain fell on Southport today, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner came to town with a message for the people of the coastal town and the region it is part of.

Ms Rayner, who is tipped to become the next deputy prime minister, stepped off the bus at Pleasureland in Southport to a crowd of Labour supporters, councillors and parliamentary candidates as she made a final push to secure the only Merseyside seat not yet won by Labour.

By referring to the fall and failures of the Tories over the last 14 years, she energised the waiting crowd, who will now all believe that Merseyside is about to turn entirely red.

Speaking to the ECHO during her trip to the town of Sefton, she said: “We hope Southport will go red but we need to get people out and vote for it. We’ve had 14 years of chaos, corruption and scandal and even in this campaign the Tories haven’t been able to pull it off and they’ve done themselves and the country a disservice.

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“The Labour Party wants to win in Southport and across the country because we want a Labour government that can deliver that change. We’ve had slogans, ‘Boris is back’ and again they think it’s something to celebrate when in fact he was partying while people couldn’t see their loved ones because of the pandemic and Rishi Sunak got a fixed penalty.

“It reminds me of how terrible things have been under the Conservative government and how much we need that change. Tomorrow is about that change, about having an optimistic future and investing in jobs and the future of our young people.”

Patrick Hurley, the Labour candidate for Southport who is hoping to take Conservative MP Damien Moore’s seat, spoke about what the change of government could bring to the town and what he will work on if elected on Friday morning.

Standing in the car park at Pleasureland, Mr Hurley said: “I hope what I bring to the table is a new sense of a town that has found its identity again. Southport was never a good idea for a Conservative Party that promised to take the plunge and didn’t deliver, that promised 40 new hospitals and didn’t deliver, that promised 20,000 new police officers and didn’t deliver.

“Every single measure that this Conservative government has taken has failed, it’s a long list of failures and what I want to bring is the sense that I’m a Labour MP, working with a Labour government, a Labour council and a Labour police and crime commissioner, and a Labour city region mayor. We can all come together to make sure that Southport gets back to where it was.”

He continued: “Southport has never had a Labour MP in its history but obviously that’s not for want of trying on our part, but what I think we bring to the table and what I think it reflects is that Southport is not a town in itself, it’s part of a wider community across Merseyside, across Lancashire and across the wider North West region.

“We hope to see the whole of the North West come together tomorrow, rejecting the failures of a tired Conservative Government that has not had its best interests at heart. We know the whole of the North West wants change, we know Southport wants change and we hope that when people wake up on Friday morning they will see that the work of change is about to begin.”

As Ms Rayner bid farewell to Southport for the last time before the election, she rallied her supporters and made a final appeal to voters. She told the ECHO: “Vote for change and vote Labour. Give us that opportunity. I’ve had the privilege of being an MP for nine years and I’ve been in opposition for nine years, I’ve seen the devastation and the decline under the Tories.”

“I haven’t had the opportunity to make that change yet. I’m going to work hard to make sure I can make that difference. Give us that opportunity tomorrow and I’ll work my hardest to make sure the people of Southport get what they deserve and are recognised for their hard work and what they’ve done.”

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