CAMPAIGN TRAIL TALES pt 1

It is a great privilege to have been selected by local members of Chorley Labour Party to stand as Coppull’s Borough Council candidate in the forthcoming local elections this May.
Local candidates across the country are this year faced with the task of exposing the effects of coalition cuts as across the country as they threaten to dismantle the structures that bind local communities together. Be it threats to close local libraries, cuts of £40,000,000 to our local Hospital trust or proposals to slash council funding to 22 front line PCSO officers operating in borough.

In Coppull, at this election, I am not preaching a message of helpless despair at bad things to come but of the hope that our community can place in the value of working together to fight these cuts where they affect our front-line public services and provisions for the most vulnerable in our communities. Some Liberal Democrat councillors like those standing in my own ward have failed to answer for their party and have failed to make a stand on behalf of their local constituents, at this election we must let them know how betrayed we feel.
In Coppull we are fortunate to benefit from a close-knit community, a large focal point of which emanates from the village’s parish structure. Our churches act as centres for community activity, for fundraising and for outreach projects that make an active difference to the quality of the lives of many residents. Having grown up in an extended family of fellow Christians in Coppull I have learnt strong values of the worth of community engagement, of the worth of every member of our society however young or old and of the worth of coming together when times are hardest to find the solutions to the problems that threaten us all.
Churches in villages like Coppull will play a significant role in standing up for the values and interests of local people in the years to come. As a Labour Party candidate and a Christian I will strive to bring together all those residents that value the public services that for so many years, in rural areas like mine, have developed and sustained a real quality of life. Now, more than ever before, we must come together to protect the structures of our communities and the provisions within them that make the real difference for local people.
To find out more about my campaign please visit www.matthewcrow.org

(Author: Matt Crow)

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