Reform UK has 'nothing to offer West Yorkshire' says Tracy Brabin
Exclusive chat with West Yorkshire mayor at the Convention of the North as she also pledged support for those affected by the Weir closure in Todmorden
Hello and welcome to the weekend edition of the Calderdale Lead!
We’ve got an exclusive chat with West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin in this week’s edition.
The Lead UK’s Westminster editor Zoe Grunewald caught up with Brabin at the Convention of the North in Preston this week and chatted about a range of issues including the rise of Reform UK and what the future looks like for Weir workers in Todmorden as they face the prospect of redundancy.
So, on with the news…
Brabin dismisses Reform UK offering for Calderdale after Labour defections
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin says she does not believe Reform UK have anything to offer the people of Calderdale.
Speaking to The Lead’s Westminster editor Zoe Grunewald at the Convention of the North in Preston, Brabin said she felt Nigel Farage’s party was focused on dividing communities.
Her comments come just days after Reform UK took their first council seat in Calderdale after long-standing Labour councillor Dan Sutherland decided to cross the floor and join them.
When asked about the threat of Reform UK in Calderdale and the wider West Yorkshire region, Brabin said: “I don't think Reform have anything to say to the people of West Yorkshire about jobs, about opportunity, about about inequality, about fairness, about access to skills and training, about better transport, about safety of women and girls, about better outcomes for your for your kids and young people.
“I think fundamentally, Reform are focused on division and trying to divide communities. We are absolutely focused on bringing people together. And you'll see today here at the Convention of the North leaders coming together with a consensus of how they can work harder to deliver better outcomes.
“So I would encourage the people of West Yorkshire to look at your leadership and who is batting for you, to give a give you and your families a better life.”
One issue that Brabin said she was confident of the Labour Government being able to find answers to was how to deal with the impact that health inequalities have on the economy.
She said: “If you're going to grow the economy, and that's Rachel Reeves the Chancellor's number one mission, you have to get people out of work into work.
“Now in West Yorkshire, we have 100,000 people who are not working because of health issues so I'm pleased to have been part of the trailblazers from government, where we [look at] work and health together, working with the integrated care board to deliver innovative solutions to getting people back into work, and whether that is creative health with social prescribing, whether that's supporting people with poor mental health and anxiety, whether that is talking to people about their housing situation.
“So many things are stopping people from getting back into work, and that's why I think mayors are really well-placed working with health to deliver those programs.
“We've been very successful in West Yorkshire, which is I think, why we've been allocated more money to deliver on work and health because of our partnership approach.”
‘We’ll be there to help’ pledges Brabin with Weir set to close
West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin said there would be a program in place to help anyone who is made redundant as a result of Weir closing its Todmorden plant.
The firm announced in January that it was looking at closing the Halifax Road plant by the end of 2025, putting around 250 jobs at risk.
The mining equipment producer said it was to relocate production to other foundries, including Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg in South Africa to be nearer to ‘key customers’.
Brabin told The Calderdale Lead: “The council have been speaking to the employer, but also my mission as mayor is to ensure everybody has the skills they need, maybe to pivot to a new role.
“And certainly the green economy is where I have a lot of focus on retrofit and engineering and also digital. So we have many programs that if people find themselves struggling to think about their next steps, we will definitely be there with a program to help them.
“But I know that the business is trying to repurpose some of the staff, which would be great, but we'll support them as much as we can. We don't want anybody to be out of work, and we'll do everything we can to make sure they have the right skills.”
That’s all for this edition.
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Enjoy the rest of the weekend and we’ll be back in your inbox on Wednesday!
Andrew