Dear Editor,
I write to inform you of a new organisation in Newton Aycliffe. Many Newtonians have suffered at the hands of the Tory led government’s brutal policies which have plunged many people into destitution.
Our Labour Party representatives speak in platitudes about what’s to be done. I hear from young people who cannot get a job, coerced onto useless courses, threatened with benefits sanctions if they protest. Older workers find themselves on the scrapheap, or working for poverty wages with no job security through recruitment agencies.
The local workforce moves through a cycle of unemployment and temporary jobs with no hope of building a stable future and social mobility for them and their families. I’ve sought assurances from our M.P Phil Wilson that, the coming Hitachi jobs will offer a living wage and job security; only to be met with contempt by the Labour Party for embarrassing our M.P with a question he cannot answer.
Local families resort to food banks, worry about their winter gas bill and cannot find the cost of a prescription charge and for many people dental treatment has become an unaffordable luxury.
We return Labour Councillors to County Hall who watch the plight of ordinary people, from the safety and comfort of their middle class lifestyles. In my ward, I am represented by a Labour county councillor, who owns two private homes, while a local worker cannot even access one of the ex-council houses sold off to private enterprise.
The Labour controlled council, who have enjoyed social mobility, are not prepared to fight or speak out against the Party line to ensure that the next generation benefit from the same opportunities they had themselves.
Newton Aycliffe was founded on socialist principles, decent jobs, decent housing and a good standard of living for all. The vision for our town at its inception was a vision of ordinary people holding the power to change and direct their lives.
I’ve had enough of the Tory assault on ordinary people, and the patronising rhetoric of a complacent Labour Party who have moved further and further away from the people the Party was formed to represent.
I want to see ordinary people who suffer the effects of political decisions, become the people who make political decisions themselves. It’s time we gave power to people who understand the struggle to access housing, employment, community services, education and healthcare.
I am inaugurating a socialist alliance in Newton Aycliffe, where people can meet to express the issues they face; and through the aims of socialism exchange ideas and find solutions that will serve our area and our communities well.
The aim of the alliance will be to identify and support ordinary people who wish to stand as independent socialist candidates at the next round of town and county elections. What we need to return to the vision of Newton Aycliffe’s foundational aim, is to return the working class to power, ordinary people who will serve no other master except their community and their conscience.
In due course I shall speak to people on the doorstep. Anyone who wishes to contact me to express their interest would be most welcome, and can do so by email: warrensaunders@mail.com
Warren Saunders