Dear Editor, They say ‘cometh the hour cometh the man’, so I was somewhat surprised at Phil Wilson and Vince Crosby’s letters in the Newton News last week distancing themselves from the Labour leader, referencing their experiences on the doorstep. Since Corbyn became leader we now have over one in every seventy people in the UK as members of the Labour Party. Six months into his leadership we had climbed the polls and were neck and neck with the Tories, sadly the badly judged leadership coup sent us plummeting down the polls again, but a few short weeks into the election campaign we have rapidly climbed back up, more than halving the Tory lead as people get to see the real Jeremy Corbyn, not the false persona created by the press, based on smears, spin and untruths.
This man has proved to be a steadfast and principled leader, one who has shaken up UK politics and speaks sometimes difficult truths, not sound bites, refreshingly talking to the electorate like adults to be trusted, not children. A leader who has arrived in this position due to his great passion to serve the people and fight injustice, and not through personal ambition. I have found that the vast majority of the people I have talked to in the community back Corbyn and Labour’s radical and costed manifesto, so I hope those people who Phil and Vince refer to will think again and take the time to listen directly to Corbyn when he speaks either on the TV or social media to get a real perception of the man and not the perception fed to them by those that seek to undermine him.
All this aside, whether you vote Labour due to Phil’s excellent record and service as a local MP, or because of Corbyn and his new type of politics of putting people first above corporate interests, we all have more in common than divides us, and all want a better life for ourselves and our children. The priority is getting a Labour led government that WILL change the lives of the many, not the few, for the better. The hour is now, the man is here, this opportunity for real change may not come again for a generation. Join us in making the change, Vote Labour on June 8th. Kathryn Beetham
