In a new series for SalfordOnline.com our local MPs tell us who they’re backing in the much-discussed Labour leadership race.
The Blackley and Broughton MP Graham Stringer writes…
In my opinion, the ideal candidate to be Leader of the Labour Party did not throw their hat in the ring this time. Therefore I was one of only a handful of Labour MPs who did not choose a candidate to nominate for the Leadership race. This of course begs the question what constitutes an ideal candidate.
From my perspective, the perfect person to head the Labour Party is somebody with a wide appeal to the electorate i.e. someone who could win a General Election and whose policy position I would agree with and would benefit my constituents.
This would be somebody who would be strongly committed to devolution to Greater Manchester and rebalancing the economy with more money going to the English regions and less money going to London and the South East. The person would have to have a commitment to restoring democratic control of our laws to Parliament which would mean leaving the European Union.
Understanding the need to invest in our infrastructure particularly in transport, rail, road and aviation is vital with democratic control of public services where public money is invested. Stopping the waste of money on Trident and reducing the cash spent on welfare benefits, not by attacking the poor and the unemployed but by ensuring that these people have access to employment at least on the living wage or a higher level of benefits.
On the policy issues therefore, one might suspect I would be supporting Jeremy Corbyn. I am closest to him on many of these key issues but I don’t believe he could win an election. There is no point in having a perfect set of policies if they can never be implemented because the electorate does not trust the Leader.
Andy Burnham, who as a person I know best and like, I cannot support because I believe him to be a centralist and he has been all over the place on policy issues. He launched his campaign at the headquarters of Ernst & Young, sending out messages that he thought the party had moved too far to the left and needed to improve relations with British capitalism. As the Corbyn bandwagon started rolling he has moved sharply to the left. This political malleability does not bode well for a future Prime Minister.
Liz Kendall has the opposite problem, she has been as hard as nails pursuing an aggressively centrist line without having any underlying analysis which could persuade me that she has an understanding of the issues which would help benefit my constituents.
Which leaves us with Yvette Cooper, who if uninspiring has shown solid competence and calmness under pressure. She has not wobbled and therefore by default is my choice.
Finally, a word on the election itself. This has been a fiasco. Ed Miliband left the bridge of a political ship sailing towards the rocks. The election started too soon with unimplementable rules. Allowing people from other parties a £3 vote in this selection with no way of stopping them is not increasing democracy but subverting it. No sane political party would allow this to happen.
I expect whoever is chosen to be the Leader of the Labour Party will end up having to defend a legal challenge and be forced to have a rerun of this deeply flawed competition.
Read: Barbara Keeley MP: Why I’m backing Andy Burnham for Labour leadership
