Bristol Labour MP says ‘country is in decline’ after 14 years of Conservative government

A Labour MP in Bristol has said the “country is in decline” after 14 years of Conservative government. A general election will be held this week on Thursday, July 4, when Labour is widely predicted to enter Number 10 for the first time since 2010.

Damien Egan is the MP for Kingswood and is standing in the new seat of Bristol North East. Speaking on the BBC ’s Politics West programme on Sunday, June 30, he urged voters not to “think you’ll just get” a change, without heading out to the polls and voting for one.

He was pressed on the show about Welsh Labour’s record on health, with claims that the “evidence shows” what could happen to the NHS in England. However, waiting lists in England have risen since 2010, and then skyrocketed during the pandemic, now with record long waits.

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Mr Egan said: “As a candidate you have to read through all of the manifesto, and I thought we can work with this, we can change the country. The things people talk about are getting the waiting lists down, people want the assurance that if you phone for an ambulance then it is going to turn up, that you will see police on the streets.

“The country is in decline. With all this talk of a big Labour supermajority, if people want a change, don’t think you’ll just get it. You have to go and vote for it.”

Mr Egan was only an MP for three months before the general election was called. A former mayor of Lewisham, he won a by-election in February in Kingswood after the Tory MP Chris Skidmore resigned in protest at the government issuing new oil and gas licences.

Siobhan Baillie, the incumbent Conservative candidate for Stroud, said: “How do you answer the fact then the evidence of how Labour runs Wales and the NHS there? The worst waiting lists, a nightmare situation, that’s the evidence to the country.

“It’s all very well having a sort of loosey-goosey manifesto with lots of nice things to say. But actually the evidence is in front of us about what will happen to the NHS under Labour. That’s what I think is unforgivable. Face up to the reality of the situation and be honest with the public about what you would do.”

Health is devolved, meaning the Welsh government is responsible for running the NHS in Wales. While Labour has always run the Welsh government since its inception, finance is not fully devolved, and ministers often complain they are given much less funding than parts of England, leading to problems with waiting lists as well as in other areas like investment in transport.

Mr Egan said: “It’s not a fair reflection of the state of the NHS in Wales. Let’s thank the government for the United Kingdom, the people funding our councils, this is all coming from the government. There’s so much instability from this Conservative government. The low-growth economy that affects every single part of our nation is the Conservative legacy.”