Yahoo News 'We ARE delivering for the town': Conservative candidate
The man vying to unseat Labour front-bench star Lisa Nandy in Wigan says it is wrong to argue that the Conservatives are not delivering for the town. Henry Mitson, 27, is the Aspull born-and-bred Tory candidate bidding to upset the odds in the constituency that has had a Labour MP since 1918.
On a visit to Haigh Hall, the Cambridge graduate was keen to see the huge restoration peoject at the hall, thanks in part to a £20m injection from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund. Emphasising his local roots, Mr Mitson said: “I was born and raised in Aspull. I grew up here.
“This is where I played for the first 20 years of my life. It was really sad to see Haigh Hall declining over time. When I was at primary school in the village we came down to do events here and it was open to be used, and as time went on the Labour-run council let it fall into decay.”
He said the Haigh Hall project was evidence of the Conservatives are ‘really delivering’ on the Levelling Up message that was the focus of their 2019 General Election campaign. Mr Mitson, who went on to work as a political advisor in Westminister after leaving university, continued: “That’s £20m for our town and we’re going to have a new restaurant, and art gallery. This is going to be a real landmark thing for Wigan and I’m really proud of what the Conservatvies are doing here.
“Levelling up is on just about heritage or the high street. We’ve also got eight schools in the borough being rebuilt. I was just down at St John Fisher RC High School recently and we’re seeing some great progress. The new building is getting there.
“There’s not just industrial history in Wigan, our history goes well back to before the Civil War. Haigh Hall is going to be a great place to visit. We’re on the West Coast mainline for goodness sake. We want to draw people into Wigan have that brighter future and the Conservatives are delivering that.”
Asked about the £180m of cuts that have had to made in Wigan since the Conservatives came to power in 2010, Mr Mitson denied there had been a squeeze. He said: “On local government finances, core spending power is rising. There are changes to the way that local authorities are funded.
“Councils keep more of their business rates, so the business rates retention scheme delivered by the Conservatives since 2010. That’s positive change. We’ve also got the UK Shared Prosperity Fund delivering millions of pounds to Wigan, we’ve got Levelling Up funding, and we’ve got investment in our schools. I think it is wrong to say that the Conservatives aren’t delivering for places like Wigan.”
Meanwhile, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, the minister for arts and heritage, who was also visiting the ‘brilliant restoration’ project. He said: “I know that Henry Mitson [if elected] will continue to fight for Wigan and the continued investment in the town.
And Lord Parkinson echoed Mr Mitson’s words on local government finances, saying: “We’ve been investing directly from central government in projects like this which bring in local investment, create jobs for those involved in the restoration.
"It’s about unlocking new opportunities and new jobs and you’ve got a Conservative government that is directly investing and Labour authorities that haven’t always given these projects the attention they deserve.”
