Labour's battle bus rolls into Colchester as part of election campaign

LABOUR’S battle bus rolled into Colchester on Saturday as the battle for who will claim the city's parliamentary seat hots up.

Colchester’s Labour Parliamentary candidate Pam Cox meet with Liz Kendall, shadow secretary for work and pensions.

The Gazette interviewed Ms Cox and Ms Kendall inside Labour’s battle bus, which was in Colchester it final stop of the day.

Ms Kendall said on Wednesday that Labour must go much further with tackling child poverty said hinting that the two-child benefit cap could be broken.

When asked on child poverty, Ms Kendal said: “I am absolutely passionate about tackling child poverty and it is at the absolute heart of our manifesto.”

Ms Kendall said “free breakfast clubs in every primary school, and the homes initiative to make sure there is a genuine living wage” had already been promised by the party.

Labour - Labour's battle bus was in Colchester on Saturday (Image: Newsquest)

As the potential work and pensions secretary, I ask Ms Kendall about Essex’s record of unemployment– with Jaywick and Clacton having some of the highest unemployment in the country – and what Labour’s strategy actually is to get people into work including those with mental health issues.

She said the “big plan” for mental health, was to have eight and a half thousand more mental health workers with open access hubs in every school and community to tackle mental health problems before they start.

Ms Kendall also said that she wanted to reform the “Tory’s failed apprenticeship levy” which has seen a “massive cut in the number of apprenticeships” and merge job centres with the national career service.

Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said this week that immigration is “too high”, and in response, Ms Kendall added: “We know one of the really big issues that people are concerned about is small boats that are coming here.

“That’s why we have set up a new border security command to crack down on those criminal gangs who are doing this.”

I ask Ms Cox about Thursday’s Colchester General Election hustings at the Mercury Theatre where she spoke about educational choices at 16 including technical education and whether this is a priority for her and Labour.

She said: “Well that’s a very specific question, but I think that education as a whole is so important for children and families to get on the ladder."

She added how her dad left school at 16 and he did that as he didn’t have a choice, adding that Labour wants to “give choices”.

Ms Kendall said Labour will have a youth guarantee – that every young person would be “earning or learning.”

Support - Labour supporters, councillors, and other Parliamentary candidates showed up (Image: Newsquest)

I also ask Ms Cox about her remarks at the hustings where she said the country is  “teaching too much” after Michael Gove’s changes to the curriculum.

She initially told the Gazette “that’s very specific” before being asked it again.

Ms Cox said: “One of the hustings I went to the other night was specifically on education and it was organised by headteachers and school leads.

“We had a long discussion about their thoughts on the need to reform the curriculum and take out some of the things they felt were perhaps less necessary. That’s a debate for them to have, that’s their sector”.

Ms Cox added we do not know what jobs we have in twenty or ten years, saying “we are that moment in history when things are going to change” and that reform was needed for the curriculum and for inspections.

Ms Kendall added that Labour have said that creative subjects and sport were needed for all, for teachers to help children find confidence and their “spark” to succeed.