James Grundy MP: Let’s build a better future for our town

It had been a fascinating campaign, dominated by Brexit and concerns about the Labour leadership nationally, as well as opposition to many things Wigan Council was doing locally, such as overdevelopment of the area, lack of transport infrastructure, and long standing concerns that Leigh and the surrounding communities played second fiddle to other areas of Wigan borough.

I didn’t expect to win, Labour had a ten thousand majority, but I knew we were going to do better than we had ever done before.

The objective was to hold Labour to account for their failings in the borough and the failure to respect that local people had overwhelmingly voted for Brexit.

When the first boxes were opened, it was clear that earth shattering changes were happening politically.

Places where the Conservatives had been historically beaten by up to 10 to one by Labour, such as Westleigh were suddenly seeing a huge surge in support for the Conservatives. It was no coincidence that these same areas had also voted for Brexit overwhelmingly, sometimes by more than 75%.

A few hours later I was giving a victory speech that I never expected to give, having turned a ten thousand Labour majority into a two thousand Conservative one.

‘Get Brexit Done And Fix Our Town’ had been a winning slogan. By the end of the year, one way or another, Brexit will be done, and rightly so. The failure to keep that promise was destroying our country, and we had to set that right, and we are.

No one, however, could have anticipated that my first year in office would have been dominated by a global pandemic.

Many people do not know that when you are first elected as a new MP, not only do you set up your London office, but also an office within the constituency, as well as hiring a small team to assist you with your work and provide a point of contact in the local area whilst you are in Westminster.

In mid-February, I found a constituency office with a good town centre location and hired my new team, but within a month of opening this office, my office manager and I had to develop a brand-new way of running both offices remotely instead.

Despite working from home and the challenges this brought, throughout this year, we have received thousands of emails, and have dealt with over 6,870 cases on the behalf of local people to date. This included a great deal of enquiries relating to COVID-19, whether that be securing business grants, providing travel advice, and more, but also included issues relating to local planning matters, council services and crime concerns.

I have also been championing the “Fix Our Town” element of my campaign slogan both in the constituency and in Westminster.

This year, I have submitted two bids to the Restoring Your Railways Fund to propose the reopening of both Golborne and Kenyon Junction railway stations.

I have also met with various Ministers and our neighbouring MP Chris Green to fight for the completion of the Atherleigh Way Bypass, and the APPG for Light Rail to discuss the opportunity for the Metrolink to be incorporated into the guided busway.

Whilst COVID-19 has prevented me from visiting many organisations, businesses and charities in the constituency, I have also written to all local charities, schools, care homes, businesses in both the hospitality and beauty sector, and more to encourage them to contact me with any issues they may be experiencing so I can best represent them in Parliament.

It is safe to say that my first year in Parliament has been an incredibly challenging one due to the coronavirus crisis, but now, with a vaccine starting to be rolled out across the country, I am now looking forward to the possibility of holding more of my public meeting, street surgeries, coffee mornings, and more in the new year, so people have greater opportunities to meet with me directly to raise any concerns they have in the.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all those who voted for me 12 months ago and the support many have shown me throughout my first year in office. Thank you so much again, we have made history together. Now, we need to make a better future for our town together.