LUKE MARSDEN: We need new PM Rishi to give Wigan a shot in the arm

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I didn’t vote for Rishi (technically nobody really did!).

But after the last six weeks, to coin a phrase from a previous Prime Minister, we do need someone who is strong and stable and more importantly we need strong and stable markets (in all senses but our Wigan market is another story!)

The country is in peril, and we badly need a shot in the arm.

We keep hearing about this winter being one of the hardest in a generation, hearing that phrase on repeat doesn’t make it any easier but any less of a reality.

A snowstorm (let’s hope not literally!) is heading our way and we need to be ready.

Is our new Prime Minister the one to guide us through the Game of Thrones-style winter? We must hope so.

I didn’t vote for Rishi Sunak but as my party leader, I will back him and if I prayed, I would be praying for his and our country’s success.

What will our new PM do for our town? That’s the real question we need to know the answer to.

I walked around the town centre this week in a hapless attempt to do some shopping and, being honest, I wasn’t even angry at the state of what’s happening to our once bustling high street: I was left numb.

Numb at seeing The Galleries a shell of its former self, knowing the bulldozing is imminent.

I’ve been accused of talking down our town in the past. That is a statement which angers me the most: I have been and will always be a proud Wiganer, I’m proud to live in our town but I’m hoping Rishi will double down on the work that Boris Johnson started with levelling up our local towns.

Wigan is filled with potential from Wiganers and Wigan businesses. The capability to return it to its former glory is there.

We just badly need that shot in the arm sooner rather than later!