Labour leader Ed Miliband praises Carlisle City Council
Ed Miliband has praised the work being carried out by Carlisle City Council’s Labour administration to improve the city.
Earlier this year, Carlisle was identified as a key seat for the 2015 General Election and the Labour leader visited the constituency yesterday in a bid to reconnect with disillusioned voters.
He held a special question-and-answer session at Carlisle Youth Zone, in Victoria Place, in front of a packed audience.
It was arranged to give people a chance to ask questions on issues which affect them and will focus on how politics can be made more relevant to people.
And the leader particularly wanted to hear from those who had given up voting for mainstream political parties, or those who have never voted.
Speaking ahead of the question and answer session, he said that what was happening in Carlisle was “exciting” after Labour seized control of the city council following 13 years of Tory rule last year.
He said: “What you are doing in Carlisle is exciting. We won the council last year based on our new approach and the way we campaigned.”
Mr Miliband also gave his support to Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Carlisle, city councillor Lee Sherriff.
He said that she was proactive in her community and balanced her political activities with being a carer.
“Part of doing politics differently is reaching out to people,” he said.
“We’ve got local people who really understand their area.”
And he added that the way things were being run in Carlisle was a “model” for this new approach.
Earlier this year Carlisle was identified as a key seat which Labour aims to win back from the Conservatives and this was partly the reason why it had been included in the One Nation series of events.
Mr Miliband said: “We want to win back the trust of the people of Carlisle. I think the city council is starting to do that. Lee is a good representative for Labour. We are really reaching out to the community, saying ‘we can make a difference to Carlisle’ but we need a Labour Government.”
Mr Miliband said that the biggest issue facing people today was jobs and added: “That’s a massive issue in Carlisle and all over the country. We can bring jobs back to Carlisle by working with the city council.”
Mr Miliband’s visit is part of a series of events being held throughout the UK
Last year, he chose Carlisle to launch Labour’s local elections campaign in the north.
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