Candidate Interview: Debbie Abrahams (Labour)

Debbie Abrahams, pictured outside the Old Bell in Delph yesterday.

Labour’s candidate in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election has said local people have been “let down completely” by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Debbie Abrahams also used an interview with Saddleworth News to say she offers a “fresh start” following the controversy over the Phil Woolas leaflets.

The by-election is taking place after Mr Woolas was stripped of his victory in May’s general election for telling lies about Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins in campaign literature.

Mrs Abrahams said: “We took very swift action. As soon as the first judgement was made, the Labour Party suspended Phil. And it is about a fresh start now, we’re campaigning on the issues that have been raised.”

The Lib Dems have called for an apology from Labour, as well as action against others who were involved in the Woolas campaign. On that point, Mrs Abrahams said: “That’s a decision for the Labour Party. But obviously (Labour leader) Ed Miliband who was up here the day after the election was called made it clear that the literature had gone too far and he regretted that, so I think we’ve said exactly what we feel about that.”

When asked what issues she felt were central to this campaign, Mrs Abrahams replied: “It’s about listening to what local people say the issues are for them. Time and time again it’s about the u-turns, people feel really disillusioned, really angry, in terms of what was promised to them six or seven months ago. People have been let down completely on VAT, tuition fees and police cuts.”

Debbie Abrahams listens to her party leader Ed Miliband at St Thomas' Church in Moorside last month.

On tackling the deficit, Mrs Abrahams said both the coalition government and the Lib Dem/Tory administration at Oldham Council were making too many “blatantly unfair” cuts. She added: “It’s about making sure that those cuts are fair. The poorest in society, the most vulnerable families, will be affected disproportionately by these cuts.”

The coalition government has scaled back Labour’s school building plans, which has meant the proposed new Saddleworth School in Diggle has had to be shelved. The government said the programme was too bureaucratic and expensive, but Mrs Abrahams described that as a “poor” decision, adding: “By withdrawing that, that’s depriving these children of their education within a nice learning environment, and we know that affects their educational achievements… it’s ideologically driven, it’s the wrong cuts at the wrong time.”

Mrs Abrahams said that, had she been our MP at the time, she would have voted against the rise in tuition fees. She explained that she favoured Labour’s idea of a graduate tax instead: “It’s more related to your income that you’re ultimately earning, so two people could potentially be doing the same course but end up earning completely different incomes, so it’s about relating it to that.”

The recent opening of Tesco at Greenfield and the council’s decision to impose time limits on some Uppermill car parks to boost trade there are two related issues which have prompted local debate. Mrs Abrahams acknowledged the mixed feelings about Tesco, and commented that she hoped the supermarket would be able to “complement” the offering of smaller Saddleworth shops. She added that decisions about matters such as car parking should only be taken on the basis of evidence.

Debbie Abrahams gets some coaching tips from her cricketer husband John at an Oldham leisure centre last month. (picture: Stuart Coleman Photography)

Mrs Abrahams lives in Newhey with her husband John, a former Lancashire cricket captain, and their two daughters. She has a background in public health, having been the Chair of Rochdale Primary Care Trust for five years, and the Director of Public Health Research at Liverpool University.

The NHS, railway infrastructure and the Metrolink extension also featured in our interview, which took place yesterday at the Old Bell pub in Delph. You can listen to our conversation in full here.

There are ten candidates in all. An interview with Pirate Party UK candidate Loz Kaye is here, you can hear from Stephen Morris of the English Democrats here, UKIP candidate Paul Nuttall here, and Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins here.

Saddleworth News will be speaking to the other candidates soon. They are, in alphabetical order, the BNP’s Derek Adams, Kashif Ali of the Conservatives, Green candidate Peter Allen, David Bishop of the Bus Pass Elvis Party and Nick “The Flying Brick” Delves from the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Polling day is 13 January. Plenty of other well-known political figures have already been campaigning in our area. An interview with the Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is here. Business Secretary Vince Cable was in Uppermill yesterday and an interview with him is here. An interview with Labour leader Ed Miliband is here, and you can hear from Conservative Chairman Baroness Warsi here.

To read full coverage of the by-election so far from Saddleworth News, click here.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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