LABOUR'S candidate for Redditch in the upcoming General Election has promised to 'give hope' to people in the town

Labour Party candidate Rebecca Jenkins recently launched her campaign outside the Alexandra Hospital.

She said: "In this election, I am standing to give hope to the people of Redditch.

“For too long our residents have suffered austerity brought about by successive Tory Governments assisted by the Liberal Democrats during the coalition years."

Choosing the backdrop of the Alex Hospital and for the launch, she said: "In Redditch, we have seen our maternity and children's A&E taken away from our Alexandra Hospital where the trust that runs our hospitals is in debt to £194million and is over running its budget by £82.5million.

"Targets are being missed, waiting lists are getting longer and people are waiting longer for treatment.

“Our schools in Worcestershire continue to be underfunded by an average of £210 per pupil per year and are having to resort to voluntary collections by staff and teachers to provide just the basic teaching materials. I have seen this first-hand as I am a teacher.

“Redditch has seen an increase of 43 per cent foodbank usage in the last 12 months with winter upon us and warnings of it not slowing down, Redditch has the lowest average wage in the West Midlands and the highest uptake of Universal Credit in Worcestershire.”

“This cannot go on."

She added that she is standing on a Labour Manifesto that will fully fund the NHS, create a national education service, and introduce a real minimum wage of at least £10 per hour immediately for all workers over 16 years of age.

On Brexit she said Labour’s plan will "get Brexit sorted within six months".

‘Everything we are offering is fully costed," she said.

"The new manifesto will have details outlining the cost of each pledge and how we intend to pay for it.

"No one earning under £80K will pay any more tax and those who do will be asked to pay a very small amount extra. Check it out here http://calculate.forlabour.com/

She added: "I have a great team on board and I look forward to taking our message out to the people of Redditch and winning for Labour, winning for all of us. It really is time for real change."