Jeremy Corbyn on ‘beauty and sadness’ of the north as he hits the campaign trail
It's a tough schedule but Jeremy Corbyn’s not complaining.
While Theresa May was off strolling in Snowdonia, the Labour leader was pounding the campaign trail up north, where the effects of years of cuts and deprivation are plain to see.
Before lunchtime on Monday, he had done 11 separate media interviews, fired a bow and arrow and delivered a speech in a cricket club that was opened in 1977 by Red Rum.
But the 69-year-old party boss was more than happy to leave London behind and hit the road.
Mind you, to be fair, he has never really been OFF the road.
Last week it was Wales and Plymouth. Before that, Scotland.
As he paused for breath on his whistle-stop trip to the north, he said: “We live in a wonderful country.
“I love every part of it, I’m fascinated about our history, why places are where they are, how they came to be.
“Everywhere you go you see the contributions people make in different ways. I love it all, the diversity, the open air, the wildlife. It’s the changes to places as well – their rebirth.
“Nothing is set for ever. Austerity has destroyed a generation.
“The future for this country is about making sure our young people don’t grow up thinking they’re going to be worse off than their parents.
“They’re going to have the healthcare, education, pensions, available. It’s about investing in them.”
This leg of the tour started in Yorkshire before heading over to Lancashire, Cheshire and finishing at a teachers’ conference in Liverpool.
Mr Corbyn said: “I enjoy coming to the north, it means a lot to me. People talk to each other in a way they don’t in London. There’s an openness about discussion and debate.
“There’s also a real determination to do things. The landscape is beautiful, the towns and cities.
“But there’s a sadness about it as well. The deindustrialisation, the lack of replenishment and good quality jobs. We want to change all that.”
For the first part of the leg, focusing on crime and youth services, he was joined by shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott .
They headed to Sunnybank Youth Centre in the Calder Valley, to meet volunteer staff and youngsters.
The Labour leader watched kids give an archery demonstration before firing arrows with varying success.
The youngsters then tried to talk him into a go on the climbing wall.
One staffer said: “He did it on another visit. It was jacket off and up there in seconds. You can’t stop him.”
But this time he resisted. After a round of media interviews, the tour moved on to the Elland Cricket, Athletic and Bowling Club, opened – as mentioned – 42 years ago by treble Grand National winner Red Rum.
(I texted this to a mate in London and got the reply, “But how could he have cut a ribbon?”)
There was a crowd of 200, which considering it was Monday lunchtime, freezing, and had only been advertised a couple of days ago, was brilliant.
Bowlers playing a game outside showed little interest.
Though, to be fair, you could have had Churchill, Gandhi and JFK handing out free John Smith’s in there and they would have played another end.
The speech went down well. The pledge to stand against racism and anti-Semitism got a round of a applause, as did the few words from Diane Abbott, who revealed her mum used to be a nurse in Huddersfield.
As people filed out, volunteers tried to get them to come door-knocking.
There were mixed results, from the blunt “I can’t” and the plausible “There’s no one to watch the kids” to the inexplicable, but hard to argue with, “I’m from Todmorden”.
Out and about, very little national stuff comes up. If it is mentioned, it’s that the voters are fed up of it.
Mr Corbyn, who was joined by local council elections candidate Victoria Porritt, said: “The real divisions are about poverty, wealth and oppor-tunity. Even those families that are apparently quite well off face stresses.
“They can’t get homes for their children, their kids are going to university and racking up great debt, or they can’t get apprenticeships.”
During the doorstepping session he met 26-year-old Freya Van-De-Gevel, who had just moved back to the area.
Freya said: “There was more to do when we were kids but it’s gone and transport’s not great. It feels cut off.” Back in the car, Mr Corbyn got on with preparing for a speech later that day to teachers in Liverpool.
“Anything interesting?” I asked. “We’re going to get rid of SATs.”
Quite interesting.
Dinner was an Indian meal in Blackburn with local politicians, friends and the chairman of the Lancashire Beekeeping Association.
I got a report in the morning (“Great food. Lot of bee talk”).
Tuesday started with a meeting in Leyland, Lancs. It is by no means the Bronx but residents are concerned about anti-social behaviour. Retired bobby Brian Derbyshire said when he worked in nearby Bolton there were 12 cops in the town centre at any time.
He said: “There was a lad on the beat here, then he was replaced by a PCSO in a car. That’s not what we need.”
Local Tom Downey said he felt sorry for youngsters there because they were ”generally really good kids” but so many things have closed down.
In Winsford, Cheshire, The Red Lion was packed for another speech from Mr Corbyn, who even drew the raffle.
On his way to the next door-knocking session he talked of education, saying: “When a fifth of teachers say they’re going to quit that is a clear warning.”
Another issue is HS2.
Mr Corbyn said: “We supported HS2 to make rail in the country better. More investment should be going into railways in the north rather than the south-east.”
In the car to Liverpool we ran through the last two days that had seen a whirl of speeches, meetings, selfies and travel.
“I love it,” he said. “I don’t get tired. You learn something everywhere you go.”
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