ANDREA JENKYNS
First Column in the Wakefield Express

Welcome to my first column. It is a privilege to be standing as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Morley and Outwood, it is a role that I take seriously and I am 100% committed to.  Firstly a little bit about myself; I am aged 39, a Yorkshire lass, I have worked as a store manager in Wakefield, and the White Rose Centre. A life outside politics with over 15 years in management in the private sector working for multi-national companies, I also taught as a music tutor in three secondary schools.

A singer and songwriter, I have always used my music as a way in which to fundraise for charities.   I am a Trustee for the charity MRSA Action UK.  My passion to make a difference in raising hospital standards was a result of the tragic death of my beloved Dad from the hospital superbug MRSA .  I would like to kick off this first piece thinking about history.   Our beautiful Yorkshire County has some fine examples and historic landmarks and we Yorkshire folk are proud of our Yorkshire roots.

I recently saw on one of our community websites a phrase that reflects our pride,  ‘a community that forgets its history has no future’.  This statement resonated with me last week when I was looking at the greenbelt sites where the council has proposed to build around 8000 new homes.  Looking at the beautiful countryside I did wonder what will become of it, will future generations have the chance to enjoy these green open spaces?  We need to preserve all that is good, but I am also mindful that we also need to move forward, we need new houses and development, but we need to make sure the infrastructure is in place to cope with it and we need to begin by making better use of our Brownfield sites.

It is also important for political parties of all colours to learn from history.  I was interested to read how in May 1996 Gordon Brown as Shadow Chancellor promised that Labour would display “irondiscipline” on economic matters.  Today and over a decade later the Labour party are using the same rhetoric.  In truth we inherited the worst deficit in the G20. But we are moving from rescue to recovery with the deficit down a third, employment up and record low mortgage rates. 

I am pleased to see that the vote in parliament on whether to have an IN-Out Referendum to decide if Britain should remain in the European Union was successful andhad the full backing of David Cameron and the Conservative MP’s.  We British people are now one step closer to getting the chance to have a say on our future, and protect this great country of ours from further meddling by the EU bureaucracy.  

Andrea Jenkyns Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Morley and Outwood