Labour MP questions City bias

TIME to change... Jim McMahon – MP for Oldham West and Royton – asks why all the major charities and campaign organisations are based in London

OLDHAM MP Jim McMahon has asked why – in a digital age – all major charities and campaign organisations are still based in London.

Speaking at a Labour Party event at the weekend, Mr McMahon – MP for Oldham West and Royton – said: “The last Labour government made a good start in moving the BBC and Imperial War Museum to major centres in the North West but such initiatives have ground to a halt.

“Frankly it should be the Labour Party, not the government, that is suggesting that the publicly-funded Channel 4 move out of the capital. And we need to ask ourselves why – in this digital age – are all the major charities and campaign organisations based in London?”

Mr McMahon’s comments came as he was speaking at a ‘Reclaiming the North – How Can Labour Speak For Its Heartlands Again’ event on Saturday in London.

Speakers gave their view on how the Labour Party can make themselves stronger in the North and secure more votes.

Mr McMahon said: “We can make the mistake of assuming that the North is predominantly a Labour heartland, but the truth is that in many areas of Lancashire, Cheshire and West Yorkshire, we have Tory marginal constituencies critical to a Labour victory in any future general elections.

“If we want to reclaim the North we have to be ambitious and bold for our communities. We have to make sure that our cities in particular have a future and be generators of economic wealth and high-skilled jobs.

“Devolution is a step in the right direction. We have to push for greater devolution of finance and powers while we make what’s on offer work. We also have to make sure that we connect up our major conurbations along the Pennines through the rapid completion of HS3 to create a single work market.

“If we want to reclaim the North, we need to think about changing the way we work as a party. We can often seem resistant to new ideas.”





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TIME to change... Jim McMahon – MP for Oldham West and Royton – asks why all the major charities and campaign organisations are based in London