Rt Hon Dr Denis MacShane
Only Labour, warts and all, can deliver
Denis MacShane letter to the Guardian, Thursday 2nd July
Since 1997 every school in my constituency has been rebuilt, 13 centres for pre-school children have opened, waiting lists at the hospital have vanished, retired miners and steelworkers with respiratory ailments are helped at a fine new NHS facility, Breathe Easy, and the number of burglaries in Rotherham has declined by 40% since 2001. That is just one bit of Britain Labour has helped after years of Tory neglect. Problems galore remain, and keeping steel production alive in South Yorkshire requires brave policies. Most of my years of party membership have been spent in opposition, and I suspect Sir Simon Jenkins (Comment, 24 June) wants a Labour party of his youth which produced pamphlets, protests and policies but left power to the Conservatives. Labour should not turn its back on power if it wants to help the people who are ignored by Tories. The Guardian comment pages are the best debating forum in the land. I enjoy reading Sir Simon. But he cannot deliver for my constituents - only today's Labour party, warts and all, can and does, even if much remains to do.
Denis MacShane MP
Lab, Rotherham
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