Minister accepts invitation from Danczuk to visit Falinge

James Purnell MP

Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, has confirmed that the Cabinet Minister for Work and Pensions has accepted his invitation to visit Rochdale following reports that parts of our town have the highest number of benefit claimants in Britain.

After a week of negative headlines about Falinge, which is reported to have over 75 per cent of its working age population on out-of-work benefits, Mr Danczuk said that he had asked James Purnell MP to visit because he wanted senior government figures to see for themselves what the problems were.

“I am very disappointed with the response to these figures from our political leaders in Rochdale and it’s time that we focused on turning this area around,” he said. “For the Lib Dems to try and just pass the blame on elsewhere is pathetic. They need to remember that Rochdale has been represented for 28 of the last 36-years by a Liberal Democrat MP. We need to get a better relationship with Government to get this area moving forward and it’s time all political parties in Rochdale started thinking of the people they represent first and foremost.”

He added that the challenge facing local political parties was to effectively mobilise economic development agencies and other key partners to stimulate the local economy, provide the right support and training to the long-term unemployed and build up a collective experience of what works and what doesn’t in taking the area forward.

“Looking at the figures on Rochdale Council’s website for unemployment in Falinge you would be forgiven for thinking that the problem is not nearly as critical as it has been presented,” he added. “Our local authority is seriously underestimating the scale of the challenge here in Rochdale in tackling worklessness and we need a huge, sustained push to build better relations with government and develop local solutions to local problems.”