Letter from Parliament – Simon Danczuk MP

By the time you read this the results of the local and European elections will have started to come through. I have been out campaigning in Rochdale this week and expect a strong showing from Labour locally, but nationally I imagine the story will be that of UKIP once again taking a good share of the vote.

If we’re to trace the popular rise of UKIP I think a big moment when immigration could no longer be an issue that politicians ignored was when Rochdale’s Gillian Duffy famously questioned the former Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, about it in 2010. I was there at the time and it was a watershed moment. Since that day I’ve had many more conversations with other voters expressing similar concerns to Gillian.

My view in Rochdale is that immigration is less an issue of race and more about class. Many working class people have seen their wages driven down, their quality of life deteriorate and public services, especially schools, put under pressure as a result of immigration. They are right to have these concerns and people who dismiss them are usually far removed from the circumstances others find themselves in.

We’re a borough with a proud record of community cohesion. Rochdale is tolerant of people of all creeds and colour, but the system has to be fair and people have to have confidence in it.

UKIP are a spiteful one-trick pony that don't offer any real solutions. But the challenge between now and the General Election is for Labour to address immigration head on.

Towns like Rochdale want a fair deal where public services are not pushed to breaking point, wages are constantly being squeezed and local people often feel they’re being pushed to the back of the queue.

As part of Dementia Awareness Week I’ve been taking part in a number of discussions with support groups recently and am pleased to see evidence of good dementia services here in Rochdale. One in three people over the age of 65 will develop dementia, but less than half of these people will receive a diagnosis and herein lies a big policy challenge for GPs to get to grips with. Getting the right diagnosis from a GP unlocks access to support services and I want all elderly people with dementia in Rochdale to get the best support so they can feel in control and get on with their life.