Outraged Huyton Grandmother Challenges Knowsley Politicians Over Floods

PRESS RELEASE 25th July 2011: Immediate

An outraged Huyton grandmother, Marie Rea, has said that the anger felt over the successive floods in Huyton will be reflected in a high turnout in the Page Moss council by-election on the 18^th August.

Marie is standing for the Greens “to make this a real election”, otherwise the Labour Party candidate Dave Tully will be expected to win at a stroll based on the 93% of the vote Labour gained just two months ago. She said:

“Quite rightly, this by-election will be all about the flooding, United Utilities and the responsibilities of the council. People in the Page Moss ward have seen their lives destroyed by floods on successive occasions.”

“Huyton has been badly let down by our politicians. Thatcher privatised the water companies but Labour did nothing about that in 13 years in power. Instead, United Utilities made more than £5.5 billion in profit. We’ve seen our bills go up and we’ve also paid for privatisation in a succession of floods.”

“I’ll be standing for the Greens who are the only party in Parliament committed to taking water companies back into public ownership and we’ll be putting our case strongly against the Labour Party here, and asking some serious questions about United Utilities record in our area.”

There are three other candidates contesting the election. Matt Hughes will be standing for the Liberal Democrats, Robert Avery for the Conservatives and Sean Watson as an independent.

Flood Damage

I spoke at length to residents around the flood affected street in Huyton after work yesterday. The key issues seem to be lack of communication, consistency and information about what is happening. Many residents were on the streets, unable to go anywhere else while they waited for promised cheques for "inconvenience" from United Utilities.

Most people I spoke to know that the likely rise in home and car insurance premiums on their streets would more than wipe out the £100 or £200 being offered.

Afterwards I met up with the Knowsley Greens and our candidate in the forthcoming Page Moss byelection. We discussed what we could do to help, not necessarily immediately, but through the election campaign and beyond.

A quick numbers comparison to finish off with:

£7 million - the amount United Utilities spent fixing problems in an area that had previously had three flood events

£5.5+ billion - the total amount of profit made for investment funds and shareholders that a privatised water firm made between 1998 and 2010, when a more radical Labour government would have renationalised in the public interest.

Welcome

This is the new blog of Knowsley Green Party.

We will be contesting the Page Moss council byelection to be held on the 18th August.

More details to follow.