I am honoured to be the Conservative and Unionist Party candidate for Liverpool Wavertree. With its rich commercial – and musical! – heritage, this is a fabulous constituency: the wind-swept magnificence of the Mersey Estuary, elegance of Sefton Park, and pretty Victorian streets, where we bumped into a coachload of tourists visiting George Harrison’s birthplace. But most importantly, Wavertree has its people, whose grit and hard work have helped rebuild Liverpool - through technology, Liverpool’s splendid universities, the arts, legal and financial services, and of course tourism.
My life experience has inspired my Conservatism. Working as a journalist in the 1990’s, in Ukraine, Russia, and Bosnia, I saw far too many rusting post-Soviet hulks, abandoned factories and people, to be under any illusions about socialism - and it’s hard not to be conservative if you’ve seen repression first-hand. I now produce plays with refugees, constantly hearing how people value free speech, free choice, the free market, the opportunities our country offers.
Untrammelled free markets, however, can cause great hardship: my profession, journalism, was decimated by the internet. I understand what it is like to have the ground swept beneath your feet by economic forces beyond your control, just as we’ve all felt with the recent global crises: the pandemic and the rise in the cost of living, driven by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – a war that we must help Ukraine win, for the sake of our own freedoms – but it’s a cost we are all bearing.
So we have to give people hope that good times are ahead – inflation is down, and interest rates and taxes are predicted to come down. We must let natural Conservatives – who want to work hard, get on, and buy their own homes – feel they can thrive in a Conservative country, as Liverpool’s docks are able to thrive again through the regeneration driven by previous Conservative governments. And for people who need a helping hand to get back on their feet, we must be there to extend it.
I love Liverpool’s vibrant arts and culture scene – I toured a play with Syrian refugees to Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, as part of the 2016 Liverpool Arab Arts Festival. I believe my grandfather may briefly have run Liverpool docks during the Second World War – but it’s hard to check as he died in 1943! Some of my husband’s relations have done inspirational charity work in Wavertree and my distant cousin, Michael Eagar, played for nearby Warrington Wolves, but I won’t be emulating him! I’m too old and was bad at sport when I was young.
I’m looking forward to hearing about local issues, such as the regeneration of Wavertree’s High Street, affordable housing, our NHS, and how this great port city can take advantage of any rise in Atlantic trade.
It is a great privilege to be your candidate, so thank you.
