I was born and bred in Halifax, and I’m proud to be a local councillor for the place I love. I’ve represented Town ward since 2002, when I gained the seat from the Conservatives. Now all three seats in the ward are held by Labour.

As a mother and a grand mother, I was really pleased to spend eight years as the Cabinet member responsible for Children and Young People’s Services. Over this time our services improved from being under Government intervention, to being rated ‘good’ in the most recent Ofsted inspection.

Over the last year, I’ve been proud of the way that the Labour-led Council has worked so hard to keep local people safe, stepping up to fill the gaps when central Government has let us down – for example, giving extra financial help to low income families over half term and working with local charities to make sure children have the laptops they need to learn from home.

As the vaccine is rolled out and life returns closer to normal, I want to fight to make sure that communities like ours are not forgotten – that we see a recovery that’s fair to everyone, and not one that favours the Government’s rich friends alone.

That’s one of my main reasons for standing again. We need to make sure that our children and young people don’t suffer long term harm from the effects of the pandemic – I want to be sure that my children and grandchildren have more opportunities than our generation, not less.

But whatever age you are, I’ll carry on doing my best to stand up for you as your voice on the Council. I won’t hesitate to speak out if I think we are not doing the best we can – and I’ll always put Town ward, and our community, first.