Election Statement

Dear Colleague It hardly seems a year since we had our AGM and here we are again. I have had the honour of being the CLP chair for the past year and am seeking re-election. I am a firm believer that non councillors should be leading us at CLP level. This encourages greater participation from members and allows councillors the time to be getting on with council matters. I came into the role of CLP chair having been chair of Gorse Hill Ward and with over 12 years experience of chairing meetings with my trade union Unison. I am keen to develop our trade union links further and have had discussions with the Trafford Labour Organiser Beth Penfold about how we can take that forward. We have further meetings set up in the forthcoming weeks to make this a reality. I see the constituency meetings over the next year having one primary purpose and that is to ensure not only the return of a Labour Government but also the return of a Labour Council in Trafford. So, some meetings will focus on campaigning how we can do it better and then getting out on the doorstep in our key areas. The remainder of the meetings will focus on policy development either by debating motions or having group discussions and exploring issues further. Once our view is formulated then we will upload it to the Our Britain website for it to be considered at national level. I consider it key to be developing our phone bank work and increasing its capacity. I have a meeting next week to secure premises for this and I will participate in the sessions. I encourage participation from all members particularly new and young ones. Our CLP should be reflective of the constituents we represent. As chair I have a close working relationship with Kate Green our MP and am very supportive of her. I look forward to helping secure a second term of office for her. Ive never missed a constituency meeting in the past year and I promise to continue to work selflessly for the good of our party. Please vote for me. Michael Melia