Last week, 16-year-old Corey Hughes emailed all Labour members of parliament with the following message.
From: Corey Hughes
Sent: 11 April 2016 17:13
To: All Labour MPs
Subject: I WANT LABOUR TO MEAN SOMETHING AGAIN – AND WIN.Dear Labour,
I’m sixteen years old, a Sherwood (CON) constituent and before 2010, a Labour government was all I knew.
Life was very much great then. Whilst I did not know much about who was leading government or even what government was, I did not need too. My family was happy, wealthy and doing well.
As a ten year old, I watched David Cameron make his speech on the doorstep of No.10. Life very much began to change, whilst not for me much, but for our country.
Now sixteen, before Christmas, my mum was one of those nearly threatened with cuts to tax credits. My first experience of a Conservative government these past six years and it’s clear there ideology is vile and punishing to Britain.
But whats even worse is the way Labour is dealing with it.
I believe in Tony Blair Labour. That is what I grew up with and I still believe in it and also will. Why?
Because centre ground is winning ground.
Right now, we may be anti-austerity, but not pro-aspiration.
The Labour party I believe in, isn’t just for those who need help, but those too who are doing well and want to do better.
The Labour I believe in encourages business. Wealth creation is not a crime, but a gift.
We are too left. Too weak. Government should govern for all, so opposition should serve for all too.
And I look at the way this party argues with this cruel government and quite honestly… its laughable.
The electorate don’t need Jeremy Corbyn doing his laughable school boy election act, shouting his throat dry over the dispatch box, stuttering away with arguments which don’t reason with the majority of hardworking Britain.
Britain knows things are bad. It wants to know how things are going to be good again.
I want to see a strong leader. One in touch with the family, but also it’s business. One who doesn’t just spell out problems, but offers a better, convincing alternative.
If not, this party is ready to loose again. And it’s not yourselves your letting down, its us, the British public. My mother and many more.
This party has weak leadership at its core. It does not offer anything to my family. The way were looking at it, Labour hates wealth, hates aspiration, hates business and hates defending our country and wants to take us back to the past.
Corbyns had his fandom. But I want to win again.
Remind yourselves why you won in 1997. It was because everyone caught a glimpse of hope.
Re-birth. Be a party for all. Please.
Remember, YOU are the party of Aspiration , Security and Opportunity. Prove it.
And so, I want to believe in Labour again.
Until then, I put on hold my membership.*
Thank you for reading,
Corey Hughes
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* But after the encouragement of MPs Ben Bradshaw and Siobhain McDonagh as well as my own constituency’s former PPC Léonie Mathers, it has stood to reason, that, while we are in dark days, by standing within the party, working together, all of us can play a part in pulling Labour out of the wilderness and becoming an effective opposition for people, their families and business
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Corey Hughes tweets @coreyhughesuk
I am glad you left the party, and I hope you won’t rejoin. I’m not being unpleasant, just that I think that there has to be realistic boundaries on what Labour should be, and my ideas are very different from yours. Eventually should there be electoral reform, there will be more parties and people with diametrically opposed views won’t be expected to be in the same party. at the moment that is not the case hence the internal conflicts
In other words, I’m glad you’re out of my party, because I don’t like winning elections and making a difference to people.
Or in other words, I’m glad you left my protest group, i like marching and protesting but not a Labour government in power.
Mike is a hard working councillor in the North West
The North West of where?
Mike is an unemployed whining popinjay.
I think you must mean being in office rather than being in power.
who left?
How would you feel if I’d posted when you left, I’m glad you left in 2003 and hope you won’t rejoin,
I think it is about time ‘old Labour’ got real. Whatever magic Blair had to make Labour win is well in the past. Labour has LOST the last two elections. Labour are losers. Then, after being pushed to the ground and stamped on by the tories, the people of this country decide enough is enough. They can’t take any more of samey, samey politics. Anyone you ask about the last election who didn’t’t vote will say……they’re all the same anyway….. They are sick of watching the rich get richer and privilege over-ruling everything. A bloke comes along and starts speaking their language. Against all the odds, he becomes leader and DOUBLES the party membership. Suddenly, young people are interested in politics. It’s a ‘thing’! So, after PROVING you are UNELECTABLE, you start sniping at this guy and saying YOU can do better! WAKE UP LABOUR! You get one shot at this. You have been given a ‘gift!’ Back Corbyn and over HALF your members at least….or keep sniping and let us all down once again. We won’t forget…
Apologies for some predictive text problems in previous post – can’t edit!
The problem with this post is – and I will take it at face value – is that it insults the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party. So therefore insults not one man but the over 240,000 people who voted for him and the 100,000 people who joined because of him…. and in doing so saved Labour from near financial catastrophe It is also inaccurate in that Corbyn never does a schoolboy act (for me that was Ed Balls problem) or shouts himself hoarse. He is calm, mature and dignified under pressure and even my publicly school educated conservative friends commend him for his grace under pressure in the face of bullying. Tory mates don’t agree with Corbyn but they respect him. Corey has a right to say and think what he/she likes. I will tell you another story. After the election when Ed resigned my 18 year old daughter who had just voted for him said ” Sorry dad .Labour are totally finished now. It is all over. They will dump the good bits of what Ed wanted to do and just become Tories and they won’t even win. Me and my friends will be voting Green now.” I was upset because I have been a member for 37 years and was a Labour councillor when my kids were small and I love my daughter and respect her opinion. My other 20 year old daughter felt the same.” They are now both full members of the Labour Party because of Corbyn.. My youngest daughter described him as ” a total legend” . They both grew up in Peckham. My older daughter defected from the Lib Dems she was an activist, Corey. I wish you well .
“my room mate Mary Is getting paid on the internet 98$/hr”..,……..!wc639ctwo days ago grey MacLaren P1 I bought after earning 18,512 DoIIars..it was my previous month’s payout..just a little over.17k DoIIars Last month..3-5 hours job a day…with weekly payouts..it’s realy the simplest. job I have ever Do.. I Joined This 7 months. ago. and now making over. hourly 87 DoIIars…Learn. More right Here !wc639:➽:➽:➽➽➽➽ http://GlobalSuperJobsReportsEmploymentsEconomyGetPayHourly$98…. .❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦:❖❖:❦❦::::::!wc639…….
That kid did not write that. Furthermore, how many of you believe THIS: I believe in Tony Blair Labour. That is what I grew up with and I still believe in it and also will. ……?
I think that John McDonnell’s economic approach is to radically increase public investment so that house can be built infrastructure can be developed, skills and training can be developed so that the economy can have many more better paid, high skilled jobs – which would improve productivity and hence aspiration. If the Labour right were in charge we would not see a similar degree of progress. Also, I think people are a little tired of the use of the word “aspiration” simply to mean increasing individual wealth. I have an aspiration to see a fairer, more equal society. The UK is 13th in terms of GDP per person in Europe, just below Italy and just above Spain. The top 5 are all Scandinavian countries, who have the most equal societies, economically, as well as much higher tax regimes than we do. Tories and Tory-Lites talk aspiration but don’t actually achieve it.
Remarkable to be so perceptive at so young an age. I am 78 and actually remember the 13 years of wasted opportunities before 1964 when Labour won the election. Then it was all downhill as the economy faulted and practically died on us between 1964 and 1979 only to be buried by Thatcher after 1979. We don’t only need good leaders and good policies but also need the ability to capture the imagination of the voters who accept that things should change and Labour as the means of achieving that change.
This letter, and its words, should not be new to a Labour Party – nor to the news media. For some strange reason is seems ok to print the VOCIE of this 16-year old – when the news media and Labour party have continually failed to harness the voices of “people” at the earlier post-recession era – when it was fundamental, even then. So, why now is this Voice vital for print?
And then point of this letter is what ? I was fan of Tony Blair, but he stopped being PM when I was 8. My mum was threatened with Tax Credit Cuts – I want Labour to do better at opposing the cuts and simultaneously show they support the aspirational and those doing well, presumably by supporting cuts to tax credits. “Labour hates wealth, hates aspiration, hates business and hates defending our country and wants to take us back to the past.” Well if that’s your view, then support the tax credit cuts and tell your mum Wealth creation is not a crime, but a gift.