Tory launches election challenge

Cllr Lynda Donaldson is hoping to dislodge Labour MP Kevin Barron in the Rother Valley constituency in this year’s General Election.

Mr Barron—who has held the seat since 1983—has said that banks will be pressured by the Government to increase lending and investment in front-line public services will be protected.

And he said that a scheme to encourage lending and defer tax payments had helped 760 Rotherham businesses put back payments of £13 million.

But Cllr Donaldson said: “This Government has failed to secure our recovery. We are one of the last countries still in recession and every child born today has a growing debt that they are saddled with for their lifetime.

“Labour have borrowed high, raised unemployment, and had tax give-aways for Christmas paid for by tax rises for life.

“Months and months have gone by and in the Rother Valley and up and down the country jobs and businesses continue to be lost.”

Cllr Donaldson, who represents the Hellaby ward on Rotherham Borough Council, also said that the pledges for green growth were “shameful.”

Mr Barron hit back at the criticisms saying that Cllr Donaldson was peddling Tory soundbites and was yet to raise real issues affecting Rother Valley constituents.

“Looking at what’s happened in the Rother Valley over the past two years, we have held on to a lot of jobs that might have gone,” he said.

“I’m happy to talk about what’s happening in this area but Cllr Donaldson doesn’t say anything specific about the Rother Valley.

“She’s avoiding talking about the assistance people have had here, for political purposes. And she’s continuing with the blackouts scaremongering.

"Have a look at Dinnington, and you see the manufacturing park putting jobs back into an area over the past 12 years where they jobs had simply been cut under the Conservatives.”