As Labour’s selection timetable for prospective parliamentary candidates accelerates, Uncut will publishing candidate statements for short-listed candidates. Today, Amanda Ramsay who is running for Bristol South. The final hustings is on the 8th of June.
As a local and national campaigner, living and working in south Bristol, I know the charities I help – and the people they support – do best with Labour. That’s one of the reasons I’m standing to be a Labour candidate and why I want to devote my working life to making a real difference in Bristol South.
An active trade unionist, I believe we achieve more when we work together; representing workers from across the South West on the regional and national sector committee for Unite, I’m an equalities officer for my branch of Community, Youth Workers and Not for Profit sectors, rep and member of the Bristol District Area Activist Committee.
I’ve had a wide range of jobs, from cleaning and shop work to many years in the travel industry, working mainly between the voluntary and private sectors for many years; for huge companies like Granada, for example, but also loved being a part-time teacher and tutor, to supplement my income and share my love of politics and working with young people, teaching advanced level government and politics. Getting a student through her A-levels and into university, someone everyone else had written off, is still one of my biggest achievements to date.
What matters to me most is using my experience on the local and national stage to lessen the disadvantages of poverty and inequality in our society, by negotiating the best deal for Bristol South, securing investment for jobs and regeneration, fighting for fair pay and a Living Wage, employment rights and defending the welfare state.
Educational opportunities changed my life and I want to see such chances for everyone, regardless of where they are born or grow-up. School children from all social backgrounds excel at Knowle Park Primary, where I am a governor. I want to take the fight to the coalition, who seem to have created a lost generation, with little on offer for young people leaving school this summer.
I will always reach out and encourage youngsters to be part of political or community work, to try to engage them in politics or at the very least to vote. We all rely on the youth of today for our future, after all.
Working for children’s charities Kids Company – new to Bristol – and ERIC, running campaigns to improve facilities for children in schools, I also focus on the welfare of children through my campaign work for HAWKS, the Hartcliffe and Withywood Kick Start, supporting parents and young people in south Bristol who are affected by drug or alcohol misuse.
Public services like the NHS, policing and the probation service, should be run for the benefit of the community and the good of society, not used to profit an elite few. I’ll always campaign against privatising key services and have been campaigning for years to Keep the NHS Public and support the Save Our Royal Mail campaign.
As well as local labour, trade union members and business people, what is heart-warming is how supportive my family and friends are; how proud they are to see my conviction and passion for the labour movement. They know I want to bring advantages for working people made in Parliament back to Bristol South and take our message to the government in Westminster and Whitehall.
That’s what drives me, that’s what makes me get up in the morning and that’s why I want to be the Labour MP for Bristol South.
Amanda Ramsay is a member of Bristol South Labour party and is nominated by local party members, the Co-op party and the Communication Workers Union (CWU); also endorsed by the GMB, TSSA, Usdaw and Unite
If any other short-listed candidates would like their personal statements published, send them through to editorial@labour-uncut.co.uk
Good luck Amanda!
Ms Ramsay once again fails to let the people of South Bristol know why exactly she moved to Bristol seemingly days after the standing MP Dawn Primarolo announced her retirement. This is also her second attempt to obtain a nomination, the first one was in South Lancashire, so there are questions as to why Bristol and who is making these decisions?
Bristol is increasingly a city that wants more from their politicians, we don’t want to be treated as a safe seat that Labour can parachute a box-ticking activist into. There is genuine growing disquiet in the community that Ms Ramday will receive this nomination and I suspect that if she does she will not be receiving an easy ride in the general election in 2015.
Bristol South: nothing like hiding behind a bit of anonymity is there. Care to actually reveal who you are? You’re not by any chance a supporter of a rival candidate??
And I’m afraid you have your facts completely wrong. Amanda moved to Bristol a long time before Dawn announced she was standing down, so that blows your theory out of the water.
Anyone is free to stand wherever they want. It’s then up to members to decide. And no, Labour (assume you mean the NEC) didn’t parachute anyone into this seat. Sorry to disappoint.
Obviously other candidates must be in free fall to attack someone they describe as having a parachute. Hope they realise what a good candidate she is, and realise she is on the same side; enough venom from the opposition without us hurting each other in a democratic process.
Good luck. Hoping both you and my wife get selected this time round 🙂
Thank you. Nice to have positive messages. Where is your wife standing, home seat too?
We are constantly being told that local issues and the wishes of the local party are what matter. I think Amanda will be a great MP for Bristol South. As someone who lives and works in the CLP she knows the problems the people of Bristol South face in their everyday lives. I wish her all the best.