5 Promises To Benefit The People Of Oldham & Saddleworth

Promises are easily made by someone who is seeking your vote. If they are not successful in the election then the promise is worthless. If they happen to win then a broken political promise is acceptable and expected. It must be for it seems that everyone does it. Am I any different than other politicians?

I am making five promises to the people of Oldham East & Saddleworth if they choose to elect me on the 5th of July 2024 as their Member of Parliament. I promise safer streets, a grooming gang report, no congestion charges, to save the greenbelt, and clean up Oldham Council.

These sound great slogans but where is the detail? Is there any detail? Have I just made them up?

I have spent 18 months speaking to the people of Greater Manchester and many from Oldham East & Saddleworth. It should come as no surprise that we all have the same issues and problems. The only one of my promises which is not universal is saving the greenbelt – this becomes more of a priority the more you move out of Manchester city centre.

Safer Streets: I will create a new crime reduction partnership consisting of the police, council, and housing providers. I will personally Chair this meeting and hold to account all agencies that contribute to safer neighbourhoods. I will help design an overarching community safety plan that delivers real crime reduction. Local community groups will feed into this strategy and the meeting will be answerable to the people. Yearly evaluations will be shared with residents so they can judge us all on our success or failure.

Experience: I have spent two decades fighting crime, I have a cabinet of awards for this work, and have advised three different Prime Ministers on crime reduction. I spent a decade working at Manchester Council in their Crime & Disorder Team and Chaired many similar meetings to hold partner agencies to account. I then set up a crime reduction charity with my redundancy payout to work on the streets to stop young people getting involved in crime and antisocial behaviour – this charity is now a multi-award winning charity. Our late Queen awarded me with an MBE for this work.

Grooming Gang Report: Labour-run Oldham Council have announced that they will commission a public inquiry into the grooming gangs and potential cover-up. After years of rejecting such requests, they have finally been persuaded to take this action so they can keep themselves in power. They do not have enough councillors to control the council so have had to do a deal with independent councillors. I will insist that I am part of the set-up of this inquiry to create the terms of reference and guidance for whoever is chosen to lead it. I also want a say on who leads on it.

Experience: Over decades, I have stopped the rape of 15 girls and 1 boy – I have had offenders arrested and prosecuted. In 2015, I won a national award for this work which concentrates on prevention and early intervention.

No Congestion Charges: I will work with public groups such as Rethink The Clean Air Zone to ensure we have an early warning system to make us aware of what is coming down the line in terms of charging motorists. The current Clean Air Zone may be dead in the water according to our Mayor, but this is only a ploy. This project will be rebranded and reintroduced once Labour takes power. People power stopped this project and attack on the motorist and we can do it again if we are prepared and forewarned.

Experience: I have been fighting the Clean Air Zone for nearly four years – before anybody had even heard of it. I told people what Andy Burnham was going to introduce and many people did not believe me until the signs went up. I will never allow motorists to pay extra to drive on the roads they have already paid for through taxation.

Save The Greenbelt: I will pull together all local campaign groups to maximise this fight and together create a new strategy that strikes at the heart of the matter – council planning permission. We will highlight councillors who vote to destroy the greenbelt in the hope that local people will punish them at the local elections. The new Greater Manchester-wide housing plan needs to be rejected. If we are serious about reducing the housing crisis, then we need to reduce mass immigration, not sacrifice our green and pleasant land.

Experience: My mayoral campaign showed how much people care about the Greenbelt. The people of Oldham and Saddleworth are blessed with beautiful countryside – we need to keep it that way for our children and grandchildren.

Clean Up Oldham Council: The fact that this is one of my promises shows how far we have fallen as a nation. This council seems it be rotten to its core. What exactly is wrong is anyone’s guess but the fact it needs cleaning up is very clear. I will set up a confidential, anonymous reporting system for council employees to report incompetence, corruption, and cover-ups within this tax-funded body. I will shine a huge light and expose what I find. Then the people can administer their punishment at the next local election.

Experience: I have worked for a council and seen incompetence and mismanagement. Part of my mayoral campaign was to set up a reporting system to report those who waste our taxes. This project will be scaled down to focus purely on Oldham Council.

If I am lucky enough to be elected, I will be like no other MP. I have been training for this position for over two decades and will hit the ground running. The fact I am not a careerist means I can focus on what I need to do, and not on furthering my career through shady deals or breaking my promises. I need to fight and that fight starts on day one.

I am not pursuing this position for me. I am not pursuing it for you. I am doing this to improve my country. Not because I am special, but because I know someone must try before it is too late.

If I do not try then I am simply a coward. Someone who has taken all the benefits on offer in this amazing country, but is not prepared to fight for a better tomorrow for those that come after me. This is selfish, wrong and to some degree – traitorous.

I know I am flawed. I am not the man I wish I was or could be. But I am an Englishman nevertheless and England expects every man to do his duty.

I pray I do not let myself down.

#NickBuckley4Parliament