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Martin McCluskey for Inverclyde
Greenock, Scotland, United Kingdom
Aim
Help me take on and beat the SNP in Inverclyde, and give my home a Labour MP who puts jobs and public services first.
Why Donate?
I'm proud to call Inverclyde home and there's nothing that would be a greater honour than representing this area in Parliament. People in Inverclyde need a local champion concentrating on jobs and public services, not an SNP MP obsessed with calling another referendum.
In 2014, this area voted to stay in the UK, but since 2015 we've been represented by an MP who wants to divide our community again. That's not what the vast majority of people here want. People here want to work together to make Inverclyde even better than it is today and to make sure it's the best place to live, work and raise a family.
This election is a straight choice between Labour and the SNP and only a vote for Labour can help get rid of the Tories. I’ll be fighting this election on two issues: defending Inverclyde Royal Hospital and creating jobs.
Under the SNP, Inverclyde Royal Hospital is under threat, and maternity services there are at risk. In the face of this, our local SNP MP has been silent. I never will be. My mum was a midwife at the Rankin and the first protest I ever took part in was against closures to maternity services. This election is an opportunity for people across Inverclyde to send a message to Nicola Sturgeon that we won't stand for our health services being cut by the SNP. Nicola Sturgeon promised us that services wouldn't close. She shouldn't be allowed to break that promise.
With the Tories in power, we've seen people in work suffer and people out of work penalised even when they are trying to do the right thing. People in Inverclyde are working longer and harder for less, and too many of the jobs here are paid below a real living wage. This area was once the proud home of a great shipbuilding industry, but now we have just one yard. I believe this area can be a centre for industry again, and it can be home to high skilled and high paid jobs. But we need leadership to make that happen.
Thank you for donating.
About me
I was born in Greenock in 1986, and was brought home from the Rankin to my house on Dunlop Street – which is still my family home today.
I had a great time growing up in Greenock, and enjoying everything this area has to offer. Evenings spent in the playing field next to Notre Dame (before the new school built over that), days out to Lunderston Bay or getting an ice cream in Gourock. My family were a big influence on me. My mum worked in the NHS as a nurse and then a midwife at Inverclyde Royal and my dad did his apprenticeship as a painter and decorator at the Co-Op before becoming self-employed. My grandad was Union treasurer at Scotts shipyard and my uncle was the parish priest at St. Laurence’s in Greenock. Whether in the health service, the yards or the church, members of my family have always served this community and that rubbed off on me.
Neither of my parents got the chance to go to university, but when I was seventeen I was fortunate and got a place at Oxford. I loved every minute of it, but I know not nearly enough people get the same chance. That’s why after I finished, I spent a year as President of the Student Union campaigning to increase student support and to stop unfair rent hikes. It’s also where I ran my first campaign that got national attention – campaigning to stop BNP leader Nick Griffin and Holocaust denier David Irving from speaking at the university.
That campaign led me into the public sector and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, where I worked on the legal case against the BNP’s ban on non-white members. A couple of years after that, I moved on to VSO, an international charity, where I led on UK and international advocacy. I headed up our first mission to the G20 in France where we were pushing to get the fight for decent jobs on the agenda. An issue that still tops my political mission.
I’ve been a trade union member all my working life, because I believe in the value that trade unions bring to workers and employers. It was at VSO that I was able to put my belief in trade unions into action, representing members as a trade union rep, and negotiating a 9% pay-rise for my workplace.
Just over four year ago, after the independence referendum was announced, I knew I couldn’t sit on the sidelines and watch when the future of our country was at stake. For me, this wasn’t a fight about the constitution, it was about the livelihoods of everyone in my community and across Scotland. That’s why I came back to work in politics in Scotland and to fight to keep Scotland’s place in the UK. I’m proud of the work I’ve been part of in politics and public service, but I’m also pleased I’ve worked outside as well. It’s that breadth and depth of experience I believe I can bring to continuing to make Inverclyde the best place to live, work and raise a family.
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Donations to a political party are regulated by the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000. By making a donation to this campaign, you are accepting the following terms and conditions:
- I am donating to the Inverclyde Constituency Labour Party.
- If I donate more than £500 checks will be made to ensure my name is listed on the UK electoral register (excluding the Channel Islands and Isle of Man).
- If I donate more than £1,500 to a Constituency Labour Party or more than £7,500 to the national Labour Party in a calendar year, my name and the amount of the donation will be published on the Electoral Commission's website, although my home address will not be made public.
- I must use my own funds to make a donation to the Labour Party.
- Donations are not tax-deductible.
Promoted by Alan Holliday on behalf of Inverclyde Labour Party at 20 Union Street, Greenock.
This project successfully funded on 18th May 2017