"The Times" in Morley!

I have been contacted today by a journalist who works for the Times and is writing an article about the new Morley and Outwood Constituency and Ed Balls chances of winning it.

The journalist will be in Morley tomorrow to get a "feel" for the area but I suspect he is more interested in producing a story that will show the battle Ed Balls has with winning the new constituency and what challenges the Tories will present in what everybody predicts will be a close contest.

The MBIs are often asked if they are standing a candidate at the General Election and there is certainly a certainly some pressure being placed on us by local residents who don't want to vote for any of the big three parties and remain unconvinced about supporting the extreme right BNP. It is clearly a challenge for any small grouping to put up a candidate as all other parties - including the BNP with their Euro handouts - have large amounts of cash to run a campaign. The MBIs in contrast are self financing and struggle to compete against this well financed opposition.

I stood at the last general election and can say from a personal point of view that the expense is crippling and the work exhausting. I was pleased to get over 4000 votes, putting me into 4th place behind the big three - with twice as many votes as the extreme right BNP but the chances of an independent candidate being able to make a challenging impact without more human and financial resources is somewhat unlikely!

If you bump into the Times journalist then give him a warm Morley welcome and pass on a message that Morley Folk - and their votes - should not be taken for granted.!