A former Royal Navy senior commander has been selected by local Labour Party members to contest the Plymouth Moor View seat at the next general election.
Gareth Derrick, a former Ham ward city councillor, aims to win the seat for Labour in what could be a closely contested election.
During his speech to party members Gareth highlighted the paralysis at the heart of Boris Johnson’s caretaker government which means the Conservatives are failing to focus on the many pressing issues facing people in Plymouth.
These include the crisis in health and social care, inequalities in the education of the city’s children and young people, poor quality social housing and, most urgently, the cost-of-living.
“I know from my Royal Navy career that if the Captain gets distracted from their duties, the ship will hit the rocks,” said Gareth, who served in the Falklands conflict and the Cold War on Devonport-based submarines, and later in the Gulf and Iraq wars, as well as in diplomatic roles in Bangladesh and Japan.
With many experts predicting the cost-of-living crisis will get worse next year, Gareth put party members on a war footing warning that whoever becomes the new Tory party leader may call a general election as early as this autumn to try to unite the Conservative party and win a mandate for their own agenda.
Speaking immediately after the hustings meeting at Tor Bridge High in Estover, Gareth said the Tories were in ‘utter turmoil at Westminster.’
“While they are fighting amongst themselves and the candidates to succeed Boris Johnson are kicking lumps out of each other and trashing their own government’s record, I will be setting out a positive vision for the north of Plymouth and the whole country that there is a better future under a Labour government,” said Gareth.
“Everyone can see that the Tories are asleep at the wheel. Even Liz Truss has said that Rishi Sunak’s economic policies are steering the country towards a recession.
“The chaos in Dover shows that the Tory Government has given up running the country while they choose their third leader in six years to replace the disgraced Boris Johnson.
“With the country facing a cost-of-living crisis and war in Ukraine, now isn’t the time to take their eye off the problems facing the people of Plymouth, the country and the world. It’s a dereliction of duty.”
