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Twenty year old sets out for fight with Edward Leigh
Wednesday 5pm A TWENTY-year-old has put himself forward to fight it out with Edward Leigh in the general election that must take place within the next ten months,
James McMahon has stepped forward into the battle to win the Gainsborough Constituency seat for Labour, a party that traditionally struggles to muster much support within this area. It is for this reason that he has chosen to cut his political teeth in this area
He has already drawn the first battle line by challenging Conservative Mr Leigh - the area's MP for a continuous 26 years since his election in June 1983 - over the issue of the minimum wage.
Mr Leigh and nine other Tory MPs have given support to a bill that would abolish the minimum wage as a legal right; instead, under The Employment Opportunities Bill 2009, it would become optional.
Mr McMahon said: "The national minimum wage has been a great step forward in protecting the lives of Gainsborough workers and over one million people have benefited from it since 1998. These one million people will be in irredeemable poverty if Mr Leigh's bill is passed and who would have to be supported by the taxpayer through the benefits system."
"This would be a massive step back for Britain and for the people of Gainsborough who would pay the cost of this callousness."
"I am calling on Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh to follow the example of Nigel Evans, MP for Ribble Valley, to remove his support for the bill. At a time of economic uncertainty and job insecurity the National Minimum Wage provides protection for ordinary workers; the kind of protection we must keep in tact."
Despite his age Mr McMahon insists that he has the experience and passion to take on the veteran MP at any time, having been involved with the Labour Party since he was 15 and having the profile of vice-chair of Young Labour.
"This is an opportunity to use my skills to try and put Labour issues back on the map for the Gainsborough constituency," he said.
Mr McMahon lives in Nottingham and currently works for Nottingham North MP Graham Allen.
He said he chose to contest this seat because there was no strong Labour presence here. In 2005 Labour's John Knight polled 11,744 to Mr Leigh's 20,040 and there are no labour councillors at any level of local politics.
And while he doesn't want his age to be an overbearing factor in the contest, he does hope that it might engage younger voters. "Although I do think young people need to get involved in politics, I hope that it will be a competition about what matters."
* Mr Leigh has this week paid back 1,755 in expenses which he claimed in error under his second home allowance. "It was completely inadvertent and I paid the money back immediately," he said.
* Do you welcome Mr McMahon's youthful injection into the local political scene? Will it inspire you to take more of an interest in the election? Email your thoughts to jason.hippisley@jpress.co.uk
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Weather for Market Rasen
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South east
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Sunny
Temperature: -3 C to -2 C
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