2024 General Election: Burnley, Padiham, and Brierfield people grill would-be MPs about the NHS, Gaza, climate change and more

There was applause, cheers, and even some heckles at a hustings held at Burnley Youth Theatre last night as the candidates had their say on topics like the NHS, Gaza, climate change, housing, poverty, and the arts and culture.

Host and Burnley Express reporter Dominic Collis also invited David Roper (Independent), Gordon Birtwistle (Liberal Democrats), Jack Launer (Greens), Mitchell Cryer (Independent), Nathan McCollum (Reform UK), and Oliver Ryan (Labour) to talk about what they believe is the biggest issue in the town ahead of the General Election next Thursday.

Conservative politician Antony Higginbotham did not attend the event but sent in a video played to the audience.

Here is what each candidate said:

David Roper (Independent)

“The most important issue is health. We’ve got a lack of doctors.”

Mr Roper then drew some angry responses from the crowd when he added: “We’ve got loads of foreign doctors who don’t understand [patients due to the language barrier]. We do need more qualified English or British doctors. We need more consultants. We probably need more nurses as well. We need the health service to improve.”

While Labour’s Oliver Ryan agreed that more health professionals are required, he added: “I don’t think it matters where they’re from.”

Gordon Birtwistle (Liberal Democrats)

"The most important issue to me is health. We had the A&E, which was cruelly transferred to Blackburn by the previous Labour Government. 2024, we’ve got people led in corridors for hours and hours on end.

Coun. Birtwistle said it is "outrageous" that residents are being offered telephone conversations instead of face-to-face appointments with their GP.

He added: "One of the major issues we have in Burnley for bad health is bad housing. This is an absolute outrage, and that is the reason why the health of the people in Burnley is deteriorating."

The councillor wants to see more investment in housing, the health service, and care sector, adding that the latter "is falling apart” due to a lack of funds.

Jack Launer (Greens)

Coun. Launer said his priority is “the regeneration of Burnley”.

"We’re in the bottom 10 for deprivation. We need more housing here but we need affordable housing, and that will help us to regenerate because people then will want to come and live in Burnley.

"And we need a grant from the next government. There are four areas in Burnley that we need to tackle and get new housing in because the mould and damp in the houses are not acceptable. I have been the Executive Member for Housing since May and I’ve ordered a report into how many houses are in this condition and what we’re going to do about it.”

As part of the regeneration mission, Coun. Launer said he wants to help protect the area’s green spaces and promote Burnley as “a commuter town to Manchester” as well as a cultural hub.

Mitchell Cryer (Independent)

Mr Cryer said his key concern is ensuring Burnley voices are heard above any party.

"With an Independent MP, I will be speaking to you and there will be no one else between us and the decisions that are made in Parliament."

Speaking about the candidates aligned to political parties, he added: "There’s a huge organisation between these gentlemen and the decisions made in Parliament. They all have good intentions, I don’t doubt that at all, but they will not have the final say. If they want any serious senior career in their parties they will not have any serious say on the decisions that are made.”

Nathan McCollum (Reform UK)

“My main focus is the youth of Burnley because something needs to be done. What do they have around here?

"We can talk about housing, we can talk about health, but it’s the youth who are going to be working in these sectors in the long term. We need to be nurturing the youth now instead of this gang culture that we kind of see out there. And it’s simply not on to completely ignore the fact the youth are essentially troubled at this time. It’s a cry for attention. It’s as simple as that. The youth need to start being included in decisions in this town, not excluded.”

Oliver Ryan (Labour)

Mr Ryan said Labour would prioritise spending on public healthcare services and staffing levels over the next five years due to a lack of funding available.

“I’ve spent the last couple of years knocking on doors, and every single door round that we knock, there’s always somebody with a horror story who’s either waited too long to see a GP, waited too long to get cancer care, waited too long at Blackburn on a corridor, waited too long just generally for health care services that have left one or other family members of theirs in dire jeopardy, so it has to be healthcare. But I think the answer for that, for us, from a Labour Party perspective is more doctors, more nurses, more GPs.

Antony Higginbotham (Conservative)

Mr Higginbotham said in a video: "Over the past four and a half years, I've got a strong record, not just of standing up for you in Parliament, for being your most vocal Member of Parliament, but of delivery here. That includes the hundreds of surgeries I've held across Burnley and Padiham, making sure that every single resident has been no further than a mile and a half from one of my surgeries."

He added that his track record includes securing £52m. in Levelling Up money to help regenerate the town centre, delivering phase one of the Padiham flood defences, implementing hotspot policing, and bringing services back from Blackburn to Burnley General Hospital.