Last week, George Galloway from the Worker’s Party won the Rochdale by-election with 39.7% of the vote, his fourth constituency in his political profession. In second place, with 21.3%, got here the Independent David Tully, an area who owns a vehicle repair shop and who began his campaign only 4 weeks before the vote after being disillusioned by the opposite options. The Conservatives and Labour trailed behind with 12% and seven.7% respectively.
What does this tell us about our country’s current perception of politics, particularly by those from communities which were left behind, fighting deprivation and poverty?
Rochdale was a prosperous hub for textile manufacturing, and with the development of the canal within the early nineteenth century, its economy and community thrived. However, with the shift to importing goods within the mid-Twentieth century, the world has seen significant decline. In the last census, it was placed because the fifteenth most income deprived place within the UK.
Now, over 40 per cent of youngsters within the Rochdale borough grow up in poverty, the common life expectancy is almost three years below the national average, and the local football club, for a lot of the symbolic heart of the community, is getting ready to closing down.
Galloway campaigned under the slogan ‘For Rochdale, For Gaza’. Given the problems of poverty in Rochdale, it’d feel as if the concentrate on Gaza has overshadowed the actual needs of the local people, though each are essential topics. It should cause us to contemplate: what actually are the roles and responsibilities of an area MP?
For myself, I feel an ideal sense of responsibility to my constituents and take the time to advocate well for many who I meet door knocking, who write to me about things they care about, and everybody else I’ve been asked to represent. But with the rise of technology allowing us to be more connected to others globally, we now witness in real time the terrible impacts of conflict on vulnerable people, and after all that ends in a depth of feeling about international issues that individuals want their MPs to represent on their behalf as well.
On the opposite hand, David Tully, the Independent local candidate, campaigned as ‘a breath of fresh air’, specializing in very local issues – restoring the maternity ward on the hospital, supporting local businesses, and saving Rochdale AFC. In an interview after the election, he said he campaigned to be a “voice of the people” as many were drained with the “usual routine” of mainstream politics.
I believe each Tully’s and Galloway’s slogans highlight how the local people of Rochdale feel disillusioned by traditional party politics that seems to end in squabbling and little motion, which could feel very distant from people’s actual lived experience of poverty, violence, and hardship, whether here within the UK or overseas. So, whatever you’re thinking that of their decision in voting for George Galloway, controversial as he’s, it is important to recognise that these are individuals who feel let down by the political system and who’re searching for hope elsewhere. We should pray that he does his best to serve them well.
Across our country, there are similar stories of towns where lack of investment has taken its toll, not only on the local economies, but on people’s sense of hope, identity, and community. Less than a fifth of the Government’s ‘levelling up’ projects in towns that were assigned funding have been accomplished. With inflation and better costs, many projects have been paused or cancelled. Unfortunately, ultimately, it’s odd individuals who lose out.
Our God is deeply invested in people and places which might be neglected by everyone else. Jesus spent the overwhelming majority of his life as a poor carpenter in Nazareth, a small place noted for nothing good. In fact, when Philip told Nathanael that the long-awaited saviour of the Jewish people got here from there, he exclaimed with contempt, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Put one other way, Nazareth would have qualified for Levelling Up funding. And yet, the hope for the complete world got here from this seemingly hopeless place.
Our hope comes from knowing that God, who personally knows what it means to be neglected, won’t leave or ignore us in our suffering. He is redeeming all things, and we get to partner with him on this redeeming work throughout our on a regular basis lives, making change where we will through each prayer and motion.
Let us pray that God would proceed to work through churches across the country already doing incredible work to satisfy people’s needs in probably the most deprived communities. Let us pray for guidance and wisdom for our leaders, especially with the announcement and debating of the Spring Budget over the following week, that their decisions would come from caring deeply for those communities who need investment. And allow us to pray that those from neglected communities would know that they have not been forgotten by God, that they’d see his loving kindness even of their hardship.
