Ray Addison

you only need to look at all the pubs are closing down there's not many post offices the banks are going you know the high street's getting decimated and it's just to stop that decline it's a lovely place with lovely people and I love it that's why I live here Rob you know some people would say you're not a politician you know you don't know what it takes to make these changes what would you say to people who think like that?

well there was a time when I didn't know how to fit a boiler there was a time when I couldn't drive a van I'm an engineer by trade

You see a problem and you try and fix that problem.

So it's that sort of mindset where you can see something is wrong and you can see, well, this can fix it.

And trying to find a way of fixing it, really.

People are saying it's David v Goliath or the plumber versus the king of the north.

How do you feel when you hear sort of rhetoric like that?

Someone said today the plumber's going to throw a spanner in the works.

That's another one.

I'd say David versus Goliath.

Yeah, it is, in a way, because I'm the inexperienced.

I'm not a politician.

And everyone I speak to when I say, well, I'm not a politician, they say, well, that's why you'd be good in the role, because, you know, when I go shopping, I know how much things cost.

You know, there's probably, if you went to the Houses of Parliament, would people know how much a trolley full of shopping was from Alder?

You know, would they know how much a litre of diesel was?

Would they know how much rent is?

And would they be in contact with anyone who's struggling with getting a job or getting an apprenticeship?

Or just struggling to make ends meet, I think.

What would you say to traditional Labour voters in Makerfield?

They just feel like they owe it to Labour to give them their vote or they owe it to Burnham to give them their vote.