Ex-lawyer explains brief as MP . . .

. . .Working for what the community wants

GLOBE reporter STEVE HUNTER talks one-to-one with Stephen Hesford, MP for Wirral West, in this second half of an in-depth interview. He talks candidly about Liverpool links with Wirral, Hoylake Town Hall, the controversy surrounding Brookfield children's home as well as about Lord Hunt of Wirral, relationships with other political leaders and his hopes for the future.

HUNTER: Do you know about any plans for Hoylake Town Hall?

HESFORD: I haven't seen documentation on it so I have no personal knowledge but it seems to have been sold to a local developer, who has brought similar properties in the area. It looks as though these people have plans for it - quite what those plans are I don't know yet. It is a flagship building being the old Town Hall. Everybody knows it in Hoylake. It's right in the centre. If something can be done with it, this will give a boost to the town.

HUNTER: Brookfield Children's Home was a local controversy in which people said you kept a low profile. Was this so, or was it a matter for the Labour controlled council?

HESFORD: It's interesting people said I kept a low profile on it because that's basically the first issue I had to deal with having been elected. It erupted about two days after I was elected. Within weeks if not days I attended a public meeting in Meols attended by about 400 people and listened to what the people had to say. There were councillors present on both sides and the Director of Social Services there to tell them reasons for the home being there. I had about 400 separate items of correspondence about it, if not more which I answered, personally in handwriting, I might add, because at that stage I didn't have a typewriter. I had no office either. Seriously Brookfield was ultimately a question for the Local Authority. What I did do was make sure the Local Authority knew what the local community was saying and what were local concerns. The Local Authority had to deal with it - hence that was part of the public meeting to do just that.

HUNTER: What is your relationship with Lord Hunt, the former West Wirral Tory MP?

HESFORD: Very good. David Hunt is an extremely personable gentleman. He's always been very good to me and I couldn't have wished for a nicer predecessor.

HUNTER: How about your relations with John Hale, local councillor and Tory Leader, Dave Jackson, Labour Leader of Wirral Council, and other Wirral MPs, Frank Field, Angela Eagle, Ben Chapman and Andrew Miller?

HESFORD: Councillor Hale, clearly different party representing what was for them the Tory stronghold of Hoylake. I always try to seek out views of local councillors. I've done that in the campaign for Hoylake Regeneration. It's not a question of us and them, it's a question of what the community wants. It's a cross-party initiative and I always give people an opportunity to come on board. Yes, I'm a Labour MP, yes they are Tory councillors but that doesn't mean we can't and shouldn't work together. Dave Jackson, we get on very well. The Labour group has been very welcoming and now has a higher profile in Wirral West than they did before. Wirral's other MP's are the same, of course as me, Labour. Frank Field is very respected, Angela Eagle a Minister and Ben Chapman, PPS to a Minister. All hard working senior people, I've got a lot to learn from them. Andrew Miller is part of the Government's leadership team bringing Labour's message across the country. They look after me as a 'new boy' and on a personal level I get on very well with them.

HUNTER: As a Wirral MP, how do you think the area should promote itself. As its own identity or as a neighbour of Liverpool?

HESFORD: It can do both and it does do both. When you come to the area you notice Wirral has its own particular identity and the reason is it's a peninsular. It's a pleasant place with several communities. It is part of Merseyside. Historically most people who live in Wirral, either work or used to work in Liverpool. Anything that's commercially successful for Liverpool is good for Wirral and vice versa. It's a partnership. Wirral has its own identity, a very pleasant place to live full of hard-working decent people. Liverpool is a hard working place, not quite a regional capital but a focal point. It's a tourist attraction up and coming with the waterfront and Beatles. It has international focus. It provides jobs, employment, theatre, in a similar way to Birkenhead. Anything that's good for Birkenhead is good for Wirral. One, it needs money and two its European money for that purpose. Anything that re-develops Birkenhead and gets life breathed back into Hamilton Square, places in Wallasey, is a boost for the area.

HUNTER: Locally, there has been a campaign to get Hoylake, West Kirby and other parts of the constituency out of Merseyside and into Cheshire. Is this realistic?

HESFORD: It's really not a campaign for anyone who has looked at it seriously! In terms of local Government reorganisation can it be done? The answer is no! It's too small an entity. It will never be given unitary status and in practical terms it just won't happen. Southport for example is a case in point. Southport is a part of Merseyside but wanted to be a unitary authority within Lancashire. That had a stronger case than Wirral West would ever have and that's been refused. It has been looked at in absolute detail and got nowhere. If that couldn't get anywhere, sadly for those who want it Wirral West won't.

Secondly, you ask my pensioners whether they want to come out of Merseyside and they will tell you they do not, because they will get their bus passes nicked, and it's a real issue. Even if it was at all feasible what kind of services would you be left with in some kind of small unitary authority!

HUNTER: You return to Parliament after the Summer break. What things would you like the Government to achieve in this session?

HESFORD: Interesting question. My main focus is health and as your readers will know I am the liaison MP for Wirral MPs on health issues, so that's my main interest. I think there's going to be an exciting programme in this session of Parliament and health. There are going to be reforms about GPs, going to be primary care groups, a white paper on public health and hopefully, being examined at the moment - a Health Action Zone in Merseyside which has public health implications. A big excitement for me is the health front. Of course, I'm not a Government minister, so I can't say I have the ear of Tony Blair. I don't know what's in the Queens's speech! In some ways I will wait to see just like everybody else. Once we announce our programmes I will be behind the Government trying to get it implemented as quickly and efficiently as possible.

HUNTER:You return to the constituency most weekends to meet people. Where and when are your surgeries, and how can people contact you?

HESFORD: Without making a political point, what people would have noticed or have noticed and say so to me, very kindly, is they know I do more surgeries than my predecessor, and indeed I do. I move them round the constituency and isn't in one place unlike the Tories when you had to travel to Hoylake and there was one a month. I have seven and move them round in all the major population areas of Wirral West. Apart from the first Friday of every month there's one at Fender School - a busy surgery. They are on a rotating basis each Saturday at different times - by and large 2pm - 3pm, but they often go on a lot longer than that. It's done on a first come, first served basis with no appointment necessary because I was determined from the outset that people should not feel excluded. People may not have a telephone, may not feel comfortable mentioning the nature of their problem on the phone, so I don't want to put barriers up - far from it. Of course people can write to me and they do. They can phone my local constituency office in Upton on 522-0531. Emma is my assistant with Annie.

HUNTER: Now they have a Labour MP, what is the local Labour constituency party doing to establish a higher profile in Hoylake/West Kirby areas?

HESFORD: We have established a new quarterly newsletter. The local party help me to run my surgeries. It's staffed by volunteers who are members of the local Labour Party. I often hold surgeries in conjunction with local labour candidates who are seeking election at local Government level. This is so they can see what the problems are, get to know their would be constituents at a local level so it's a joint process. It's new and we're also looking for new premises to give us a base and people a focal point. At the moment we don't have what might be termed a constituency base.

HUNTER: What kind of events do you like being invited to locally? Schools? Social gatherings? Formal meetings?

HESFORD: I've set out since my election to see local people in action. Whether it be the local bridge club I've visited in West Kirby, a gardeners' society or more serious West Kirby Deaf Club. Also schools. In the 16 months I've been elected I have almost visited all of my schools. Many of whom had either not been visited before, or a long time by their local MP. Again I don't make a political point but it's what people say. I know who my headteacher is, where the school is, the problems. I need to know and I want to know. I have regular quarterly meetings with all executives of local Health Trust, Wirral Health Authority, in charge of over-all planning, and Arrowe Park Hospital and Community Trust. They report to me as I report to my colleague MPs about what's going on in the Health Service.

HUNTER: With Wirral to become your home, would you envisage staying here as MP for as long as Selwyn Lloyd, or Mr Hunt?

HESFORD: That's not for me to say, that's for the electorate to decide. All I can say is I will continue to do the job to the best of my ability. The Government in Westminster will continue to deliver on its election promises, and it seems to me if we both continue to work hard in our own separate ways, that gives us a good opportunity to ask the electorate reasonably to let us have another go and so on. I will stay as long as the electorate want me to and while I'm in position, I will work hard for them dealing with problems they bring to me.

HUNTER: Finally, just describe what this past year has been like for Stephen Hesford?

HESFORD: All change! I don't practise as a lawyer any more. Being an MP is a new job, keeping me busy and involves lots of travelling. I see a good deal less of my family than perhaps I would like, but I have to say Liz and the kids rallied round. I try to make time to watch my lads play football as they are both good footballers. It's a question of making space for yourself while committing myself as I do to the job. Westminster takes me away when Parliament's sitting from Monday to Thursday. There's a constituency perspective and a Westminster perspective. My priority at the moment is the constituency. That's where I feel I can do most. That's where I have been most days apart from having a Summer holiday which my wife demanded that we must have. We spent three happy weeks in France!

Mr and Mrs Hesford are looking for a house in the Hoylake/West Kirby area.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.