TONIA ANTONIAZZI: CORBYN, GOWER & LAGOON

You were re-elected a few weeks back as the MP For Gower on such a disastrous night for Labour, and with an impressive majority in the end how pleased were you with that?

I was absolutely over the moon to be re-elected. It goes down to the hard work that we have put in as a team in the last 2 and a half years. I think we realised it was a disastrous night for the Labour party. That was desperately disappointing because now we are stuck with a Tory government who have imposed austerity on us since 2010 and we  now have limited options with what we can do.

I know it was too close to call on the night but at what point did you actually think you had been re-elected?

Well as you said it was too close to call it really was. One of the things is I have never, ever taken this seat for granted. I have always known it was marginal, the night was very tense because my staff didn’t want me in the count to know how it was going to go. I think it was down to the last minute when we realised that there was another pile of ballet papers that was there with my name on them. 1800 votes I will take that, it was a massive relief.

You was heckled when you were giving your speech, were you disappointed by that?

No, not at all to be honest. I was talking to Conservatives, the people who took offence showed their true colours and their divisive nature of their campaigning and what they stand for, and I put them straight which I think is what I am there for.

Was your election result the best result of the night for Labour?

I think it was one of the results that they weren’t expecting to go their way and to buck the trend makes it feel like it was all worth while.

Jeremy Corbyn said if he got in to power there would be a Tidal Lagoon in Swansea, do you think that’s gone now or do you think  there is still hope for that?

Absolutely its not gone, it’s not gone because we will keep fighting for the investment from the UK Government, it’s not gone because I know that the council and the Welsh Assembly still have aspirations that they can deliver it. I just hope with the climate change emergency this is where we need to be moving and hopefully in discussion with the Government and the Welsh office we can make it happen.

Speaking to you with the run up to the election a lot of what was coming up on the doorstep was Corbyn and Brexit, was there many more things coming up more locally?

It’s always issues that are close to home such as antisocial behaviour, such as Traffic and things like that. We work with our local councillors to try and deliver on and we are happy to keep doing so.

What are your thoughts on Jeremy Corbyn?

Personally I think that he should have stood down as Leader.  He hasn’t, we know that he’s going to be there until there is a new leader but we have to just accept that situation and we have to work with it.

He will move back to the back benches and I am sure he will do his job as an MP like i do. I don’t blame him personally, the reason why we lost is a number of different reasons. He wasn’t popular on the doorstep and it was hard to fight his corner when it was coming up all the time. But thats down to the media, they have been after him and they paint him in a light that is not very positive.  But it cut through and we were in a position where Boris Johnson had his snappy lines and he pushed his face through every doorstep. There was so many leaflets the People of Gower  and the UK where drowned out with his message and our message wasn’t strong enough and didn’t come through.

There is going to be a new leadership campaign soon for Labour, who are you going to be backing and why?

I nominated Jess Phillips but she’s now withdrawn from the contest. I did not want to nominate anybody who is in the shadow cabinet because I think they have to own this general election. I think they have to take some responsibility for the two losses that they have been part of. Jess is an outspoken Gobby woman and I believe we need someone like that to stand at the dispatch box and to sock it to Boris Johnson because that is the language that people will understand. The next leader needs a message that cuts through and calls out the austerity and the lies that we have had from this Tory government and that’s what we need to take us into the next general election. I was proud to nominate Jess but I don’t know who I will be supporting for leader now Jess has withdrawn.

Shortly after losing her seat in Crewe, Laura Smith was seen in the job centre, It’s something that we have spoken about before do you think that MPs have lots of money and don’t care and does that frustrate you personally?

It does frustrate me because Laura Smith, while we did have some different views on our place in the Labour party and as MPs, we were also very close friends. We discussed the situation should we lose our seats. We have not been earning this money for a long time, we are all in different situations. I know she was renting a house, her parents helped her with childcare while she was in London. She knew that she would  apply for social housing and that she was going to have to go to the job centre. All of us would have had to go to the job centre because we would be in a position where we needed to have your stamp paid. We are in a situation where 2017 saw many MPs, let’s say normal people who were catapulted into the public eye. I know others that I have worked with who are struggling and the harsh reality is we don’t have massive savings behind us, we don’t have houses that are paid off and we don’t come through privately educated wealthy families. It’s a harsh reality but politics is brutal and she knew that was a possibility. I also knew it was a possibility. If you think about it with the number of MPs we have lost and if they have an average of around 4 staff, thats 300 people in the Labour party who have lost their jobs and I feel terrible about that. That’s why I didn’t want an election, so I did not vote for one.

Food banks have gone up massively over the last few years. Do you think, almost ironically, if well intended people who help with food banks  were not there do you think it would force the government to do more?

The government doesn’t support food banks, they shouldn’t exist. What should exist is that people are helped more to get in to work and that there is a better benefit system so people don’t have to use them. Childcare should be free so people can go back to work until their children are in full time education they should not have to pay for it. I think  the government has got it all wrong, we are not looking after people in their early years and working families. It’s those people who need the help and support and universal credit does not do this.

What’s your plan for Gower in the next few years?

My plans for Gower, there are a lot of things I want to do. I am working on a lot of projects as regards to improving  mental health, I am also looking at pushing again for the tidal lagoon. I am looking at rail infrastructure, I am hoping to have a meeting with Simon Heart who is the secretary of state for Wales now to discuss what investments we can see in the Swansea area because we have got to give people the opportunity of well paid work. With Brexit on the horizon we want to get the best deals and that we keep jobs in Swansea and West Wales