Jeremy Corbyn talks Trafford refuse collections, NHS and Brexit

Why did you decide to launch Labour local elections national launch 2018 in Trafford?

"I wanted it to be in an area which is not Labour held and in an area where there are huge issues about spending and local services and Trafford was very happy to do it and this wonderful school were happy to rent us the space to do it. And I am doing a question and answer with Year 8 later."

In July it will be 70 years since the NHS opened its first hospital, Park Hospital, in Trafford and Nye Bevan came here to open it. If he were alive today what would he say of the NHS?

"Well, In Place of Fear, which Bevan wrote in 1952, he said he was concerned about the direction the NHS was taking and prescription charges were introduced in 1950 and then the Conservative increased them, therefore reduced the accessibility to the health services and he was concerned at that point.

"What I think he might now be saying now is that he is pleased that it is still here, he is pleased that the principle of healthcare free at the point of use.

"However, I think he would be alarmed at the degree of privatisation within the NHS, the siphoning off of resources into private health companies and the way in which NHS staff have been underpaid for a very long time and the fact there are 100,000 vacancies for NHS staff positions at the moment because we have not done enough training. I am sure he would be appalled at the removal of the nurse bursary."

What other issues in Trafford do you see as needing to be addressed?

"Well there’s the quality of the Amey contract, the quality of refuse collection and particularly road repair issues and so Labour councillors have been very critical of this and continue to be.

"Our position is we are not in favour of privatisation and the outsourcing of services.

"We think they are better done in-house, which are more efficient and cheaper and you have a more flexible workforce. In my own borough, we have taken all care workers back into direct employment and as a result we have a better service and actually it’s cheaper because we are not paying the company as well."

Trafford Council has embarked on contracting out various services to gain a more preferential rate by joining up with other local authorities in Greater Manchester, what is you view about that?

"Collective purchasing of equipment, of supplies can and does work. There are a number of councils around the country where they have banded together to do purchasing of educational supplies, food, lunches etc and that works.

"Indeed, when we had the Greater London Council, it had its own supplies and purchasing department, because it was so big and economy of scale, it was very efficient.

"I have no problem with local authorities working together to purchase and indeed Nottinghamshire and others do the same now buying in building contracts .

"But as to the running of direct services, I want them run directly in-house. Now there is no reason why some councils do it, they merge services across borough boundaries or council area boundaries and run the service together, but the principle has to be public accountability and the living wage."

At the Brexit referendum in June, 2016, remaining in the EU Trafford voted almost overwhelmingly to remain in Europe and the current talk about protecting jobs and the rights of foreign workers and a lack of staff in the NHS, how do you see that playing out with your support to take us out of Europe?

"The position we have taken is that we want to bring people together in how the current economy is run, we want to have a customs union with the European Union which would mean we would continue that trading relationship, which is absolutely crucial for the manufacturing industry and jobs.

"If you look at manufacturing across Britain, the North East is most dependent, but it isn’t the only one, the North West is also a big manufacturing area. They all have very tight supply chains across Europe.

"The food manufacturing industry works on 24-hour timetables and there has to be that continuous flow and that is why we are determined to achieve a tariff free relationship.

"We have also set out that we would legislate, indeed it was Andy Burnham who set out an opposition motion in 2016 to guarantee the right of residence to all EU citizen in Britain and it was carried but it was non-binding.

"There must be plenty of families in Trafford where one partner is from Europe and the other is from Britain, and shall we say, are children of the continent and they have to be guaranteed safety and security here as well as a right to travel.

To stick with the topic of jobs and their protection, how do you see this pre-Brexit transition where companies are upping sticks and leaving Britain?

"It’s because the government has taken so long in the negotiations and we are now 21 months since the referendum and the degree of uncertainty that is there.

"Some are taking investment decisions that are important. Unilever for instance, has moved its headquarters to The Netherlands. That’s why I want things settled quickly so that we do get those investments decisions to stay in Britain The proposals we have put forward will help to do that.

"The Bill will come back from the Lords in the summer and I hope we will make further progress.

"But we are very clear that we respect the vote of the Referendum and want that trading relationship.

"We want a Customs Union with Europe and no hard border in Northern Ireland, that would also mean that we can continue that trade.

"We are not prepared to accept the competition rules that would prevent us from achieving what we would want in a Labour manifesto, which includes the public ownership of water, mail and rail."