Labour candidate aims to 'shout louder' about party's work in Maidenhead

Labour parliamentary candidate Jo Smith said she was proud of her party’s campaign in Maidenhead and has urged her fellow party members to shout louder about their ongoing work in the town.

Ms Smith finished third behind Conservative candidate Dr Tania Mathias and the constituency’s victorious Liberal Democrat MP, Josh Reynolds, receiving 5,766 votes.

She told the Advertiser she was disappointed by the result but encouraged by the response Labour campaigners received on the doorsteps across Maidenhead.

Ms Smith said: “We ran the campaign on issues that really do matter to people in that constituency and we ran it in a way that was very much grounded in truth, integrity and honesty which I think has been missing from politics.

“We were very disappointed in the result but we recognised there was a lot of tactical voting going on and that’s the way democracy works.”

“The Lib Dems worked hard and they won and that’s absolutely fine. We’ll be watching with interest to see what our new MP can deliver for the constituency.”

She added: “As a group, we haven’t necessarily shouted loud enough about the work we do in the constituency. One of the messages is that we need to be better at making sure people know what the Labour party in Maidenhead are doing.

“We do a lot of scrutiny of the council but we don’t necessarily shout loudly enough about it. This has given us the confidence to do that.”

Ms Smith welcomed this week’s announcement by Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves about the prospect of planning decisions on major infrastructure projects being taken nationally rather than locally to boost growth across the country.

She said: “As part of our campaign, we were very much focused on economic regeneration and the need to build housing. We have to tackle the housing crisis and for too long the NIMBYs and planning constraints have meant things just don’t happen with the speed people need them to happen.

“I had conversations during the campaign with the shadow cabinet about the difficulty we’ve got with the Nicholsons Centre about the compulsory purchase order.

“One of the things they’re talking about is absolutely making sure that where those CPOs are in place, pressure is put to make sure that’s delivered.

“We’re at a critical time in Maidenhead where we need the town centre to be developed to support the footfall from the flats and give us the town centre we want.

“I am extremely positive those things that are happening nationally will have a really positive impact in Maidenhead and we’ll get the housing built that we need to get built.”