Leaflet says Tory win in Copeland will "cost mums their children"

A graphic Labour pamphlet warns voters in Copeland that a Tory victory in the by-election will “cost mums their children” in an open letter aimed at highlighting the risks of NHS cuts in the constituency.

The handwritten letter in support of Labour candidate Gillian Troughton, a St John ambulance driver and former hospital doctor, is from local mother Paula Townsley. The leaflet is the second posted through letterboxes by Labour activists to contain dire warnings about the closures of maternity services at West Cumberland hospital.

Townsley’s letter describes how she gave birth to twins who were 15 weeks premature at West Cumberland hospital, but one of her sons did not survive. Expectant mothers will need to travel more than 40 miles to give birth in Carlisle if the maternity services in the area are closed.

Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor)

Labour really upping the ante in Copeland – a Tory win “will cost mums their children”. pic.twitter.com/VeOtGqSXCd

February 16, 2017

“If I had to travel to Carlisle, I would have lost them both,” she wrote. “West Cumberland hospital has been a lifeline for me and my family.

“The staff still remember my son when he goes in now. They call him the miracle baby. If the Tories are voted in they’ll take it as a green light for the local NHS closures. Their cost-cutting will cost mums their children.

“As a mum to a miracle son, I’m asking you to please vote Labour in our local NHS services on 23 February. It’s only 10 minutes to go to vote for Labour’s Gillian Troughton, but it could save so much.”

The previous Labour byelection leaflet also included a quote from unnamed midwives, warning “mothers will die, babies will die, babies will be brain-damaged”.

Chris Whiteside, who has previously stood for the Conservatives in the seat, said: “I don’t know whether this will help Labour win the Copeland byelection but their tactics on the hospital deserve to lose.”

Labour’s campaign was given a boost on Thursday after negative headlines in the local paper about Theresa May’s visit to the constituency, where she repeatedly refused to answer questions on whether she would back the maternity cuts or over whether the government would underwrite the Moorside nuclear plant, after the Japanese company Toshiba pulled out of the project.

Canvassing is believed to show that Labour has a vote retention in some parts of the constituency as low as 70%.

Few Labour voters are switching directly to the Tories, one Copeland campaign source said, but many have told the party they are opting to stay at home. The party is said to be relying on legwork from the GMB union on the day of the byelection to persuade Sellafield workers to turn out and vote Labour.

Corbyn has confirmed he does not intend to campaign in the constituency again before polling day on 23 February.

The Tory campaign has been hinged on support for nuclear power and the Sellafield plant, a major employer in the area, highlighting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to nuclear power. Tory leaflets distributed in the constituency feature a quote from Corbyn saying: “I say no nuclear power, decommission the stations we’ve got.”

Leaflet says Tory win in Copeland will "cost mums their children"

Mum"s kitchen-created drink to be offered across the country

She explained: ”I had my daughter Rosie five many years ago, Of course at the beginning children just drink milk and water, but then she began to get to the stage the place she wanted squash or juice.

”I knew that cordials have a great deal of sugar, even though squashes are total of additives. I couldn’t locate anything at all as an substitute.

”It is a huge concern for mothers and fathers. For me, it is about striving to do one thing to tackle obesity. People are never going to give up the items they like, and I would never ever say they need to.

”I am all up for getting a pizza on a Friday night, but if I can do something to assist a loved ones minimize their sugar consumption by 37 per cent then I have been ready to help do one thing good.

”I didn’t want to just make it for myself and give it to Rosie – I wanted everyone else to taste it.”

Clippy had previously place her culinary skills to the check on the Television present Masterchef where she competed towards Wahaca founder Thomasina Miers, who won the competitors.

Inspired by her foray into the kitchen, in 2008 she persuaded her companion Paul to depart his well-paid work as a supply chain advisor and launched a productive line of lower-sugar jams.

In 2011 she made a decision to launch a selection of cordials and with the assist of her young kitchen helper Rosie fine-tuned her recipes.

Clippy said: ”We had to try out all our recipes out on Rosie, it doesn’t get anyplace otherwise.

”When I started out she would say ‘Oh mummy I never like it’. We would give her the drink whilst she was doing something else – I did not want her to put on a white coat and hair net like I had to.

”Once I received the recipe I liked I tried it out on Rosie, and the neighbours youngsters, and it proved a hit.

”And now the cordials have gone from getting a recipe I was attempting out in the kitchen of our semi-detached residence to being in supermarkets up and down the country.

”It is a weird feeling – but excellent.”

The couple, who run their booming organization from their tiny spare room at their property in Sale, Manchester, decided to use the plant-primarily based sweetener stevia to slash the drink’s sugar material.

Their drinks, sold as Clippy’s Cordials, incorporate 37 per cent less sugar, 37 per cent fewer calories than other cordials and have no artificial sweeteners, colourings or flavourings.

They have now hit shelves in 220 Tesco retailers across the United kingdom.

Mum"s kitchen-created drink to be offered across the country

Stressed Mums and Dads should handled as even though they are physically ill, says Nick Clegg

“It’s damaging and unhelpful. At least 1 in four folks will expertise a mental well being problem at some stage in their lives. That quite significantly means that behind each door in Britain, you will find a loved ones that consists of or is aware of someone dealing with a psychological wellness situation.

“It’s a Dad who is off work with stress a mum struggling panic, attacks a teenager with an eating disorder or a lonely grandfather coping with depression.

“It’s a very good buddy who’s feeling suicidal, a neighbour’s son dealing with schizophrenia or a perform colleague managing bi-polar disorder. These are people’s everyday lives. And, as a society, we need to have to accept that.”

Mr Clegg will include: “All as well usually, attitudes to psychological well being are outdated stuck in the dark ages full of stigma and stereotypes.

“It”s time for us to carry mental well being out of the shadows and to give men and women with mental overall health circumstances the assistance they want and deserve.”

Mr Clegg argues that waiting times for frequent psychological overall health providers are nevertheless too extended, notably in specified places of the nation.

There have been stories of folks of all ages currently being transferred, at times hundreds of miles, to entry a bed, he says.

He will inform a conference of mental well being specialists, charities and consumers of psychological overall health services that some kids with severe mental wellness difficulties are still getting cared for in adult wards, and that encounter-down restraint is nevertheless becoming employed – regardless of clear proof of how damaging it can be.

Time to Talk campaign is becoming launched nation-broad to aid people talk openly about psychological health and get support. February six has also been picked as the very first-ever Time to Speak Day.

The campaign is led by the Time to Modify programme, run by charities Mind and Rethink Psychological Sickness, with the aim of ending the stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with psychological well being issues.

1 in 3 of sufferers come up against stigma and discrimination on a month-to-month or weekly basis, according a survey of five,000 people with mental overall health issues. Having to deal with stigma and discrimination from friends and in their social existence is estimated to be a problem for 61 per cent of folks.

Mr Clegg will say that mental illness fees the economic system £105 billion every year.

He adds that life expectancy for a man with severe mental sickness is reduced by 20 many years compared to the rest of the population and 15 years for a girl.

Stressed Mums and Dads should handled as even though they are physically ill, says Nick Clegg