Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves believes voters in the city are ready to listen to the party again as it launches its campaign to win back power at the next General Election.
Labour is focusing on 106 seats nationally including Pudsey, Elmet and Rothwell, Dewsbury and Leeds North West as it looks to secure a 60 seat majority.
The Shadow Chief Secretary launched Labour’s Yorkshire campaign yesterday in the Pudsey constituency it lost to the Tories in 2010.
She said: “It’s a very ambitious target but we are saying we are going for a majority of 60 in the next election which means winning seats we lost in 2010 and some we lost in 2005 like Leeds North West as well. We think we’ve got the policies and done the listening to be able to capture those seats back.
“We are going to be working flat out over the next two-and-a-half years to recapture those seats because people in those constituencies need a government on their side.”
Ms Reeves admitted many voters had lost faith with politicians in recent years and all parties face a challenge to win back their support. She argued many young people had voted for the Liberal Democrats in 2010 only to feel let down.
She said: “It’s not just a challenge for the Liberal Democrats, a lot of people in Leeds West who I believe really benefitted from 13 years of Labour government say to me ‘you’re all the same, it doesn’t make a difference which is in Government.’
“I think a lot of those people, with cuts to tax credits and the way they are being treated by this Government, are feeling let down. We need to show we are different.”
Labour activists were on Horsforth’s Town Street yesterday gathering signatures on a petition protesting about the Coalition’s approach to tax credits and Ms Reeves insisted the attitude to the party had changed in recent months.
“It is a very different atmosphere out today than when we were here in 2010 when people felt let down by the last Labour Government. They wanted to put their trust in someone else.
“They are now asking whether this Government have got the answers and many of them think they don’t and want to hear what we have to say.”
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