The Yorkshire Post says: Austerity politics '“ and why Jeremy Corbyn outflanks the Tories on issues like flooding and rail services

LIKE it or not, Jeremy Corbyn has been more effective than most at identifying the concerns of ordinary voters. Unlike Ministers, he recently endured the TransPennine Express rail service from Liverpool to Hull to see, for himself, the ordeal, and hardship, being suffered by passengers each day.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a climbing wall during a visit to The Climbing Lab in Leeds, which was damaged during the  Boxing Day floods in 2015 as he supported the city's bid for more funding for flood defences to prevent any future disasters.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a climbing wall during a visit to The Climbing Lab in Leeds, which was damaged during the  Boxing Day floods in 2015 as he supported the city's bid for more funding for flood defences to prevent any future disasters.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a climbing wall during a visit to The Climbing Lab in Leeds, which was damaged during the Boxing Day floods in 2015 as he supported the city's bid for more funding for flood defences to prevent any future disasters.

Yet, while there’s still deep scepticism surrounding his left-wing agenda and the economic viability of Labour’s spending plans, this alone will not save the Tories if Theresa May’s government collapses over Brexit and triggers a general election.

The Conservatives need to show that they, too, are a party of action if they’re to neuter the electoral appeal of Mr Corbyn at a time when voters here have been left fatigued by the Government’s indifference towards the North.

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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a TransPennine Express service.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a TransPennine Express service.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a TransPennine Express service.

Take flooding. Yesterday Mr Corbyn was back in Leeds to, once again, meet those people – already long forgotten by the Government – whose homes and businesses were ruined nearly three years ago.

Yet, while this disaster exposed the financial folly of Government cuts to flood defence budgets, the Environment Agency is – even now – procrastinating and cancelling meetings with the likes of Leeds MPs Rachel Reeves and Hilary Benn rather than making sure that already vulnerable communities have adequate protection. After all, it was Mrs May who hinted on Wednesday that austerity could soon be over. She now needs to prove it.