May pushes for South Yorkshire votes

The Prime Minister promised to create more opportunities in South Yorkshire where Conservative activists believe the Labour-held Penistone and Stocksbridge and Don Valley seats could be vulnerable.

Labour has long dominated politics in South Yorkshire where the only seat the party does not hold is Sheffield Hallam.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post on the Conservative battle bus during a visit to South Yorkshire, the Prime Minister said: “I never predict election results. What I do is just go out there as my local Conservative candidates are campaigning hard and working hard for people’s votes.”

She continued: “I would say to people in South Yorkshire it is not about who you voted for in the past it’s about who you feel should be leading this country for the future to ensure that we do build a country where there are more opportunities, where growth and prosperity are spread across the whole of the UK, and there are more opportunities for young people here in South Yorkshire.”

The election campaign has seen the Conservatives come under pressure over the squeeze on public sector wages where annual rises are currently limited to one per cent.

Yorkshire has historically relied heavily on the public sector for jobs with around one in five people employed by the state.

Mrs May said: “We have had to take some decisions about public spending because of the big deficit we were left by the last Labour government and we are putting more money into public services, the NHS and into schools.

“But I have been open with people about the fact we still need to make sure that we are careful with public spending because we’ve still got a job to do, we don’t want to undo the economic progress we have made so far and there’s a risk if Jeremy Corbyn gets in that actually he wrecks the economy and there’s less money available for the NHS and schools and there are fewer jobs because businesses will move out of the UK.”

Sir Kevin Barron, who is defending the Labour-held Rother Valley seat, said: “Theresa May had never even bothered to come to Yorkshire as Prime Minister before she called the election, so turning up now just to demand people vote for her won’t go down well.

“Since 2010 the Tories have cut almost 500 police officers from South Yorkshire’s streets and they are going into this election refusing to rule out even more cuts to police budgets.

“The only way for people in Rother Valley and across South Yorkshire to make sure they have a strong MP fighting for more police to keep people safe is to vote for their Labour candidate on Thursday.”