The Labour Party’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner MP, was in East Lothian this week to address an event held at Prestonpans Labour Club.

Ms Rayner was the special guest speaker for an invited audience of more than 100 local residents, including business owners, charity and community organisation leaders, trade unionists and local Labour Party members.

She spoke movingly to a packed Labour Club about the challenges of her childhood, growing up in Stockport in Greater Manchester, and paid tribute to local organisations here in East Lothian that support families that are struggling.

Questions from the audience ranged from how best to strengthen supply chains here in the UK to provide good jobs, to how to inspire young people who see their prospects and opportunities under threat amidst a cost of living crisis.

Douglas Alexander, Labour’s local Prospective Parliamentary Candidate also spoke at the event, which was chaired by Iain Gray, while Martin Whitfield MSP closed the evening by thanking Ms Rayner and the audience for attending.

The event was the latest in a country-wide tour by Ms Rayner of key seats that are vital for Labour to win at the next election if Keir Starmer is to become Prime Minister.

Speaking after the event, Douglas Alexander, Scottish Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for East Lothian, said:

“It was a real pleasure to have Angela Rayner with us at Prestonpans Labour Club where together we met and spoke with representatives from a range of community organisations, trade unions and local businesses from across East Lothian.

“This meeting came almost six months to the day since I was selected by local Labour Party members. Over those months we’ve campaigned right across the county from Musselburgh to Dunbar. Each week we’re out and about listening to and talking with local residents and making Labour’s case.

“As I said in my remarks at the gathering, one meeting in particular since my selection stays in my mind: On Friday 9th June I attended the AGM of the East Lothian Foodbank in the Fraser Centre in Tranent. That morning the Foodbank’s brilliant leadership team revealed that last year, in 2022, they supported 4286 children here in East Lothian.

“The idea that 4286 local children in East Lothian need to get the support of a foodbank in this day and age, in one of the richest countries in the world, is just wrong. In the week local kids go back to school after the summer, surely we can pledge to do better? It really does feel that it’s time for change.”