Labour candidate to be Sheffield MP wants bring people together to tackle inequalities

Mike Buckley is a candidate to stand for Labour in Sheffield Central when MP Paul Blomfield stands down at the next election. Others are comedian Eddie Izzard, political writer Paul Mason, councillors Abtisam Mohamed and Jayne Dunn and local activists Abdi Suleiman and Dr Rizwana Lala.

Mike grew up in Woodhouse, where his dad was vicar at St James’ Church. His mum was a teacher. “I grew up during the 1980s Thatcher government – that was my political beginning, watching the Tories taking away people’s jobs.

“My mum and dad had public roles, I remember watching them and others in the church and other community groups stepping in and helping when people lost their jobs and went on strike.

“I also realised that people in communities can step in to help and they are great. I understood that a life well lived is a life of public service and you don’t need an official role to do that.”

‘I’m proud to live in Sheffield’

Mike studied politics at university in Birmingham and worked overseas for charities and campaigns including Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and World Vision.

“I’m very proud of all we did,” said Mike, who lives in Highfield, “there are lots of people alive because of what we did and lots of communities rebuilding. Good change can happen in communities if you put time and work in and build a coalition and have people working together.”

Mike came home in 2010 when he realised that David Cameron’s Conservatives would win the election. He wanted to get Labour back in.

He’s spent 12 years working in political campaigns. Successes included getting Chancellor George Osborne to introduce a living wage and combatting rip-off pay day loans.

He has also worked for refugee and asylum rights.

Mike campaigned for a no vote in the Brexit referendum and believes leaving the European Union still puts Britain at a disadvantage on many issues.

He is director of the Independent Commission on UK-EU Relations which is looking at the effects of Brexit and will propose changes to agreements.

He is also a director of Campaign Central, which runs political campaigns using social media for the Labour Party, charities, NGOs and progressive causes.

‘Leadership, commitment and passion’

He said: “Sheffield is my home, I love Sheffield and I’m proud to live in Sheffield. Sheffield has got real problems with inequalities – people live 10 years longer on one side of the city than people who live on the other side.”

He wants to help people get better education, housing and jobs to help overcome inequalities and believes his skills and experience of working with government can help.

“You can’t do it on your own, nobody can. The way change happens is when people work together.

“For months I’ve been talking to the mayor, people on the council, charity and faith leaders and others in the third sector, asking what’s wrong and what can be done to fix it. Loads of people have brilliant ideas.

“They definitely want the next MP to be someone with leadership, commitment and passion to do this, able to work with a broad coalition of organisations.”

Read this: Excitement mounts in city for Rugby League World Cup

Read this: Phone app helping people to stay warm