A final word from the candidates before the Rother Valley vote

Conservative, Labour and Reform party candidates all promised they would work towards reducing crime and improving policing in Rother Valley.

Conservative Rother Valley MP, before parliament was dissolved, Alexander Stafford said his principal pledge to voters is “the same as it was four years ago”.

Mr Stafford added he will "continue to be a hard-working constituency MP who stands up for his constituents and holds Rotherham Labour Council to account”.

Despite this, he admitted he has been honest with residents when campaigning telling people at their doorsteps that a “huge Labour majority” has been predicted in the polls.

Mr Stafford accused Labour candidate, Jake Richards, of seeing the role of MP as a “Westminster-based job” after comments he made at a hustings in Maltby.

He added: “If re-elected, I will continue to campaign passionately to a proper solution to crime and antisocial behaviour, and that means getting police bases opened on our high streets in Dinnington, Maltby and Swallownest.

“I will continue to call on the Labour Mayor of South Yorkshire to finally franchise the buses – he has had the powers to do this for some considerable time, but unlike his counterparts elsewhere in the country (of both political persuasions) he has failed to do so.”

Similarly to Mr Stafford, Labour candidate Mr Richards pledged to improve buses and recruitment of community policing. He accused the “broken” Conservative Party of not being able to deliver “the change we need”.

Mr Richards said: “We need to cut NHS waiting lists, which are at record levels here in Rotherham. We need a plan to grow the economy and help pensioners and families with the cost of living crisis.

“We need to invest in our roads and support local and independent businesses – the lifeblood of the economy. All of this is possible. As your local MP, I will champion these causes and ensure our voice is heard at the top of government.”

Reform candidate Tony Harrison accused his competitors of “playing dirty tricks” in the build-up to the vote but said he and his party were “rising above all that” - however these claims are unsupported.

Mr Harrison said he will “demand” more youth services within the local area and “tackle the wrong doings in the private sector such as on the Little London Estate in Maltby.”

He added: “We will encourage inward investment and well paid high skilled Jobs of the Future to be created throughout the region, creating hope and prosperity for future generations.”

Paul Neville Martin, candidate for the Green Party, said: “Only the Green Party is serious about tackling the major problems facing the country, honest about the resources needed to do so, and ambitious enough to put in place radical change that will help us meet the needs of current and future generations.

“The old parties are vying with each other to say that they won't raise taxes, but this will inevitably mean more cuts to essential services after election, hitting the most vulnerable first. The Green Party is the only one honest enough to reject this approach and say that greater investment is needed, not more cuts.

“Millions of people are living in substandard housing or have no secure home at all. Fixing this is a priority, but will cost billions to put into practice. The Green Party would find this by taxing the super-rich - those with assets of more than £10 million.

“The same applies to the much needed investment in funding for repairs to hospital buildings and increased availability of social care.

“And all of these measures will also help to save us from the worst impact of the climate emergency - hospitals and homes build to strict environmentally friendly standards are good for those who use the buildings, good for those who pay the bills on the buildings and good for all of us, as they will help us transform our economy to a climate neutral one.

"The people of this country are being offered more the same by the old parties when they need real hope for real change. That's what the Green Party, and only the Green Party, can deliver.”