We Care. We Fight. And It's Time We Got Angry.

By Jo Hawley - Parliamentary Candidate for Bracknell.

I've just come back from my first Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton.

The conference theme was “We care, we fight.” Over four days, I heard good policies, thoughtful speeches and serious people working through real answers to the problems Britain faces. But on the journey home, one thought kept returning: we spend a lot of time showing people we care, and not nearly enough showing them we fight. Caring identifies what is wrong; fighting means refusing to accept it. It is time to do both.

It’s time to get angry and time to fight for what we believe in.

The deal has been broken

And I am angry. I’m angry that too many young people are out of work, education and training, their potential wasted before it has had a chance to start. Angry that people doing everything the system asks of them are finding it no longer delivers what it promised. They work, save what they can, raise a family and keep to the rules. They still can't afford the rent, still can't save for a deposit, still lie awake worrying about the mortgage renewal.

I meet these people across Bracknell. They haven't failed. The system has failed them. People will put up with hardship if they believe it is fairly shared. What they won't forgive is discovering that playing by the rules no longer pays. I'm angry that so many in power seem to have accepted that as normal.

Paying more, getting less

I'm angry that our public services cost more and deliver less. Council tax goes up, yet potholes stay unfilled. We wait weeks for a GP appointment and hours in A&E. Families of children with special educational needs fight battle after battle for support to which they are legally entitled.

People in Bracknell aren't asking for miracles. They're asking for services that work in return for the money they already pay. Some of that is about funding, but not all of it. Services that absorb more and deliver less also need reforming. Sustained investment will depend on getting the economy growing again.

Bracknell deserves a champion

I'm angry that Bracknell hasn't had the champion it deserves. Too often our town has been managed rather than fought for. Bracknell has so much going for it: a skilled workforce, great businesses and brilliant community groups. But when decisions about budgets, health services and investment are made in Westminster, Bracknell barely registers. It gets written off as a town doing fine, so not needing much attention.

That is a symptom of something bigger. Too much power in this country is hoarded in Westminster. Liberals have always believed power should sit closer to the people it affects. Bracknell needs someone who will make noise, make demands and not take no for an answer.

The far right is not normal

And I'm angry about something that should worry every one of us. The far right is being accepted as ordinary. Ideas that would once have been rejected outright are repeated on prime-time TV and shared thousands of times online. We see masked men marching on British streets, from Dover to Portsmouth, to intimidate and spread fear.

The language shifts first, then the attitudes, then the behaviour.

People who have come to our town to settle are being demonised. They came to work in the hospital and care homes, to start businesses and to raise their families. They are our neighbours, our colleagues and our friends.

Blaming them for a housing queue they didn't create, or for services they help keep running, is not only wrong. It gets the diagnosis wrong. Britain's problems are largely home-grown: too little investment, too few homes, too much power held in Westminster, and an economy that has stopped becoming more productive.

There's a deeper reason to speak out. Blaming outsiders needs a category of outsider, and that category never stops growing. It begins with the newly arrived. Then it reaches those long settled, then their children, then anyone whose loyalty can be questioned. The protection we give the most vulnerable is what keeps everyone else secure.

I will not stay quiet while that happens. Openness and belonging are not opposites. Standing up for your neighbours is what patriotism actually looks like.

Why anger matters

Some will say Liberal Democrats are too nice to get angry. I understand why. We are a party of reasonable people who value evidence, fairness and good manners. Those are strengths.

But we won’t be polite in the face of injustice. When young people can't find work, when families can't find homes and when neighbours are being targeted, the right response is anger. It should be channelled, constructive and determined, but don’t doubt it. We are angry.

That's what “we fight” means. We fight to restore the bargain that hard work should pay. We fight so that your future depends on your effort, not your postcode or your parents' bank balance. We fight for a Bracknell that is proud, welcoming and fair, and properly championed.

I care about this town. And I am ready to fight for it.

If you are too, get in touch. Let's do this together.