“Yes I am a feminist, yes I am political – politics is for everyone.”
DIVA Ally of the Year Denise Welch has many strings to her bow. She’s an accomplished actor, a popular presenter, a bestselling author and a campaigner for mental health and LGBT issues. Now, she can add political animal to her CV, as she has publicly voiced her support for Tabitha Morton, the Women’s Equality Party’s candidate for Liverpool Metro Mayor.
The Women’s Equality Party was created in order to highlight and combat gender inequality in the UK. After reading the Women’s Equality Party’s manifesto, Denise decided to lend her support to Tabitha.
She explained:
“I’ve always avoided political issues because I felt I didn’t know enough. I’ve watched grey-haired men shouting — and snoring — in the Houses of Parliament and like a lot of people I’ve got bored, disinterested, and thought I can’t be part of this. It’s only with reading the WEP manifesto that I thought, yes I am a feminist, yes I am political. I encourage diversity in very many ways, and I feel very strongly that politics is for everyone.”
Naturally, Tabitha is very pleased to have Denise on her side. She told us:
“I am thrilled that Denise has backed me for Metro Mayor and it’s been a pleasure spending time with her as part of my election campaign.”
She added:
“Denise and I were both late coming to politics: like many women I always thought politics was something other people did, not something for a woman who grew up on a council estate in Liverpool. But I started paying attention to how things work, and what needs to change: and I realised politics is for everyone. You have to be the change you want to see.”
During a recent campaign visit to Netherton, the estate in Liverpool on which Tabitha was raised, Tabitha and Denise recorded a podcast. Their discussion covered Tabitha’s key campaign areas, which include a commitment to introducing a region-wide strategy for ending violence against women and girls, and a costed plan to introduce universal, affordable childcare for all children from the age of 9 months.
On the issue of violence against women and girls, Denise said:
“In the Liverpool City every 15 minutes a woman reports domestic violence. I find that incredible. And yet there is nothing in place to protect those women.”
Tabitha agreed that this is a very serious matter and something she wants to change:
“We have to have places for women to escape to, but so many of these are closing because of a lack of funding, leaving women — and children — trapped in dangerous situations. We need services to support women fleeing violence and we need inclusive sex and relationships education in schools so we teach children what respectful, loving relationships look like.”
You can hear Tabitha and Denise’s full conversation on WEP’s podcast channel: https://audioboom.com/channel/womensequalityparty
To read more about Tabitha Morton and her candidacy for Liverpool’s Metro Mayor see http://www.womensequality.org.uk/liverpool_2017
