Corbyn to hold rally in Telford town centre

Thousands of people attended Mr Corbyn's last rally in Telford, just a day before Labour shocked many with their General Election gains.

The latest event takes place at the arena, Telford Town Park, at 3.45pm on Thursday.

Despite the party's national success local members were left disappointed after Conservative Lucy Allan held onto the Telford seat she first first gained from Labour in 2015.

Labour's 2017 candidate, Kuldip Sahota, lost out by a similar margin of just over 700 votes.

However, The latest rally shows that Labour are keeping their focus on the constituency in case of another General Election.

Mr Corbyn's last rally saw him address a large crowd at Southwater, where his insisted he would safeguard the future of the county's A&E departments if he won the election.

He said: "John Ashcroft and I have discussed the situation facing the health service in Shropshire and the first thing he will do if he becomes health secretary is suspend sustainability and transformation plans, look again at the whole thing and ensure there are A&E departments all over the country."

The vocal crowd chanted '"Jezza, Jezza" and surrounded the leader, waiting for a chance for selfies and to talk to the Labour politician as he made his way back to his coach.

Mr Corbyn has a strong connection to the area having grown up in Shropshire, and he credits the county as the place where he cut his political teeth.

His first election campaign was the 1966 General Election in The Wrekin.

Speaking during a visit to the Shropshire Star ahead of the General Election Mr Corbyn said the current situation in the constituency echoed the one faced in his youth.

He said: “We will be doing a lot of campaigning to gain this seat in the General Election and it reminds me of the very first campaign I was involved in in 1966 when we gained the Wrekin seat by 800 votes. Gerard Fowler gained it from the Conservative William Yates.

“I want to see Telford being a Labour gain.”