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ELSIE

WRAIGHTE

Elected as councillor for Kingsway in May 2019, Elsie speaks to Claire Flett about
overcoming a tough childhood and how she wants to help others from a similar background

I am from Barrow-in-Furness and I grew up with my mum and possible to find out what people’s concerns were so that I
my brother, Chris. We did not have the easiest time growing would be a better representative - I feel that deeply and I
up. When I was three, my mum left my dad and we lived in a take my responsibilities seriously.
refuge. We were in the homeless shelter for a few months.
Then we moved from council flat to council houses and we In the time I have been a councillor, I have attended lots of
were in private rented for a while so it tough, but I did have meetings and done a lot of casework. This is people coming to
my mum there, who was very keen that I should go to school me with housing problems, antisocial behaviour, policing, the
and get a good education. cleanliness of the local area and local environment.

I was the first person in my family to go to college, and the I am currently working on a social mobility initiative. Its
first to go to on university. I went to the University of provisional name is Pioneering Rochdale and the idea behind
Manchester where I studied politics and international it is to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
relations. in Rochdale, giving them some of the skills that children from
disadvantaged backgrounds sometimes do not have, like
At college and university, I was with people who were affluent networking, confidence, giving presentations or even being
or from different backgrounds and had completely different aware of how to speak to other professional people. It is a
experiences to me. I would say that has shaped my outlook, really important point that they get the academics right, that
my beliefs and my politics and my wanting to become a is so key, but there is another side, like presenting yourself
political activist and, ultimately, to become a councillor. well and being able to express yourself.

On graduation, I worked as a think tank researcher and then Having graduated and spoken to people from a similar
I worked for a charity called the Social Mobility Foundation, background to mine, it is a real issue so the idea behind the
which was about getting people from disadvantaged initiative is to get Rochdale-based professionals involved.
backgrounds into the top professions and universities.
It is important that it is a Rochdale-based initiative,
I came to Rochdale in 2015 to work for the local MP. I then Rochdale-based young people, Rochdale-based businesses
worked as a PA at Rochdale Council and then as a political and professionals, to do a few different things.
advisor/office manager for Tony Lloyd MP, before moving to
my present job as an assistant transport strategy officer. One component is mentoring, another is to have some
inspiring professionals’ panels where a businessperson
There was not a lightning bolt moment when I decided I speaks to a group of young people about what they do and
would like to become a local councillor; I thought I was well how they got to where they are and their background, and in
positioned to do it now and I saw that some of the people the future, hopefully, work placements in different sectors.
here face a lot of socio-economic challenges - that was my
incentive to try to make things better for people. I knew that I I have only just started speaking to the council leader and the
had strong Labour values of fairness and equality, and cabinet member responsible and having early meetings with
wanting to make things better. Getting my current job and officers, and will hopefully start to do something early next
buying a house in Littleborough means I am in a stable place, I year. I am hoping that local colleges and apprenticeship
am settled, so the timing is right. providers will refer young people to the initiative.

When I was first elected as a Labour councillor for Kingsway I am really keen to do this; my own experience has made me
(in May 2019), I was very keen to talk to as many people as sure that this is the right thing to do in Rochdale.
Photo & Hair: Greg Couzens
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