First female Tory MP in Wales Sarah Atherton will 'put Wrexham first'

That is the view of Wrexham's first Conservative MP and the first female Conservative MP in Wales, Sarah Atherton.

When the dust settled after the General Election, the Leader spoke to Wrexham's new Member of Parliament to discuss her vision for Wrexham.

In previous articles, she spoke about investment and health, but she said the most important things to her are Wrexham and its people.

After 27 years in the Army, NHS, and social services before entering politics, Sarah said that people are everything and she will help any person who needs it and is ready to accept it.

Wrexham's new MP wants to make the streets cleaner, safer and more prosperous

She says that means putting Wrexham first, saying she will fight for Wrexham to get its fare share including asking for more police officers on our streets, adding: "It's very much my town. I've lived here consistently since 2006.

"I'm pretty broad-minded and there are some Labour policies that I like the sound of. It's not black and white, it absolutely isn't."

"You're a politician, there's going to be conflict. But for me Wrexham comes first. Wrexham comes first without a doubt. This is where I am going to spend the rest of my life and this is what means more to me than Westminster.

"I've got to work with the council, I've got to work cross parties, I'm here for the greater good of Wrexham and the people. I am the MP, and I will work with people for a common aim but I am not afraid to say when people are wrong. I'm not afraid to be challenged and I am old and bold enough to know that we we won't always agree but that doesn't mean we have to fall out and be disagreeable.

"At the of the day we all have Wrexham's best interests at heart, we are just coming at it from different angles."

It was her people skills that saw her enter politics when someone knocked on her door with a Conservative Party leaflet and she thought "that's very much me".

Sarah Atherton MP at the recent St David's Day parade in Wrexham

She added: "I'd done 27 years in the public sector and I just thought, I think I was having that midlife crisis, I don't want to do this for another 20 odd years but actually I like people. I like people, I'll talk to anyone. People mean everything to me. People is pivotal.

"I had all these skills about working with people, about challenging processes, advocating for people, helping and enabling."

She said helping and enabling people when they need it does not conflict with the Conservatives' reputation in some quarters as "the Nasty Party".

Sarah said: "Do you know why I think they got that reputation? Because there is a difference between need and want. When you need it the services should be there, and the services should be there at the right time and I think there is an area for improvement there. But all because I don't want to go to work or because I don't want to have the responsibility of running a home, that doesn't mean I can't do it. I think the Conservatives got a reputation because they asked people to be socially responsible and responsible for themselves. For some people that's hard.

"I'm a social worker and therefore I will help people who are in genuine need. The state should help people who are in need, whether that's me who's had to go on benefits when I got divorced or you that has a breakdown. At some point in all out lives we need help, and we should be there to help people when they need it. The interesting point there is when you need it, because quite often you can't get it when you need it."

She said that homelessness, and drug and alcohol issues, were complex problems without a quick fix. But she says that the help has to be there when people need it and are ready to accept it.

"I think we do really well. I think the council and the third sector and the charities in Wrexham have done really well with their homeless and drug and alcohol drop-in services they're running."

She added: "A few people in the town centre were ruining it for many. I know there are services there for them if they wanted to take them, they were choosing a lifestyle. That's not to say they don't have complex and difficult lives, because I know a lot of them do. If you're taking Spice you've got a problem.

"People tend to think 'oh gosh, that's heartless'. But it's not heartless because there are services there. Some people aren't ready to change just yet, but they may be later on, that's why if you're offered services now and you don't accept them now that's not to say you should be barred. I know sometimes it's three strikes and out with services. Life changes and you should always have access to services if you need them and you should never be barred, I'm thinking particularly of drug and alcohol services."

The Liverpool University graduated added that she wanted to work with Wrexham Council but wouldn't be afraid to challenge them if people come to her with issues.

Potholes are one of the main complaints from people living and working in Wrexham

She said: "Even before the election was called I started to get casework in, and that's not unusual to me being a social worker, and as a community councillor people would come to me already. And through the election the case work was getting more and more, and since the election there's been, I won't say overwhelming, but there has been a very healthy amount of casework.

"We're having health, we're having disagreements with the council and feeling unfairly treated by the council process, and we've having infrastructure like potholes and flooding. There are all sorts of things coming in but you could probably group them into those three.

"I spoke to a chap this morning whose house is cracking because waggons are going over potholes and shaking a utility pipe. He's getting nowhere with the council and I feel for his frustration.

"I don't always accept that there's no money. There is money - it's how the council chooses to spend it. I firmly believe that there are priorities, thinks like our clean streets, safety on our streets, potholes, our education, our health, our social services. They are bread and butter, they are priorities and they should be seen to before other less, for me, important issues. We've got to get the foundations right. So if the argument is we haven't got the money, yes there is money, the council has got £30,000 to put gates up or whatever. But we need to keep our streets clean and tidy, pothole free, and keep houses from being flooded."

Mrs Atherton mission to enable people includes helping more women into politics, regardless of their party politics.

Speaking about being Wales first Conservative woman MP, Sarah said: "It was a surprise to me when I found out.

"It comes with a great big tick. It's about time this happened. Let's look at why its taken so long and lets make sure that those barriers aren't there for other women that want to enter politics, regardless of whether its Conservative or not or public office. We are quite underrepresented in the Conservative Party still, there's work to be done."

She added: "I was part of the Women's Equality Network which was a cross-party scheme that ran in Cardiff. It chose women from all over Wales that wanted to go into higher public office, and it gave us the training to do that. So you went to the Senedd, you went to the courts, your learnt about public speaking. This was all to encourage Welsh women to start stepping up a bit more.

"We're not hitting these targets really. Labour do much better than us, but it's all about promoting women regardless of what party. And since I've been stepping out as a candidate, and now a politician, I've had quite a few women, not party political.

Because it's all about encouraging women to come forward because we are underrepresented.

"But it's flipping hard, it's not an easy thing to do."