NEW Leigh MP Jo Platt pledged to try to emulate her predecessor Andy Burnham’s ‘strength and passion for truth and justice’ in her maiden speech in the House of Commons.

The single mum-of-two, from Tyldesley, hailed the new Greater Manchester mayor’s efforts to uncover the truth in the Hillsborough disaster and the recent contaminated blood scandal when speaking in front of other MPs at Westminster yesterday.

The Labour MP and first woman to represent Leigh in Parliament said: “I would like to pay tribute to my predecessors, Harold Boardman, Lawrence Cunliffe and of course my most recent predecessor Andy Burnham.

“Andy served this house with commitment for 16 years.

“With his work on the Hillsborough disaster, and more recently the contaminated blood scandal, his strength and passion for truth and justice will forever be his legacy.

“This is something that I aim to aspire to emulate.”

All newly-elected MPs are required to make a maiden speech at the House of Commons.

Miss Platt took the opportunity to champion Leigh’s rich heritage, sporting culture and those she considers to be modern-day heroes, such as Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners, miners and public sector workers.

She also blamed the Conservative Government’s cuts to frontline public services such as education, social care and the NHS for many of the challenges that the Leigh constituency currently faces.

“I have spent the past six years elected as a councillor in local government,” she said.

“I have watched this Government’s austerity measures chip away at our essential public services – cuts to adult social care and children’s services are nothing but an attack on the most vulnerable in our society.

“But I have also seen our local authorities and communities fight back, supporting and empowering the very people it serves.

“I am proud to have been a part of the innovative way that our services have dealt with such measures, supporting communities by doing what they have always done in times of crisis, by supporting each other.

“Just like they did in the 1980s during the miners’ strike and just as they are now, from homeless shelters, foodbanks and with countless volunteers that work to keep our heritage alive.

“This is what you call a social movement, communities that work tirelessly to ensure each other are supported.

“I would like to pay tribute to those who give their time to do such work.”