BELLEFIELD, Manchester — Close to a year since becoming the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) caretaker for Central Manchester, Dr St Aubyn Bartlett says he is “fired up” to replace Peter Bunting as Member of Parliament as well as help his party to form the next government.

“Every time we (JLP) are in power Jamaica prospers and whenever we are outside of power Jamaica falters. A political party is here to get victory at the poll, not to be in opposition. I don’t like to be called an opposition caretaker…,” Bartlett told Labourites at a divisional meeting at the Bellefield High School recently.

“When we run things, Jamaica run good,” Bartlett added.

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness was among those at the Bellefield divisional meeting marking the launch of what Labourites described as a “Manchester Invasion”. It involves preparatory activities ahead of possible Local Government elections this year, parliamentary elections constitutionally due in less than two years and the JLP’s annual conference in November.

Bartlett was selected by the JLP in June last year as the candidate to take on Bunting in the next parliamentary elections.

He previously held the Eastern St Andrew seat for the JLP from 2002 to 2011.

“There will be 15 divisional and four constituency (JLP) meetings over the next six months (in Manchester),” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Bartlett said that if the Local Government Election which is due in June should be called the efforts will increase.

The Young Jamaica slogan “We are fired up and ready to go” that was used frequently during the conference in Bellefield is being adopted for the “Manchester Invasion”, Bartlett said.

He claimed that the JLP was well positioned to overturn the ascendancy of the PNP in Manchester.

“If in the centre (Central Manchester) I am fired up and they (the JLP in the North West and South Manchester constituencies, currently under the ruling People’s National Party) are fired up the energy will be created all around,” he told the Observer.

“There is no second place in politics; you either win or you lose,” Bartlett emphasised.

Holness, in carrying the theme that the JLP was the party with the capacity to transform Jamaica from “poverty to prosperity” message, said that his presence in Bellefield formed part of a series of engagements around the island every weekend to mobilise the core JLP supporters and reach “unattached” voters.

“The message is not only the spoken word; the message is how we look as a political organisation… Like we are a political organisation sitting down to discuss the business of the nation. The country wants to see that image. It transmits a message to say we are ready to look about your business,” said Holness.