MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Declaring that this south-central parish will return to the People’s National Party (PNP) Vice-President Mikael Phillips on Sunday scoffed at a claim by Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Deputy Leader Michael Stern that the ruling party will sweep the parish when Jamaicans return to the polls.

“A thing inna the [Jamaica] Observer this morning (Sunday) where him [Stern] say that dem going to take all four constituencies in Manchester. That was the same Labour leader who Comrade [Richard] Azan beat and put in full retirement,” Phillips said in reference to the 2016 General Election during which Azan defeated Stern in Clarendon North Western.

“[He] is the same one who said he was going to control the Manchester Municipal Corporation [after the 2024 Local Government Election], and when the dust settled PNP got 12 and they got three. So if is the same man the JLP depending on fi bring home Manchester, I say to him: ‘Pack your bags and go, because Manchester is PNP and PNP is Manchester,’ ” Phillips declared at a Manchester parish meeting of the PNP in Christiana on Sunday.

Phillips, the sitting Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western, was the only PNP candidate in Manchester to retain his seat in the September 2020 General Election.

Now he is expected to face the JLP’s Damion Young in the next general election, and Stern has argued that after a defeat in 2020 he has planted roots in the constituency.

“Dem have likkle ticky ticky a run up pon my side, and all I have to say to those who say [Manchester] North West nah come back to PNP: ‘Call it, Andrew. Call it so we can show you seh North West Manchester is going to stay in the winning column of the People’s National Party,’ ” declared Phillips who later questioned the credibility of the Dr Andrew Holness-led Government.

“Comrades, this election is going to be one of the most important elections that Jamaica will face because you have a Government and a prime minister that keep on saying that Jamaican people should not listen to the PNP, but I ask the question: Can you trust Andrew Holness?” he asked.

“This is the same prime minister who said that he was going to give term limits. Did he deliver that? This is the same prime minister who said we would sleep with our windows and doors open. Can you do that?” asked Phillips.

The JLP currently controls three of the four constituencies in Manchester — Central, Southern, and North Eastern.

Two of the three constituencies — Manchester Central and Southern — were long-standing PNP bastions dating back to 1989. The JLP broke that streak when it won both seats the last time around.

In an interview with the Observer, Stern said the gains of 2020 emboldened the JLP and it is now eyeing Manchester North Western as the final prize in what he hopes will be an unprecedented clean sweep in the parish.

“All the seats are now filled, and we are now pursuing the organisational fine-tuning. What we are seeing is that as we fill these vacancies the workers are getting more excited and, therefore, the motivation is up. So, where it used to be lukewarm when you didn’t have the candidates in place and everybody [was in a] wait-and-see attitude at the early part of the year… as we fill the seats, the JLP has been rising.

“You would have to say that we have gone through that malaise period now and the seats are in a more competitive state. We are far better at winning all seats than we were before,” declared Stern.