Last week was National Apprenticeship Week and I was delighted that two Nelson and Colne College students and a Nelson Town Council apprentice were able to join me for a day to see what being Pendle’s MP is really like. It was a typically busy day with lots of appointments and work to do. I hope they learned a lot from the experience.
A highlight was volunteering for Marie Curie’s Great Daffodil Appeal inside Morrison’s in Nelson. The charity does great work offering support to those terminal illness. I was only able to spend a couple of hours helping but other volunteers were there all day. Thank you to everyone who so generously donated.
We finished the day at bed manufacturer Silentnight in Barnoldswick for their annual Apprenticeship Awards Ceremony. Silentnight is one of Pendle’s biggest and best employers. It is also one that has embraced the role of apprentices like no other. I was delighted to join them and to celebrate the achievements of the company and its team.
Manufacturing firms like Silentnight are doing well. As we heard from the Chancellor in the Spring Statement this week, the manufacturing sector is enjoying its longest unbroken run of growth for 50 years. That has coincided with the three million extra jobs that have been created since 2010 and it is the success of Silentnight and similar businesses that is behind this, helping our economy to recover and become more balanced.
Meanwhile, Westminster has focused on the appalling attack in Salisbury by Russia, who used a highly dangerous nerve agent that has left three people in a serious condition. This includes a British police officer and has affected many other entirely innocent people.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister confirmed that we will be kicking out 23 Russian diplomats, toughening laws on detaining people suspected of hostile state activity against our country, and strengthening our powers to impose sanctions against those involved in human rights abuses.
This was a time for Parliament to come together to support the Prime Minister in responding to an attack on our country, in the interests of national unity. It was reassuring to hear cross-party support for the UK’s robust response.