My Barnoldswick & Earby Times, Colne Times and Nelson Leader Column for Friday 20th July 2018…
It was another busy week in Parliament with important votes on the Trade Bill and the last PMQs before MPs return to their constituencies for the summer.
I met with the Flooding Minister, Therese Coffey to discuss the refurbishment of the Victoria Clough culvert in Earby. The Environment Agency and their appointed contractors, JBA Bentley, will be on site to carry out works from the 23rd July. This £1million project will help reduce the flood risk to 91 properties and 17 businesses and I am delighted to see it finally underway.
After some recent visits to lottery funded projects in Pendle, including a new garden project at Lomeshaye Junior School, I was also pleased to meet with representatives of the Big Lottery Fund, to discuss funding opportunities for local groups.
The family of National Lottery Distributors, including organisation like Sport England, are currently helping fund some amazing projects in Pendle like the new leisure facilities at Brierfield Mills. I have worked with these funders for many years now, but was keen to find out what more I could do to support local bids.
I also met with the Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, to discuss the new Combat Air Strategy which is of huge importance to the aerospace supply chain in Pendle and Lancashire.
On Monday, the Defence Secretary had unveiled the brand-new fighter jet, Tempest, at the Farnborough International Airshow, fantastic news for BAE Systems and their many suppliers in East Lancashire. As a former Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Aerospace Group, I’ll be keeping a close eye on this project and especially how we can boost the role of Small and Medium size firms in delivering this project.
There was encouraging news on the employment front, both locally and nationally. There are now a record 32.4 million people in work, with an employment rate of 75.7% - the highest since records began. The number of people in employment has increased by over 3.3 million since 2010 - that’s an average of over 1,000 more people in work each and every day.
Whilst employment reaches these new records, it is important to note that almost 75% of this rise in employment has been in permanent, full-time jobs.
The unemployment rate remains at 4.2%, the lowest rate since 1975
