Mail Weekly Column: 4 March 2024
If variety is the spice of life, then this week has provided plenty, here and in Westminster.
On Monday, I was delighted to host Local Government Minister Simon Hoare who visited Barrow to discuss transport funding, visit key sites, and get a feel for the work being done here.
Sometimes you live and breathe something so long, you can’t really see the impact that it’s having. So it was great to take Simon across Barrow to see through his eyes what is already under way, and what the future holds.
Our trip included the new Careers Inspiration Hub on Portland Walk - the first step in the transformation of our Town Centre. Next was the market, to see what will host a wonderful new food hall thanks to the £16 million Levelling Up Fund.
On Barrow Island we headed to the Submarine Academy to meet workers and to discuss SSN-AUKUS and the #TeamBarrow programme. Opposite, we could see the remediated land which will house over 800 homes as part of Marina Village (thanks to funding from the Town Deal and Homes England), returning past the site where the University campus will be operating from September.
The purpose behind the Minister’s visit was to announce the money being diverted - following the cancellation of the northern section of the HS2 – to areas like ours that would otherwise have benefited from it. Westmorland and Furness will receive £129 million to improve our transport infrastructure. Such a huge sum will help to plug the Council’s shortfall for much-delayed projects like Grizebeck, and allow us to plough on with improvements to the A590 and A595, and to Duddon Bridge.
On Tuesday night I was delighted to bring local farmer John Longmire, Cumbria’s NFU Chair, to 10 Downing Street for a reception celebrating Food and Farming. It was great to introduce him to the Farming Minister and Secretary of State to DEFRA, and to hear him speak so positively about the role of farmers. He is a passionate advocate for Cumbria’s farmers and the remarkably diverse contribution they make to growing our food, protecting our landscapes, and keeping our rural communities vibrant.
On Wednesday at PMQs, I raised a question during which I thanked the PM for his sponsorship of Team Barrow. It is through his commitment that we have the most senior civil servants working with us to ensure that our area both gives and receives the most it can from the submarine programme. I invited the PM to visit us – not just to see the shipyard, but to see how Team Barrow will continue to transform Furness and deliver massive improvements in housing, transport infrastructure and employment.
I also continued to meet a number of businesses in my role as Anti-Fraud Champion, working towards a more co-ordinated response; with police better equipped to pursue those responsible; and individuals more able to defend themselves against fraud.
Finally, it’s rare for me to be in Westminster on a Friday, but I wanted to meet Ulverston Victoria High School students who were taking a tour of Parliament, and to support the Bill to ban conversion therapy. So I was late back here on Friday ahead of a weekend on doorsteps – for those of you whose doorsteps I darken, I am keen to hear your views. And for those of you I don’t manage to get to - please do let me know your thoughts in the usual way: simon.fell.mp@parliament.uk
