James Wharton MP

I joined Greg Clark MP, Shadow Minister for Teesside, for lunch with the Tees Engineering Alliance.  This group, which aims to promote and support businesses across the engineering sector in the area, is likely to be a key player in local industry over the coming years.  I have been involved with the TEA for some time, dating back to when it was originally called the Tees Valley Engineering Partnership (TVEP).   The lunch was a great opportunity to hear about some of the challenges and successes being faced by local business as well as wide ranging discussion about what future Conservative policy should be in order to best support local engineering in the Tees Valley.

Last night I attended a meeting of Ingleby Barwick Town Council.  The meeting was addressed by Cllr Ken Lupton, Leader of Stockton Borough Council.  Much of the discussion focussed on the Building Schools for the Future proposals.  Along with the Town Council and local Councillors I have been campaigning for the plans to include much greater provision for Ingleby Barwick, preferable a new school.  The current situation, with 900 or so children bussed off the estate every morning, is totally unacceptable.  Interestingly it seemed as though even Ken agrees about the need for more places, it is just that the central government strings which come attached to the funding will not allow the Borough Council to build a new school on Ingleby.  Clearly the BSF money is so restricted and the ways it can be spent so tightly controlled that the Council have been unable to find a way to satisfy the government’s criteria and also deliver what local people need.  This is a sad example of Labour’s controlling centralising approach having a hugely negative impact on local people and I will continue to campaign for a change in policy from the government when it comes to BSF in Stockton South.

The D&S have printed my letter about the Police helicopter.

http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/commentopinion
/letters/display.var.2339828.0.police_helicopter.php

This morning I was a guest on the BBC Tees Breakfast show.  We discussed a wide range of issues, including the government’s 42 day detention without charge legislation and the increasingly apparent weakness of the Prime Minister.  It is always good fun to be on the breakfast show and this morning was no exception, with a fair amount of public participation through texts and emails.

Yesterday afternoon I was a guest on the BBC Politics Show (North East) to discuss the recent increase in attacks on fire crews.  The number of incidents is extremely worrying and it links in with a general antisocial behaviour problem that the government has been so ineffective at addressing.  It also comes at a time when  the government is slashing back funding to Cleveland Fire Brigade over the next 3 years.  I understand that the Labour MP representing this area was offered the chance to appear on the programme but pulled out, you have to wonder if even she feels unable to defend the government’s terrible record of failure when it comes to these problems.