Read below my Politics Column in this week’s Whitehaven News and Times & Star.
My name is Josh MacAlister and I’m standing to be West Cumbria’s next Labour MP for the new constituency of Whitehaven and Workington. I live here in Cumbria and volunteer for Mountain Rescue. After starting my career as a teacher, I set up and ran a national charity to bring more people into social work before leading a landmark independent government review which secured £200 million to support the most vulnerable children and families.
I’ve delivered change outside of politics, and I now want to bring this experience to deliver for West Cumbria. After 13 years of Tory government, I’ve heard that you want change – you want to get an NHS appointment when you need it, you want your bills brought down and you want our area to offer well paid, decent jobs.
That’s why today I’m launching a local industrial plan that would deliver 1,000 new jobs. Our area has a proud history of shaping the UK’s future. Our ports and docks were the engine room of the Industrial Revolution. We were home to the world’s first civil nuclear power station. Workington steel can still be found in rail tracks around the world.
Despite our industrial heritage, we’ve been poorly served by short-term thinking from political leaders and dependence on one-off funding pots from London. We have been forced to beg for crumbs off the table rather than walk our own path to new highly-paid long-term jobs that could provide our area with renewed pride and purpose.
We need to regain control of our own future. That’s why I’ve set out a realistic, ambitious and focussed plan that backs and enables the enterprise of our local leaders. The plan would bring new nuclear power, double the size of the Port of Workington and bring back steel to our area. Each of these, and more, is set out in detail in the industrial plan.
If you elect me as your Member of Parliament, I’ll be a tireless champion for removing barriers, creating opportunities and bringing power back to our community so that we can make this plan a reality. The plan also shows where the policies of a national Labour government would boost our chances of local success.
This industrial plan puts our unique history, our skilled people and our community in prime position to benefit from the next industrial revolution. We have led before, and we can again.
Josh MacAlister MP 