Author Archives: joshmacmp

The new Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, had only been in the job for five days when a letter landed on her desk calling for investment in the Cumbrian Coast Line as an urgent priority. The letter, drafted by Whitehaven and Workington’s new MP, Josh MacAlister, was signed by Cumbria’s four new LabourContinue reading “Cumbria’s political and business leaders join forces to call for rail investment”

Josh MacAlister, the new Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, got straight to work this week on his top priority of delivering new nuclear in West Cumbria. Josh wrote to the boss of Great British Nuclear to ask for an urgent meeting to discuss ways to speed up decision making to get on with deliveringContinue reading “New MP gets to work on new nuclear”

It was the greatest honour and privilege of my life to be elected as your first Labour MP for the new constituency of Whitehaven and Workington in the early hours of Friday morning. Not only did we win the seat but we secured the largest majority in the history of the former constituency of CopelandContinue reading “Thank you – now the hard work of delivery begins”

Manifesto ahead of General Election outlines plan for pipeline of projects for nuclear-driven net zero, energy security, economic growth and jobs The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) has today launched its 2024 industry manifesto setting out five key actions for MPs elected on July 4 to support during the next Parliament to ensure the momentum within the nuclearContinue reading “Nuclear industry manifesto sets out plan for ‘once in a generation’ nuclear programme”

Please find below my Politics Column for this week’s Whitehaven News. Change. That’s what we need after 14 years of Tory government. They promised the earth to places like West Cumbria to win votes and then abandoned us without delivering. Now they’re doing the same again and expect you to believe it’ll be different. ThereContinue reading “Change you can believe in”

The Whitehaven News asked me a series of questions to help local voters get to know me a little better. My answers are below! Family status: Married with two lazy lurchers Education: Comprehensive schools in Rochdale and then Dumfriesshire, undergraduate at Edinburgh University and Master’s degree at Manchester. Last job: I led a landmark independentContinue reading “My interview with the Whitehaven News”

Josh MacAlister kicked off his campaign to become the next MP for the new constituency of Whitehaven and Workington over the weekend with an event at his campaign office in Workington town centre. In a speech to local people and Labour activists, Josh set out his first steps for the local area, which includes: Labour’sContinue reading “Josh MacAlister launches campaign to become Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington”

My letter to the Whitehaven News, 13/05/2024 Hundreds of you have told me how hard it is to see a GP in my GP access survey. So I took the opportunity to spend a morning alongside staff working in Fellview Healthcare GP practices in Egremont and Cleator Moor to find out from the front lineContinue reading “Spending time in the trenches with our GPs”

Back in March I wrote a letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, asking her department to grant the request from Cumbria Education Trust – which runs Whitehaven and Workington academies – for funding to build a new dedicated sixth form space across Whitehaven and Workington to accommodate increased capacity for post-16Continue reading “Disappointing response from Minister on school places request”

Josh MacAlister, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Whitehaven and Workinton, has written to all bus operators in Cumbria calling on them to step up and deliver new bus services. Cumberland Council launched a tender last week for operators to provide new and improved bus services, including reinstating the no. 22 route between Whitehaven, Egremont, Cleator andContinue reading “Parliamentary candidate calls on bus operators to ‘step up’”