We made a manifesto commitment to lower energy bills by £300 during this Parliament. While bills are now far lower than the high point under the Tories (remember when the price cap hit £4,279 in January 2023?) they are still too high and people rightly want to see the change they expected when they cast their votes last year.

The Tories failed to invest in homegrown energy, leaving us exposed to foreign oil and gas and meaning we were one of the worst hit countries by the war in Ukraine. It got worse when Liz Truss crashed the economy and inflation hit double figures.

Fixing the broken energy system they left behind takes time. We’re moving quickly to build up our domestic energy production and changing planning rules to allow us to build even quicker. Billions for offshore wind has been announced, we’ve ended the ban on onshore wind and we’re requiring solar panels on new homes. And let’s not forget the biggest investment in new nuclear in 50 years.

This will give us real energy security and help us stand up to aggressors like Putin, but this new energy generation will take time to end the link between our energy prices and volatile global gas prices. So we’re taking immediate action to bring bills down for as many people as possible.

We listened to the concerns and we’re reinstating the winter fuel payment for all pensioners earning under £35,000 per year. Thousands more pensioners across West Cumbria will now get up to £300 off energy bills this winter; £1,200 saved per pensioner by 2029.

Those in low paid work are also hurting. So we’re nearly doubling the number of households eligible for the Warm Home Discount by extending it to every bill payer getting means tested support. Thousands more families across West Cumbria will get £150 automatically taken off your bills this winter; £600 saved per family by 2029.

We’re investing over £15 billion in home retrofits and upgrades, saving thousands of homes in Cumbria hundreds of pounds. Allocations for each area will be announced shortly and I’m hopeful after months of lobbying ministers that we will get a substantial pot of money for Cumbria.

Finally, because our energy intensive manufacturing businesses are so vital to growth and jobs, we’re taking steps to lower their energy bills aswell. More than 7,000 British businesses will see their bills slashed by up to 25% from 2027.

All of this is a down payment on the longer term lower bills we’ll see for everyone as a result of securing our energy system and protecting it from the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets, giving working people the security they deserve.

The alternative is going back to the failed Tory policies or, even worse, Reform’s energy plan, which would destroy our domestic energy programme, put nuclear investment at risk and leave us reliant on expensive foreign oil and gas for decades.

More than 2,700 additional treatments have been carried out on patients in north and west Cumbria over the last year, with the waiting list dropping by 7% overall. 

The latest figures from North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs West Cumberland Hospital and Cumberland Infirmary, also show that the number of patients waiting more than 12 months for treatment has dropped by a third.

This news comes as national data highlights an additional 3.6 million NHS appointments have been delivered since July 2024, smashing the government’s target to deliver 2 million more appointments in year one.

Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister says this is “a clear example of Labour delivering on our promises and the steps being taken to get the NHS working for patients once again”.

£26 billion of additional funding was pumped into the NHS in last year’s Budget to help bring waiting lists down and at last week’s Spending Review the Chancellor committed a further £29 billion for day to day spending on the NHS in every year of this Parliament.

Josh said:

“After the Tories left waiting lists at a record high and patient satisfaction at a record low, hundreds of residents across West Cumbria were stuck left waiting for treatment.

“That’s why falling waiting lists in our area is such good news, as this Labour Government puts the NHS on the road to recovery.

“I know not everyone was happy with all of the choices made at last year’s Budget, but those decisions meant we could invest the money which has led to this drop in waiting lists.

“I’d like to thank our dedicated and hard working NHS staff for their tremendous efforts. Together we can be the generation that takes the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and makes it fit for the future.”

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:

“We are putting the NHS on the road to recovery after years of soaring waiting times, by providing record investment and fundamental NHS reform.

“Thanks to our interventions and the hard work of NHS staff, the overall waiting list has now fallen in April for the first time in 17 years – dropping by almost a quarter of a million since we took office.

“This is just the start. We’ve delivered millions of extra appointments since July, we are pushing on with our mission to get the NHS working for patients in West Cumbria once again as we deliver our Plan for Change.”

The government has announced that every pupil in West Cumbria whose household is on Universal Credit will have a new entitlement to free school meals. 

Starting in September 2026, up to 4,000 more children across West Cumbria will be able to access free school meals, saving parents £500 per year per child and making life easier and more affordable for parents on low incomes who struggle the most.

The government estimates that the expansion of free school meals will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament. Giving children access to a nutritious meal during the school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes – meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.

Since 2018, children have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access free school meals. 

Labour’s historic new expansion to all those on Universal Credit – many of whom are working families on low wages – will change this and comes ahead of the Child Poverty Taskforce publishing its ten-year-strategy to further drive down child poverty.

Josh said:

“I know from talking to thousands of local parents and visiting dozens of local schools how much the stain of child poverty has impacted families across West Cumbria.

“That’s why I fully support this decisive and much needed action to expand entitlement for free school meals, lifting children across West Cumbria out of poverty and putting money back in parents’ pockets.

“Many of those on Universal Credit are in work but struggling to get by on low wages. That’s why we also introduced a near record cash increase in the minimum wage in April to boost wages. And we’re also expanding access to 30 hours free childcare this autumn to all working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old.

“Children across West Cumbria deserve the best start in life, and I’m proud that Labour is delivering this.”

A campaign by two local young people to secure investment in the playground in Flimby has enlisted the help of local MP Josh MacAlister.

The campaign started by Flimby residents Kaelan and Ethan, 13, of Netherhall High School, is calling for play equipment to be cleaned and upgraded and for new equipment to be installed. Kaelan and Ethan went door to door and collected 571 signatures for their petition to improve the playground.

The playground is currently in a very poor state, with swings missing, equipment broken and rusted and lots of graffiti.

Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister met with Kaelan and Ethan at the playground to talk about their campaign and hear their ideas for how it could be improved.

Josh said:

“I was really inspired that local young people had taken matters into their own hands and gone door to door right across Flimby to gather support for their campaign and also come up with lots of good ideas for how the playground could be improved.

“I’ve written to the cabinet member and senior officers at Cumberland Council to ask for the prioritisation of funding to make improvements to the park and for the council to work with Kaelan and Ethan so their ideas can be incorporated into any improvement plan.

“The project has my full support and I hope we’re able to secure investment soon.”

I gave up my column last week so that the Prime Minister could endorse the central plank of my recently launched industrial plan for West Cumbria; to unlock land at Moorside for new nuclear development.

I’m now working hard to drive it forward as quickly as possible with Cumberland Council, the NDA and others. I’m determined that it won’t become another promise unfulfilled for our community after so many missed opportunities and broken promises under the previous government.

If you’ve got any questions or want to find out more about Pioneer Park, visit my website at joshmacalister.uk or contact my office. 

This week I want to share another element of my industrial plan – a major upgrade of the Cumbria Coast Line to increase the number of passenger and freight services.

Upgrading our railway has been talked about for over ten years now. Like so much under the previous government, they dithered and delayed. They let the outline business case submitted by Cumbria gather dust on a shelf for years. As a desperate last minute attempt to win votes, they promised to fund it in 2024. But as with every other project it was a hollow promise, with not a penny attached to deliver it. There wasn’t even an up to date plan in place outlining exactly what was needed and how much it would cost.

When I was elected last year we had to start almost from scratch. I helped secure the funding for Cumberland Council to update the outline business case and get that submitted to government. I’m pleased to say that has now been done and credit goes to the council for moving quickly on it. The next stage is a full business case, which is required for any project before it can receive government funding (under this and all previous governments). We need £5 million to do that work and my fellow Cumbrian MPs and I are working hard to secure the money.

Once we have the full business case in place we have everything we need for a government funding decision. I will pursue securing that funding just as tirelessly as I have pursued unlocking land at Moorside over the last eleven months.

An upgrade of the railway is vital to delivering the defence and civil nuclear missions at Barrow and in West Cumbria, in particular any future Geological Disposal Facility, so I also believe we should be looking to companies like BAE Systems and Nuclear Waste Services for contributions towards the upgrade. And my colleagues and I will also be having those conversations in the months ahead.

I’m launching my industrial plan and my plan for new nuclear at a public meeting at 6pm on Thursday 26th June. Register to come along on my website or call my office on 01946 458023 and leave your full name and address.

Cumbria has always been at the heart of Britain’s energy story. From Calder Hall to Sellafield, this region has powered the nation with world-class expertise and a proud industrial heritage.

And with this government, Cumbria will be at the front and centre of our plans, this time building a clean, secure energy future. We’re doing things differently. No more dithering or delay. We’re backing builders, not blockers – cutting through red tape and making bold decisions to get Britain moving.

That means backing our nuclear industry not just in Sizewell or through Small Modular Reactors, but right here in Cumbria. It’s why we’re taking decisive action to unlock the Moorside site for a new clean energy development.

Whether it becomes home to a fleet of SMRs or another major clean energy project, it will be led by a local development corporation – working with industry, unions, and the community to deliver jobs, growth, and energy security.

This is more than a policy. It’s a drive to restore pride, create high-quality jobs, and rebuild Britain’s industrial base. Nuclear power, alongside renewables, is central to our plan to decarbonise the grid and end our reliance on volatile fossil fuels.

All of this shows that this government is serious about developing clean energy projects. We’re ready to get Britain building again – with steel, with confidence, and with communities like Cumbria central to that.

~ Keir Starmer

Josh MacAlister, Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, has launched ‘Get West Cumbria Growing’; a new industrial plan for West Cumbria which he says could deliver thousands of new jobs across the area and unlock land for new nuclear power generation.

The plan is a more detailed version of one he published before the 2024 General Election which laid out his priorities if elected as the area’s MP. Included are proposals to grow West Cumbria’s nuclear industry by capitalising on the government’s plan for plutonium disposition and unlocking land for new nuclear at Moorside. The plan also highlights the need to expand the Port of Workington to open up West Cumbria’s economy to new markets and create further opportunities to diversify away from reliance on nuclear decommissioning whilst also supporting future work at Sellafield. 

Writing exclusively for the Whitehaven News / Times & Star this week, Josh says the plan “sets out a roadmap for a prosperous and diverse economy in West Cumbria”.

Central to the plan is the case for unlocking land at Moorside, which has been the biggest barrier to securing new nuclear power generation in West Cumbria since the collapse of the NuGen deal in 2018. According to Josh, unlocking this land is absolutely critical to West Cumbria’s nuclear future.

Josh said:

“West Cumbria is the birthplace of the civil nuclear industry, representing the first clean energy revolution in the last century. It has a rich industrial heritage in mining and steel. Yet for all of our history, and our ongoing world leading work in nuclear decommissioning, there is huge untapped potential. There are many occasions when West Cumbria has been a pioneer community, and it should be again. That’s why I have published this ambitious industrial plan to lay out the direction of travel to secure growth and jobs for our area.

“Central to this is unlocking land at Moorside where we could site small modular reactors and the industry they could power, which has been my top priority as your MP. I have spent endless hours over recent months making the case for this locally and nationally. I’ve held debates in Parliament, had more meetings with ministers on this than any other topic, and established the Cumberland Nuclear Future Board with Cumberland Council to bring together local partners united in our goal to secure our nuclear future.

“Once we have an agreement on use of the land we can motor ahead with attracting nuclear developers to the area, utilising the combination of a great plot of land, our existing nuclear industrial base, and a willing community. I’m doing everything I possibly can to get this over the line.

“I want to emphasise the partnership between me, Cumberland’s other MPs, Cumberland Council, the NDA, Sellafield Ltd and unions representing our nuclear workforce who have been working closely together on this for many months. Our community is clear; we want and deserve new nuclear.”

Read more in Josh’s column for this week’s local papers

Josh is hosting a public meeting to launch his industrial plan and discuss his plan for new nuclear in West Cumbria on Thursday 26th June at 6pm in Whitehaven. Anyone wishing to attend can sign up here.

Read the plan here

West Cumbria is the birthplace of the civil nuclear industry, representing the first clean energy revolution in the last century. It has a rich industrial heritage in mining and steel. Yet for all of this history, and the ongoing world leading work in nuclear decommissioning, there is huge untapped potential. There are many occasions when West Cumbria has been a pioneer community, and it should be again.

That is why I am launching my Industrial Plan for West Cumbria. This detailed plan, building on one I published before the 2024 General Election, sets out a roadmap for a prosperous and diverse economy in West Cumbria. One built on the strengths of the nuclear industry but not limited to decommissioning alone. 

In the coming weeks I’ll use this column to talk about the main components of the plan and what I’m trying to accomplish. The most important element of it is growing our nuclear industry; our greatest existing economic strength. This means delivering the next phase of nuclear decommissioning work, especially plutonium disposition, in a way that strengthens West Cumbria’s economy. It also means creating the conditions for new nuclear power generation.

Central to this is unlocking land at Moorside where we could site small modular reactors and the industry they could power. That has been my top priority as your MP and I have spent considerable time with ministers, advisers and officials in the energy department, at the Treasury and in Downing Street, as well as building up a constructive partnership at a local level with Cumberland Council, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd. 

At the beginning I thought our best route was through the process that has been underway via Great British Nuclear since 2023. However, it became clear very quickly that West Cumbria was never seriously in the running as a site for new nuclear under this process, or indeed under the previous government. The Conservatives let NuGen collapse in 2018, rejected our bid for the STEP Fusion programme, actively blocked private nuclear development in 2023 – as the Moorside Letters you can find on my website reveal – and then purchased sites at Oldbury and Wylfa, which demonstrated a clear preference for those two locations.

We also have the future plutonium disposition programme which is an opportunity for lots of future work and investment but this would require the full Moorside site (over 600 acres) to be multipurpose.  Therefore, I’m pushing for a large chunk of land at Moorside to be released for nuclear development. With government and local partners supporting this, we could move much more quickly than any government backed process.

I’m pleased to say that at a local level we are united in our goal to bring new nuclear to West Cumbria and we are making headway with government to achieve this. I hope to have more to say on that soon.

Patients in Workington will benefit from thousands more GP appointments each year as a local doctor’s surgery receives a bricks and mortar upgrade to modernise the practice.

Josh MacAlister MP said that residents in Workington would soon feel the impact of an announcement that will ‘help deliver on Labour’s promise to fix the front door of the NHS’ and would be ‘music to the ears of patients in Workington who are too often stuck in the 8am scramble for a GP appointment’.

Backed by the Labour government’s major cash injection of over £102 million, over 1000 GP surgeries will receive vital funding to create additional space to see more patients, boost productivity and improve patient care, following years of neglect. Solway Health Centre in Workington is included in the programme.

Right now, many GP surgeries could be seeing more patients, but don’t have enough room or the right facilities to accommodate them. From creating new consultation and treatment rooms to making better use of existing space, these quick fixes will help patients be seen faster.

Solway Health Centre plan to open two new clinical rooms for use by patients across Workington, giving them capacity for an additional 3,000 patient appointments each year.

This represents the biggest investment in GP facilities in five years and is only possible because of the difficult but necessary choices made by the government in the Budget to invest £26 billion into the NHS. And it is another measure helping the Labour government shift care out of hospital and into the community.

Josh said:

“Residents in Workington tell me their frustration after enduring the dreaded ‘8am scramble’ and the difficulty that they have in getting a GP appointment. I promised Labour would help bring back the family doctor – with 1,700 new GPs recruited already, I’m delighted that our Labour Government is starting to deliver on that promise.

“But that was just the start. We said we would fix the front door of the NHS – today we’re fixing the front, the sides, the back and all the rooms in between with the biggest investment GP facilities have seen for years. A Labour government delivering on our promises for West Cumbria.”

Charlotte Walton, Managing Director of North Cumbria Primary Care Alliance, said:

“We’re delighted that Solway Health Centre has been selected as part of the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund. This vital investment will enable the creation of two additional clinical rooms and create capacity for over 3,000 more appointments each year. It marks an important step in enhancing access to high-quality care for our community and supporting the long-term resilience of general practice.”

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:

“It will be a long road, but this government is putting in the work to fix our NHS and make it fit for the future.

“These are simple fixes for our GP surgeries but for too long they were left to ruin, allowing waiting lists to build and stopping doctors treating more patients.

“It is only because of the necessary decisions we took in the Budget that we are able to invest in GP surgeries, start tackling the 8am scramble and deliver better services for patients. The extra investment and reform this government is making, as part of its Plan for Change, will transform our NHS so it can once again be there for you when you need it.”

West Cumbrians needing urgent and emergency NHS dental care now have access to a new Urgent Dental Access Centre (UDAC) in Whitehaven.

Urgent Dental Access Centres are a new model of urgent dental care so far only rolled out in Carlisle and Darlington. The new UDAC, based in Whitehaven, is the first in West Cumbria.

The UDAC opened following months of campaigning by local MP Josh MacAlister for improvements to NHS dental access in West Cumbria. In recent months Josh has met with the North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB), health ministers and raised the matter in Parliament to lobby for further investment in NHS dentistry in West Cumbria. It forms part of the new government’s commitment to create 700,000 new urgent NHS dental appointments this year.

The UDAC is gradually building its service capacity, experience and new ways of operating. When fully operational this summer, the UDAC will provide 140 urgent dental care appointments per week (7,280 per year) for people in West Cumbria.

In addition to the new UDAC, the ICB has commissioned a further 1,464 urgent NHS dental appointments from existing NHS practices in north and west Cumbria up to the end of September this year. An additional 451 minor oral surgeries have also been funded this year for NHS patients in north and west Cumbria.

Josh said:

“I made a commitment before the General Election to improve access to NHS dentistry in West Cumbria and this is me and the government delivering on that promise thanks to the decisions made in last year’s Budget.

“For too long local people have been left to suffer agonising tooth pain with little or no access to NHS treatment as fewer and fewer dentists took on NHS patients and urgent and emergency care struggled to cope. This investment begins to right that wrong.

“Now, working in partnership with our Integrated Care Board, who have been really responsive to local needs, west Cumbrians will be able to access this brand new provision, in addition to more appointments at existing practices.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do to rebuild NHS dentistry after the previous government let it go to ruin, but this is a really good first step for those in greatest need.”

The Whitehaven UDAC operates Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am and 5pm and is accessible via the North Cumbria Dental Direct Helpdesk on 01228

603900. Anyone who has an urgent dental need outside of these times should

contact NHS111.