Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister is celebrating the announcement of a major expansion of the Government funded Project Gigabit to give access to superfast fibre broadband to nearly five thousand more properties across West Cumbria.

A £50 million boost to the programme will see an additional 21,000 premises in rural areas across Cumbria included in total, with rollout expected to be completed in 2027.

Thousands of homes were left out of the programme announced by the previous government, with some residents finding that one side of their street was getting access while the other was not. Josh met with Digital Minister Chris Bryant last year to lobby for more properties in West Cumbria to be included in the programme (pictured).

Once this expanded rollout is delivered alongside other commercial plans, 99% of homes and businesses in Cumbria should have access to next generation broadband. Josh is working with Building Digital UK on solutions for the remaining 1% in the most rural areas where it is not possible to deliver fibre.

Josh said:

“I’m delighted that following lobbying the Government has committed £50 million to this massive extension of Project Gigabit, which will give almost all properties in West Cumbria access to superfast fibre broadband.

“Access to high speed internet is absolutely essential to improve connectivity in rural communities, to support more flexible working and back local small and home-based businesses, of which we have so many in West Cumbria. 

“This is just the latest example of how the new Labour Government is delivering for communities like ours.”

Digital Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: 

“Better broadband will not only enhance the quality of life for tens of thousands of homes and businesses across rural Cumbria, but it will also help us put an end to disparities between urban and rural areas.

“Only last month, we launched our Digital Inclusion Action Plan, setting out our next steps to shrink the digital gap. This announcement is a fantastic example of how a Government-backed contract will help ensure people in rural areas are not left behind and have the tools they need to thrive in the digital age.”

Unlocking our nuclear future is critical for West Cumbria because it will generate clean power to power new industries that will create jobs and diversify our economy so we’re not so reliant on decommissioning.

Nine months into the job I want to update you on my progress and outline my plans for the next few months to smash through the roadblocks left by the Tories.

My first act was meeting all of the key stakeholders locally and nationally. I sent off a flurry of letters and Parliamentary questions to reveal what exactly happened under the previous government. I secured the first debate of the new Parliament on nuclear. I’ve held more than a dozen meetings with the Energy Secretary, the Nuclear Minister and other ministers in the Energy department to discuss new nuclear and West Cumbria. 

All of this culminated in the establishment of the Cumberland Nuclear Future Board.

Led by me and Cllr Mark Fryer, the board includes fellow Cumberland MPs, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and other ministers we’ll pull in to help us tackle specific challenges.

This is a major development. 

For the first time, we have all partners, local and national, pulling in the same direction and working positively together to achieve the same goal.

That goal is to identify a chunk of NDA-owned land at Moorside that can be offered up for a nuclear-led clean energy development which also attracts users of the power it would generate. Access to that land has been a major stumbling block before now. Unblocking that land is key.

Alongside releasing this land we’re pushing the Government to press on with Plutonium disposition. We want significant funding announced in the Spending Review to be invested in nuclear research and development in West Cumbria.

The third key element is a programme of major investment in the towns nearest the Sellafield site, funded by local and national contributions, so that we can attract and retain the skilled workforce we need for decommissioning and for future new nuclear.

We want to pull this together into a Team West Cumbria, with local and national government and partners working together to build liveable places, address skills challenges and improve our transport infrastructure.

There are no guarantees, but I am genuinely hopeful and energised by the enthusiasm with which local and national government and the NDA have embraced this.

Just to get this far after the mess inherited from the Tories is further than I feared we would get. But my whole career has been spent working with energy and drive to solve tough problems and I am approaching this with the same drive and energy.

I won’t rest until I’ve done everything in my power to see West Cumbria leading on nuclear again.

Plans for a major expansion of the Port of Workington are progressing at pace, say the leaders of the Port Taskforce which is driving the proposals forward.

The taskforce is chaired by Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister and Cumberland Council leader Mark Fryer and has been meeting since last summer. It was formed to develop an ambitious masterplan to ensure that Workington was well positioned to benefit from major investment in Britain’s ports by the Labour Government.

Production of the masterplan is underway by Cumberland Council and a prospectus will be launched shortly to attract the investors we want to bring here as part of development of the port and surrounding council-owned land. The Government’s National Wealth Fund are also engaged with the taskforce and will be visiting the port later this month. 

The ambition of the taskforce is to secure tens of millions of pounds of investment from the National Wealth Fund to transform the port into a bustling clean energy hub with energy production, manufacturing and logistics, creating hundreds of jobs. 

Josh said:

“The Port of Workington is a fantastic asset for the town and has so much potential. Cllr Mark Fryer and I have huge ambition for the port and the land around it and we’re already in discussions with a number of potential new businesses that are considering locating here. 

“I am hopeful that we will attract the government and private investment we need to transform the port into a new economic zone that will create jobs and prosperity for West Cumbria.”

I do regular walk-abouts to find out what the top issues are for people. So many people raise the issue of dangerous off-road bikes flying around estates or up and down footpaths. 

Too often the crimes which affect people and businesses most are dismissed as low-level. But it doesn’t feel low-level when people need to put up with daily lawbreaking or parents need to worry about where their kids can play. And it doesn’t feel low level when it’s our town centres being plagued by anti-social behaviour and thefts, or our neighbourhoods blighted by drugs.

For far too long, the last Government wrote off those crimes, and disregarded how they made ordinary people feel. That’s why the Labour Government has announced tough new action in our Crime and Policing Bill, which now continues its next stage through Parliament.

The Bill will restore trust, and reduce serious harm. We’ll put 13,000 additional neighbourhood police and PCSOs on our streets – including dozens more here in West Cumbria – and we’ll give the police new powers to take swift action to stamp out anti-social behaviour.

We know that more visible and active policing works because we’ve seen the results here in West Cumbria over the last eight months. The Labour Government provided our excellent Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, David Allen, with £1 million for Operation Enhance, which has seen increased police patrols in anti-social behaviour hotspots in Whitehaven, Workington and Cleator Moor. The results have shown a drop of between 30% and 80% in reported incidents across those three areas compared to the previous year. Further Government funding has been provided to continue those enhanced patrols from April. 

Officers will have more tools in their arsenal thanks to our Crime and Policing Bill, which introduces Respect Orders to crack down on repeat offenders of anti-social behaviour. It enables the police to catch and crush off-road bikes used illegally more easily – something officers here will be well equipped to do thanks to the drones funded by Commissioner Allen. 

It also gives the police special warrantless powers of entry to premises so they can move fast and take back stolen phones, vehicles and agricultural equipment. It expands police drug testing powers so more drug users can be supported into treatment. And it ends the Tories’ ludicrous £200 limit on shoplifting, which has left so much shop theft ignored.

I will work with the Commissioner, the police and communities to make our streets safer again. We will never write off crimes that make people afraid. And we will take back our town centres from the thieves and thugs.

We were elected to deliver change: we are working everyday to ensure West Cumbria is secure and safe.

Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister marked the 45th anniversary of the Kielland disaster by calling on the Government to support bereaved families in their quest for answers.

The Kielland oil rig disaster took the lives of 123 men off the coast of Norway on 27th March 1980. Five men from Cleator Moor were killed on that tragic day – Michael Fleming, John McGrady, Brian Graham, Colin Lamb and Keith Hunter.

45 years later, their families are still seeking answers. An inquiry conducted in the 1980s by the Norwegian authorities collected a lot of information which has never been made available to families. In a question in Parliament on the 45th anniversary, Josh asked the Government to support efforts to get answers for the families.

Responding to Josh’s question, Lucy Powell MP, Leader of the House of Commons, said:

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising what is obviously a very important issue for his constituents, and for those still mourning the loss of friends and family in the Kielland disaster all those years ago. I am really sorry to hear that they feel that many questions are still unanswered. I know the British authorities are working closely with the Norwegian authorities in Oslo, but I will ensure that he gets a full reply about that and that his constituents get the answers they deserve.”

Josh said:

“Listening to Wayne and Alan Hunter, Colin Lamb and Paul Graham, who all lost their dads on the Kielland, I was struck by their determination after all these years to get answers and find some justice. I said they had my full support and I wanted to take this chance on the anniversary of that tragic incident to raise it in Parliament. I was pleased with the Minister’s answer and will be pursuing the issue with colleagues at the Foreign Office. Families deserve answers.”

It was an honour last week to launch a new cross-party group to champion volunteer-led search and rescue services across the country in our nation’s Parliament. 

I’m delighted not only that we were joined by Mountain Rescue England and Wales, RNLI, the National Independent Lifeboat Association, Lowland Rescue, Cave Rescue and HM Coastguard, but that members of our local Mountain Rescue Team were able to come down and bring a vehicle with them, which provided a nice photo opportunity for my colleagues, including several ministers and the Speaker!

These services represent the best of our community and we have more here in Cumbria than elsewhere in the country, with hundreds of volunteers giving their time and expertise to save lives on land and on water. The services and the volunteers who run them are often operating with real challenges. Record levels of callouts along with rising costs and pressures mean service leaders are now warning of a crisis that could see provision decrease, extra pressure placed on paid for emergency services and leading to areas becoming less safe.

Since the election I’ve just about managed to continue as a member of my Mountain Rescue team, juggling these responsibilities with being your MP and spending time with family.  I see the challenges that teams face up close and it is a great privilege to be able to use my position to champion volunteers who provide this service to our community.

The group has support from MPs and Peers right across Parliament, although no Reform MPs have chosen to join. Perhaps this is not a surprise given Nigel Farage’s disgraceful denigration of the RNLI as a “taxi service”.

We’ve established a number of goals that we would like to accomplish in this Parliament, which reflect the issues raised with me by volunteers in search and rescue organisations here in West Cumbria.

Improving the statutory footing for volunteers to recognise and protect volunteer roles within emergency services, like many employers do with Special Constables. Giving a sole minister responsibility for volunteer rescue services to establish clear leadership and accountability at a national level. Standardising blue light permissions so that rescue vehicles have blue light use for urgent responses. And seeking Government support for Public Liability Insurance to reduce the financial burden on rescue organisations and ensure the money they raise can be spent on frontline services and life saving equipment.

When you need these services, you really need them, so I am committed to ensuring that they remain available long into the future. There is a role for everyone reading this to play too, by supporting our local services with fundraising and volunteering where you’re able to do so. A shout out to RNLI in Workington and St. Bees, Maryport Lifeboat, Wasdale and Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Teams, Whitehaven HM Coastguard and West Cumbria Search and Rescue. Give them your support!

Last week I was very proud to support the passage of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Commons.

This landmark legislation provides the biggest boost to workers rights in this country in a generation. It introduces new rights and stronger protections for thousands of working people in West Cumbria and fulfils a key manifesto promise.

Shamefully, Conservative and Reform MPs voted against the Bill.

The Conservatives oversaw more than a decade of stagnant wages – leaving many people worse off now than they were in 2010 – weakened protections for working people and fuelled hostility and confrontation leading to the worst period in industrial relations since the 1980s. 

Labour was elected to end the Tory chaos and deliver for working people and that’s exactly what we are doing. Step one was to end the strikes and disruption and we did that quickly. Step two was the biggest cash boost we’ve ever seen to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, lifting the wages of thousands of the lowest paid working people in West Cumbria. Step three is this significant upgrade to the UK’s outdated employment laws. Together, the Government’s actions turn the page on an economy blighted by insecurity, poor productivity and low pay.

The Bill provides ‘Day 1 rights’ of employment, including protection from Unfair Dismissal, entitlement to Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave. Previously employees had to wait two years for these rights. An additional 1.5 million parents will benefit from making Unpaid Parental Leave a Day 1 right. 

The Bill also bans exploitative zero hours contracts. Over 1 million people on zero hours contracts will benefit from the guaranteed hours policy, and up to 2.4 million workers overall could benefit from the new rights. These protections could help save workers in insecure work up to £600 a year, giving working people more money to spend in the local economy. 

And I’m delighted to inform those who wrote to me about this that we are strengthening Statutory Sick Pay so that 1.3 million people on low wages who find themselves ill will receive sick pay for the first time. 

The Bill also improves pay and conditions through Fair Pay Agreements, establishes Bereavement Leave and increases protection from sexual harassment, to name just a few of over 30 reforms!

Importantly, we’ve worked in partnership with business and trade unions to strike the right balance and make sure this is a plan that works for employees and businesses of all sizes.

With this Bill, the Government is calling a time on the Tories’ scorched earth approach to industrial relations. A new partnership of co-operation between trade unions, employers and government will ensure we benefit from more co-operation and less disruption.

Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister kicked off English Tourism Week over the weekend with visits to Wild Ennerdale in the Lake District National Park and the Beacon Museum in Whitehaven, West Cumbria’s civic museum.

English Tourism Week runs from 14th to 23rd March and celebrates our country’s vibrant tourism offer. Josh is using the week to highlight all that West Cumbria and the western lakes has to offer, with posts every morning throughout the week on Facebook showcasing some of his favourite local destinations.

Josh visited the Beacon Museum to launch the week and saw the incredible ‘Inspired by Industry’ exhibit, featuring 11 previously unseen Percy Kelly paintings. Josh was joined by Cumberland Council and Cumbria Tourism and they discussed ways to bring more visitors to West Cumbria’s civic museum. Civic museums were given a £20 million funding boost in a recent announcement by the Government, which will benefit Tullie and the Beacon here in Cumberland.

Josh said:

“I said it in my maiden speech in Parliament and I meant it, my constituency is without a doubt the most beautiful place in the UK. The dramatic landscapes of the remote western lakes, our stunning coastline, and towns and villages with a rich and vibrant offering for residents and visitors alike. Yes we have our challenges, and I’m working hard every day to address those, but let’s talk up our community and celebrate our strengths too!

“This English Tourism Week I’m committing to working with local and national partners to do everything I can to bring more of the tens of millions of tourists who visit the Lake District every year further west to support and boost our local economy. But I also want local residents to make more use of what we have right here on our doorstep.

“So why not use this weekend to go exploring in your own neighbourhood? Take a walk in the Wasdale or Ennerdale valleys or along our stunning coast, visit a local museum or theatre and enjoy a drink and some food in one of our world-class pubs and restaurants. And then shout about it to all of your friends!”

Six months ago I launched my Safer Phones Bill, with the aim of tackling the harms to children and young people caused by excessive smartphone and social media use.

On Friday I led a debate at the second reading of my Bill in the House of Commons and was delighted that the campaign has led to the Government recognising the need to act.

I brought this forward because many of our children now spend their time captured by addictive social media and smartphone use. Often sat alone. Doom scrolling. Being bombarded by unrealistic representations of life. Today, the average 12 year old spends 21 hours a week on a smartphone – the equivalent of four full days of school teaching time.

Children are spending less time outside, less time reading, exercising, exploring, meeting people, communicating in person – all things that make childhood special and are required for healthy childhood development. That is a fundamental rewiring of childhood itself, and it has happened in just over ten years. It’s a rewiring that teachers and parents in West Cumbria tell me about on almost every visit to schools and after-school clubs.

What happened ten years ago? Smartphone and social media use became widespread. Their use has grown in parallel with a sharp increase in adolescent mental health problems and there are no other credible explanations.. There is increasing evidence of a strong association between screen time and childhood obesity and smartphone use also affects sleep, learning and development.

Other countries are taking action to address these challenges and my Bill brought the issue into the chamber of the House of Commons for the first time. I secured cross-party backing from right across Parliament.

The Bill commits the Government to come back within a year on the question of raising the digital age of consent from 13 to 16. It commits the Government to instruct the UK Chief Medical Officers to issue new guidance for parents and professionals about the impacts of excessive screen time and social media use on children. Finally, it calls on the Government to conduct more research and further develop the evidence and guidance that is important for future action.

Private Members’ Bills often have no chance of securing Government support. This Bill was drafted to secure explicit government backing – to achieve change, rather than just highlight the issue. That is why the Bill debated on Friday is narrower than where I started six months ago. I am proud to have generated a national debate which has led to the Government committing to take action. 

This change will take a process of legislation rather than one big bang event. That’s why starting with these initial steps and then following them with major action will be so important. 

Cumbria’s four Labour MPs called electricity, telecoms and mobile network providers into Parliament to demand further action from them to improve the resilience of the network following weaknesses exposed during recent storms.

The meeting, convened by Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister, was led by MPs Julie Minns, Markus Campbell-Savours and Michelle Scrogham and Cumberland councillor Gillian Troughton. Electricity North West, Ofgem, BT / EE, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone and Three were all in attendance.

Storm Eowyn saw thousands of homes across Cumbria without power. Mobile phone masts were also affected as many do not have back up power. In areas where home phones have been switched to digital, customers had no access to mobile or landline communications, leaving them unable to get updates or seek help.

MPs asked telecoms providers to do more to support vulnerable customers who have had their landlines switched over to digital and called on mobile network operators to put battery back up units on more of their masts across Cumbria. MPs also asked operators to set aside generators for masts during power cuts. Concerns were raised about the lack of data sharing so that vulnerable customers can be identified by providers and network operators. Electricity North West also raised issues about not having data on mast locations for their network restoration planning during power cuts.

Speaking after the meeting, Josh said:

“MPs called this meeting because we don’t think enough is being done to improve connectivity in rural areas of Cumbria or to respond quickly when issues occur, such as power cuts.

“We were clear that we want telecoms providers and mobile network operators to step up and invest in improving the resilience of the network, with things like battery back up at masts and more effort to identify and support vulnerable customers. We also want to see more data sharing across the system. This should be happening already.”

MPs will convene a further meeting in three months to check on progress.