With confirmation that a Bill will be brought forward for debate and a vote by MPs on choice at the end of life I want to take this opportunity to explain some of the background to the proposed legislation and to let you know my current thinking.
This can be an emotive issue and people hold a range of different views on it. The debate will be treated as a conscience issue, where MPs must make up their minds individually and not on party-political lines. I will listen to the debate in Parliament with great care but I also want to hear from you, my constituents.
The bill will seek to give people who are terminally ill the option to end their own life at a time and in the manner of their choosing, and will include strict eligibility criteria, effective medical and judicial oversight, and strong protections against forms of coercion or abuse.
The bill will not in any way detract from the vital importance of the very best palliative care. Nor would it undermine the demands of people with disabilities to lead their very best possible lives with all the care and support they need and deserve. I am pleased about this as I strongly support both these causes.
Much has changed in the nearly ten years since this issue was last brought before MPs, both in this country and around the world. Several countries, including the US, Australia and New Zealand, have introduced similar laws and evidence has found that there has been no ‘slippery slope’ and palliative care has improved alongside the choice for people to die at a time of their choosing.
I have not yet fully decided how I will vote on this bill and will continue to seek the views of experts, constituents and colleagues in the House before coming to my decision. I agree in principle that dying people should have choice over how and when they die, but I will need to be reassured that the safeguards the bill puts in place are robust enough to protect those who would not want to choose to have an assisted death voluntarily.
I’ll be holding an open public meeting at 6pm on Thursday 24th October so that I can hear your views and we can discuss this important issue together. I’d encourage any constituents who want to share your views on this to come along and join the discussion.
I know many local pensioners are angry with me over the government’s decision to restrict the Winter Fuel Allowance to those pensioners who need it most. I understand your anger and I share it. The Conservatives left this country broke and broken – including a £22bn blackhole in the nation’s finances. So the government has been forced to make tough decisions now to fix the foundations of our economy.
But because we’ve done this, we can protect the State Pension ‘Triple Lock’ – not just this year but for every single year of this Parliament, meaning every pensioner will be better off under this government. And we are still protecting those pensioners who need our support most.
The Winter Fuel Payment was introduced by Labour at a time when a quarter of all pensioners were living in poverty and struggling with the cost of living. Thankfully, there are now far fewer pensioners living in poverty and energy bills are starting to come down (although I know they are still too high). But there are still too many pensioners having to make difficult choices this winter and it is important for those in need to know that help is still available to you.
Around 7,500 pensioners in Cumbria are eligible for Pension Credit but not claiming it. That is 7,500 people losing an average of about £3,900 per year. I am urging local pensioners to apply for the benefit, which from this year will also automatically passport eligible pensioners to receive the Winter Fuel Payment – pushing the total average entitlement over £4,000.
I want to make sure every local pensioner gets every penny they are entitled to, so please, friends, family and neighbours – if you know someone who needs help, please support them to make an application for Pension Credit by calling 0800 99 1234.
For those not eligible because you fall just outside the threshold, you can still get help if you’re struggling. Under the previous government the Household Support Fund was set to run out at the end of September. Labour have injected £421 million to extend it through the winter, giving pensioners and others who may struggle this winter extra support with energy bills, food costs and other essentials. Call Cumberland Council to find out more on 0300 373 3730.
My team and I are also on hand to provide any help we can to those who need it. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch by e-mailing hello@joshmacalister.uk or by calling 01946 458023.
Last week Labour’s flagship Renters’ Rights Bill was introduced to Parliament. The Bill delivers on the government’s manifesto commitment to reform the private rented sector and improve the quality of housing in it. It represents the biggest boost to renters’ rights in a generation and will benefit 10,000 people renting privately in West Cumbria.
When I got back to West Cumbria at the end of the week the importance of the Bill really hit home.
Over the weekend dozens of tenants who rent flats in The Slipway in Whitehaven were issued with eviction notices. They haven’t done anything wrong and some have lived there for decades. But they’ve been given two months to vacate their homes and find alternative accommodation.
And under current law this is completely legal.
I’m working with Cllr Emma Williamson, Deputy Leader of Cumberland Council, to support residents affected in any way we can. And we’ve written a strongly worded letter urging the new owner of the building, Darren McClellan of SLG 5 Ltd, to reconsider – or at the very least give residents a longer notice period than the legal minimum.
But under current law a strongly worded letter is about all we can do. That’s because the Tories – who first promised to ban these section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions back in 2019, four Prime Ministers ago – broke this promise along with every other they made.
The consequences of this have been devastating for private renters here and across the country. In West Cumbria alone dozens of people have been forced out of their homes in the five years since the Tories first promised to outlaw this practice. That number doubled overnight this weekend.
The Bill tabled by the new Labour Government last week will ban no fault evictions once and for all. But it also includes a range of other measures, including extra protections for tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, a ban on rental bidding wars, pet friendly tenancies and an end to rental discrimination for those on benefits or with children, protecting tenants from poor living conditions by extending Awaab’s Law to the private sector and introducing the Decent Homes Standard.
Everyone deserves the right to a safe and secure place to live – and that’s what I as your Labour MP, working with the new Labour Government, will deliver.
If you need help with a housing issue please contact my office and we’ll do our best to help: joshmacalister.uk/contact.
Whitehaven and Workington’s Labour MP has welcomed major new legislation to crack down on water bosses for polluting West Cumbria’s rivers, lakes and seas.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to Parliament and will give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment and failing their customers.
The Bill delivers on Labour’s manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector, including significantly increasing the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against law-breaking water executives. It will create new tougher penalties, including imprisonment, for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations.
The new legislation also includes a ban on the payment of bonuses to executives of polluting water companies unless they meet high standards when it comes to protecting the environment, their consumers, financial resilience, and criminal liability.
Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including allowing regulators to issue penalties more quickly, without having to direct resources to lengthy investigations. It will also introduce independent monitoring of every outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.
Josh said:
“The public are furious that in 21st century Britain, record levels of sewage are being pumped into our rivers, lakes and seas. After years of neglect, our waterways are now in an unacceptable state.
“Under this Government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time.”
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, said:
“This Bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. We will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.”
From this week I’ll be writing a new weekly column in the Whitehaven News and the Times & Star. Here’s my first one:
I’m delighted to be starting this new weekly column to keep you up to date with my work with you and on your behalf as your new Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington. I hope you find it useful. Please feel free to contact me with any follow up questions you might have about what I’ve said – my contact details are at the bottom.
I’m writing this at the end of my first week back in Parliament after the summer recess. And it was a very busy week!
I’ve focused a lot this week on my promise to fight to deliver new nuclear in West Cumbria because there are major decisions due to be made imminently which will determine our nuclear future. I have to be frank with you – we’re currently sleepwalking towards another devastating blow to our nuclear ambitions.
For those who haven’t followed this closely, a process was started under the previous government, led by a new government body called Great British Nuclear, to select technologies and sites for the development of new small modular reactors (SMRs) to generate new nuclear power.
We were told by the Tories locally and nationally to trust this process. That the Moorside side adjacent to Sellafield would come out of it with new nuclear.
I’m afraid this was a lie.
As soon as I was elected as your MP I set about meeting with government officials and ministers and key figures from across the nuclear sector – Great British Nuclear, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Sellafield and businesses from across the nuclear supply chain.
What became clear to me very quickly was that there were major roadblocks getting in the way of Moorside’s viability to be selected as a new nuclear site in the Great British Nuclear (GBN) process. Roadblocks I heard a little bit about before the election – which is why I started my New Nuclear Now campaign – but which had been kept hidden from the public.
These roadblocks are centred around competing uses of the land at Moorside and other projects linked to the NDA’s decommissioning mission. Other sites being considered for new nuclear do not have these roadblocks, making them more likely to be picked by GBN.
It is my absolute and firm belief that we can and must overcome these roadblocks. The NDA need to come up with alternative land for their other projects and we need to sequence new nuclear and decommissioning projects in a way that ensures we can do both.
I fully support the important work that is ongoing at Sellafield – I saw it firsthand on a recent visit – and will fight for future decommissioning projects that will continue that work and create more jobs. But we simply cannot have a situation where West Cumbria’s entire economy is reliant on the NDA and decommissioning work.
New nuclear is so important not because of the direct jobs it creates but because of the potential green industrial and advanced manufacturing jobs which could be created by the power it generates. For example at the Port of Workington, where I’m working with Cumberland Council and the new government on a major expansion which could transform the economic geography of West Cumbria.
I want us to have a vibrant, diverse economy where local young people have more than one option for a career and where we’re attracting the best talent from elsewhere to come here.
So, this week I brought together GBN, the NDA, Sellafield, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Nuclear Industry Association, leading officials from the Prospect, GMB and Unite trade unions, the leader of Cumberland Council, Cllr Mark Fryer, and fellow Cumbrian MPs Markus Campbell-Savours and Julie Minns in a new Nuclear Delivery Group for Cumbria. It was the first time all key stakeholders were in the same room discussing these thorny issues. The meeting was productive but inconclusive.
I also spent an hour with the new Minister for Nuclear this week. This was my third meeting with him and I pressed on him in the strongest possible terms the need for new nuclear in West Cumbria.
My hope and my goal is that the NDA will release the land and work constructively to find solutions to make both new nuclear and the decommissioning mission work together. After all, the NDA were able to plan on this basis up until 2018 when a large new nuclear plant was planned. I know we can do it if we get everyone pulling in the same direction. And the opportunities for West Cumbria if we do are limitless.
Finally, I was honoured this week to be elected to Chair the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Nuclear Energy. It brings together MPs and members of the House of Lords from all parties to advocate for nuclear power. Under my chairmanship I want to make it the strongest voice for new nuclear that Parliament has ever seen. The last government spent too long dithering and delaying. The new government needs to grasp the opportunities of new nuclear with both hands.
What do you think? Get in touch with me by e-mail: hello@joshmacalister.uk. I’m holding a series of advice surgeries and public meetings across West Cumbria in this coming months. Visit my website to find out more: joshmacalister.uk/meetjosh
History was made in Parliament today as Andy’s Man Club groups in Whitehaven and Workington were invited to hold a special session in the Houses of Parliament for MPs.
The session, hosted by Whitehaven & Workington MP Josh MacAlister, was held to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.
Over 20 MPs attended to learn more about the vital work of Andy’s Man Club in preventing male suicide, the biggest killer of men in West Cumbria.
Steve, lead facilitator of Andy’s Man Club Workington, said:
“We really appreciate Josh’s support for Andy’s Man Club and his invitation to lead this historic first Andy’s Man Club session in Parliament.
“Male suicide is the biggest killer of men in Workington but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re struggling, come along to one of our sessions on a Monday night. You’ll realise you’re not alone and there is a network to support you.
“I hope the session in Parliament will be the first of many as we continue to advocate for this issue to get more attention and focus from politicians.”
Josh said:
“I first attended Andy’s Man Club last year and was left in awe of the work they do and the opportunity it provides for men to come together in a safe space to share their feelings and get support.
“I wanted to bring them down to Parliament so other MPs could learn about this work and talk about the really important issue of male suicide, which kills far too many men in West Cumbria and across the country.
“This will be a topic I focus on during my time in Parliament. We need to talk about it more openly, let men know there is help available, and make sure the right support services are in place.”
The new Labour Government has announced a £421 million boost to local authorities to help vulnerable families with the cost of their energy, food and water – through an extension of the Household Support Fund.
The funding was due to run out at the end of September, leaving thousands of vulnerable people across Cumbria without extra help this winter. The extension means support will continue through to next spring.
In a statement published following the announcement, Josh MacAlister, Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, said:
“The Conservatives left Britain broke and broken. But here in West Cumbria the new Labour government is already taking action to fix the foundations of our country and get Britain moving again.
“The Tories mismanaged our economy so badly that we’ve all taken a battering in recent years. That’s why Labour has announced the £421m extension to the Household Support Scheme – to help families and pensioners in West Cumbria get through the winter ahead.
“And Labour won’t stop there – the new government is taking further action to fix the foundations through our plans to grow the economy, make work pay, and Get Britain Working again.”
A new group bringing together key stakeholders has met for the first time to tackle the roadblocks getting in the way of delivering new nuclear in West Cumbria.
The group, convened by Whitehaven & Workington MP Josh MacAlister – who was also elected this week to Chair the influential All-Party Parliamentary Group for Nuclear Energy in Parliament – brought together MPs, Cumberland Council, trade unions and business and nuclear sector organisations, including Great British Nuclear, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Sellafield, Nuclear Waste Services, the Office of Nuclear Regulation, the Nuclear Industry Association and Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster.
The key issue under discussion at the first meeting was competing use of the land at Moorside. The site was designated for new nuclear use by the last Labour government in 2008 but large swathes of the site have since been earmarked for decommissioning activity by the NDA.
Great British Nuclear (GBN) are currently assessing sites to develop Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), with decisions expected in the coming weeks. If adequate land is not available at Moorside, it will not get through the GBN process and West Cumbria could lose out on new nuclear for a generation.
Josh said:
“This was the first time all key stakeholders were in the same room discussing this issue. It’s something that should have been done a long time ago by Cumbria’s former MPs, who instead left us sleepwalking towards losing out on new nuclear, while telling everyone to trust the process.
“Now we have new leadership and we’ve asked the difficult questions and discovered the extent of the roadblocks getting in the way of new nuclear in our area, Cumbria’s new MPs and the council are working in lockstep and fighting tooth and nail to overcome these issues and secure Cumbria’s nuclear future.”
A new group to develop and deliver plans for an ambitious expansion of the Port of Workington has met to start work.
A major expansion of the port and effective use of the land around it, much of which is owned by the council, could transform the economic geography of West Cumbria.
The group, chaired by Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister and Cllr Mark Fryer, Leader of Cumberland Council, includes Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster, Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, and a range of businesses who use the port or with a future interest in use of the port.
In recent weeks Josh has met with the Minister for Industry, Sarah Jones MP, who will be responsible for Labour’s promised £1.8 billion port investment programme, to discuss Workington’s ambitions.
Cllr Fryer updated the group on plans to change the governance structure and management of the port to get it into a better position for development and confirmed that a bid for external experts to develop a masterplan would soon be launched.
Josh said:
“There is so much potential in the port and the surrounding area to attract new industry and advanced manufacturing, generating high quality, long-term jobs for the people of Workington.
“That’s why Mark and I brought Ed MIliband here before the election to show him the port and the possibilities if its potential was unlocked. He confirmed that we were in a ‘prime position’ for investment.
“We’ve now finally got a government with a plan to develop a proper industrial strategy and invest in projects like this that will deliver growth and create jobs and we want to take full advantage of that by putting forward a strong and ambitious plan to get maximum benefit from this asset.”
Expansion of the Port of Workington was a key element of the industrial plan Josh published before the election outlining how he would work to deliver growth and jobs if elected as MP for Whitehaven and Workington.
Cumbria’s new MPs and the leaders of local health and care services met this month at West Cumberland Hospital to discuss the improvements they all want to see to local services.
The meeting, convened by MPs Josh MacAlister, Julie Minns and Markus Campbell-Savours, brought together the leaders of local hospital, mental health, GP, pharmacy, dental and adult social care services for an honest and frank discussion about the challenges local services face after years of financial pressures, workforce challenges and the lack of a joined up approach.
In a joint statement after the meeting, Josh, Julie and Markus said:
“After 14 years of Conservative government our NHS and care services are on their knees.
“One of the missions of the new Labour government is to rebuild our NHS, and as your new MPs we are committed to playing our part to rebuild our local NHS and sort out social care services too.
“We welcomed the discussion with local health and care leaders and we agreed to work together to improve integration of health and care services, address workforce issues to get more doctors, dentists and other health professionals here so we can improve outcomes for patients and help people lead happier, healthier lives.
“We’ll meet every three months to hold services to account for delivering improvements and we will also be working in Parliament to push the government to ensure that north and west Cumbria gets our fair share of resources as Labour’s plan to fix our broken NHS is rolled out.”
Josh MacAlister MP 