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 independent review to reshape how we support vulnerable children and families in England and I then went on to chair a charity.

What prompted you to get into politics?: Partly my stepdad Peter. I fell behind at school and he helped me catch up. That left me with a strong sense that education and having extra support can change lives, and I saw politics as a way of doing this for more people.

What previous political experience did you have? I’ve persuaded Conservative government ministers to fund various programmes, like the review I led that got £200m of new funding for children. 

Have you ever been a member of another party? No

Have you stood as MP before? No

Who is your political hero? Hard to choose, but I’d say Bobby Kennedy.

What is your hobby? I’m a Mountain Rescue volunteer

What’s your ideal night out? Going to the pub with friends

What’s the naughtiest thing you’ve ever done? I enjoy a good night out but I went *a bit* overboard on the first night of my stag do and may have struggled to be a full and active participant for the rest of the weekend.  

Your proudest achievement? Building a charity from scratch that employed over 120 people and brought thousands of new people to social work

Your biggest fear? The sensation of falling!

Describe yourself in three words: Impatient, committed, energetic

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:

• Action to bring down bills by fighting to secure investment in home insulation and putting more money in the pockets of working people through Labour’s New Deal
• Cutting NHS waiting lists in West Cumbria by paying NHS staff overtime to deliver hundreds more appointments and operations in the evenings and at weekends
• Backing new nuclear and industry to create jobs and grow West Cumbria’s economy.

Labour’s campaign to win Whitehaven and Workington will centre on Labour’s plan to deliver a decade of national renewal following 14 years of decline under the Conservative Party.

In this area, full-time workers are £39 worse off per week since 2010, there are 63 fewer local PCSOs, and GPs numbers have fallen by 34 since 2016.

Josh said:

 “I am proud to launch my campaign to be the next Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington. I know that our community deserves better than the past 14 years of Tory decline.

 “Over the next few weeks, I will set out my plans to change communities across Whitehaven and Workington, including starting the fight to bring new nuclear here on day one if elected, putting our NHS back on its feet and tackling the cost of living crisis which is still hitting local people so hard.

 “Together we can change Whitehaven and Workington.”

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

 “This is a chance to change Whitehaven and Workington with Labour.

 “Over the course of the last four years, we have changed the Labour Party and returned it once more to the service of working people.

 “All we ask now, humbly, is to do exactly the same for our country. And return Britain to the service of working people. A vote for Labour is a vote for economic and political stability, an end to Conservative chaos, and a long-term plan to rebuild Britain.”

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 line of our NHS what it is we need to do differently. 

What I found is that staff are slogging their guts out and good will is propping up the NHS. 

Fellview have 28,000 patients but because of the recruitment and retention crisis they only have 7 GPs instead of the 14 we need. I spoke to a GP who is working 15 hour days and sees over ONE HUNDRED patients in a day. 

Despite this, the staff keep turning up and doing their best. But it is a sign that our NHS is at breaking point. 

Everyone knows that there are no quick fixes, but front line staff told me that three things that are needed:

1) We need a LOT more doctors. That’s why Labour will double medical school places. I want to see more doctors trained here, working here.

2) We need to improve technology and bust bureaucracy – highly trained staff are spending hours battling with out of date systems.

3) We need a preventative health service. For example, if we can spot early signs of heart conditions and diabetes and help manage them then the NHS can improve life expectancy, narrow health inequalities and reduce hospital costs.

I know that many of you are angry and worried about our NHS – the best way to show it is at the ballot box when the election comes. Labour has a plan to rescue our NHS. If I’m fortunate enough to be elected as your MP, I’ll proudly back it and work to deliver it.

Josh MacAlister

Standing to be your Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington

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-16 education and also free up space across both schools for more 11-16 year olds to attend.

This was part of my campaign to increase school places at both schools, which are at or near capacity, to accommodate growing demand.

This week I finally got a reply. And it was not the news we hoped for.

Instead of taking responsibility and using some of the DfE’s massive budget underspend to provide the funding we need to build a new sixth form and increase school places, the Minister denied there was even an underspend – contrary to evidence highlighted by the independent National Audit Office – and rejected the request.

Workington’s outgoing MP, Mark Jenkinson, who is not standing to represent Workington at the next election, has refused to call on the government to provide the funding, instead resorting to his usual approach of blaming the local council.

Mark Jenkinson can create all the alternative facts he chooses but he can’t hide the truth from the people of Workington.

Perhaps instead of trying to find a way to blame everything on Cumberland Council he could use the time he has left to work with me, with local school leaders and with parents to convince his government to change its mind and provide the funding needed to expand school places.

The people of Workington deserve better than this petty political point scoring. They need a grown up MP focused on delivering for the town.

Rest assured I will keep fighting on this issue.

Josh MacAlister

Standing to be your Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington

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 and Cleator Moor and a new service from Seascale and Whitehaven, as called for by Josh MacAlister following his bus survey last year.

However, delivery of the new services is dependent on successful bids by bus operators.

In his letter, Josh calls on operators to come forward with strong bids to deliver these vital routes.

Josh said:

“I have been campaigning alongside local councillors for these services for months and I’m delighted that Cumberland’s Labour council engaged positively and stumped up the cash to support introducing these services.

“Now the ball is in the court of the bus operators and I’ve written urging existing bus operators to give serious consideration to putting in bids. Residents want and need these services, I hope operators will step up.”

Read my letter below

Local runner Gary McKee, dubbed the ‘Marathon Man’ after he ran a marathon every day for a year and raised over £1 million for Macmillan cancer charity, has teamed up with Josh MacAlister, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Whitehaven and Workington, to call for improvements to cancer care in West Cumbria.

The call follows the release of data showing that waiting times for cancer treatment in north and west Cumbria are among the worst in the country, with almost half of all cancer patients here waiting more than two months from referral to treatment.

The pair are calling on the government to provide urgent support to the NHS in Cumbria to bring down waiting times for treatment. In addition, they’re asking North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust to reinstate the Macmillan Community Cancer Nursing service, which helped cancer patients navigate the system and access a range of support. The service was scrapped last year, but an evaluation obtained through a Freedom of Information request by Josh MacAlister found it to be valued by patients. A business case for a replacement service promised last autumn is yet to materialise.

Josh said:

“The Tories have brought our NHS to its knees and the latest figures show the human impact of that. Waiting times are the highest on record across the country and the fault for that lies at the door of 10 Downing Street.

“Locally, we must ask the tough questions about why and how almost half of all cancer patients are waiting months to begin treatment – some of the worst performance in England. At the same time, a vital support service for cancer patients was scrapped and not replaced. It’s not good enough and patients deserve better.”

Gary said:

“I heard from so many people who benefited from the Macmillan cancer support who were devastated when the service was scrapped. We need it back here serving people living with cancer in West Cumbria. That’s why I’m working with Josh to improve cancer services for local people and why I’ll keep fundraising for Macmillian and the brilliant work they do.”

Last week the government released data on the amount of sewage dumped into our waterways by water companies in 2023 and it turned out to be the worst year on record.

Sewage is being dumped in local becks, rivers and the sea at more than 50 sites right across West Cumbria. Into the Irish Sea at Workington, Parton, Whitehaven, St. Bees and Seascale. Into the rivers Ehen and Keekle in Cleator Moor, Cleator and Egremont. Ling Beck. Pow Beck. The River Derwent. The list goes on.

The levels are alarming. Thousands of hours of sewage polluting the water and causing untold harm to plant and wildlife.

The worst thing? The government are letting them get away with it.

Last year, Labour MPs tabled a Bill in Parliament to take tough action against water companies and force them to clean up their act. Tory MPs – including ours here in Cumbria – refused to back it.

The result – the highest levels of sewage dumped into our water since records began.

I know there is no easy fix, but who is in power matters. Labour will introduce tough new legislation to clean up our water, tighten up monitoring, allow criminal charges to be brought against water company bosses who fail to act and ban their bonuses until they sort out the mess they’ve made.

If I’m elected as your Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington I’ll proudly vote for this legislation.

Until then, join me in putting pressure on the current government by signing my petition: joshforwestcumbria.co.uk/stop-the-sewage

Josh MacAlister

Standing to be Labour’s MP for Whitehaven and Workington

– Business and political leaders call on National Grid to rethink plans

A group of business and political leaders in Cumbria have joined forces to ask the National Grid ESO to look again at their plans for the future electricity system in the UK as it overlooks vital capacity needs in West Cumbria.

National Grid ESO, the electricity system operator, recently launched a blueprint, “Beyond 2030”, which outlines a £58 billion plan to upgrade the UK’s electricity infrastructure, creating new connections for new nuclear, offshore wind and other major energy projects.

However, West Cumbria is missing from the plan.

Josh MacAlister, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Whitehaven and Workington, co-ordinated the letter, which has been signed by Cumberland Council boss Cllr Mark Fryer, Jo Lappin, Chief Executive of Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, Dianne Richardson, Chief Executive of Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster (BECBC) and Lord Roger Liddle.

Josh said:

“We have ambitious plans to put West Cumbria at the forefront of the clean energy revolution, with new nuclear, offshore wind, expansion of the Port of Workington and more major industry coming here.

“However, the blueprint launched by National Grid ESO overlooks our area entirely, focusing solely on new connections for existing approved projects elsewhere.

“It risks creating a vicious circle – we can’t move forward, for example, on new offshore wind in part because we don’t have the grid connections, but we can’t get the grid connections because there aren’t any approved projects.

“We want National Grid ESO to come here and hear about our plans and then amend their blueprint to make sure Cumbria has the grid connections we need.”

Project Collette, a plan for a new 1.2GW community run offshore wind farm west of Whitehaven, is an example of potential energy generation, but the project would require grid upgrades to be viable.

Read the letter below

You can read “Beyond 2030” here. The key pages to look at are 62-66.

We’ve secured a major victory in our campaign to improve local bus services!

The campaign, launched in December last year, sought improvements to existing services and for the return of some vital axed routes which left whole communities cut off from the public transport network.

I wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport demanding proper funding for local bus services, but this funding was not forthcoming in the Chancellor’s Budget announced at the beginning of March.

A survey completed by hundreds of residents across West Cumbria included many suggestions which I asked Cumberland Council to consider.

The council has now decided to proceed with procuring new and improved bus services using the limited funding it still receives from the government to support local bus services. Many are those called for by residents and me and my fellow Parliamentary candidates.

• The 22 service from Cleator Moor-Cleator-Egremont-Whitehaven, which was cut completely, will be restored
• A new service between Seascale and Whitehaven will be introduced
• Sunday services on the 30 between Egremont / Frizington and Whitehaven will be increased to half hourly
• Withdrawn services on the 217 – Frizington-Cockermouth (Wednesdays) and 218 – Frizington-Workington (Fridays) routes will be restored

All of these are subject to successful bids from potential operators.

I really welcome the engagement from Cumberland’s Labour-led council on this important issue.

The decision of councillors to provide funding to support vital routes like the 22 will give local people more options to travel and better connect our towns and villages. I’ll be encouraging operators to bid to deliver these services.

Our broken bus system needs major reform and that’s something the next Labour government has committed to do. If I’m lucky enough to be elected as your MP, I’ll proudly support those reforms.

Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Whitehaven & Workington, Josh MacAlister, has called on the Government to release vital funding for new dedicated sixth form space at Whitehaven and Workington academies to free up space for more students to attend the schools.

Cumbria Education Trust, which runs the academy, has submitted a request to the Government for urgent consideration of capital investment to continue delivering a quality 11-18 education offer across the Whitehaven and Workington academy sites, which are nearing capacity. Sixth form numbers are expected to double in the next 4-5 years.

Josh has written to Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education, asking that the department urgently releases the capital investment needed from the underspend in its existing budget. Approximately £10 million is needed. The Department for Education has an underspend of at least £830 million for 2023-24.

Josh said:

“It is great to see local schools doing so well but frustrating for parents who want their children to attend and can’t get in. I have visited both Workington and Whitehaven academies and heard directly from the school leadership about the capacity challenges they’re facing.

“The Department for Education is responsible for capital funding for schools and Cumbria Education Trust has already put in a bid for investment. This funding for a dedicated sixth form is vital both to ensure that quality 16-18 education can meet expected demand in the coming years but also to free up space that could be used to increase the number of school places for future intakes at year 7.

“I have written to the Secretary of State urging her to release the funds so work can begin.”

Josh has launched a campaign to put pressure on the Government to release the money.

Sign the petition