Graham Jones

Hyndburn MP

I HAVE been out campaigning since the general election in all areas of the constituency speaking to residents about current political issues, the outcome of the general election and more specifically Brexit negotiations.

Following our departure from the European Union we now have to negotiate a new free trade deal with Europe and at the moment it is a bit of a struggle. My own view is that we must avoid a tariff war which will cost jobs.

I never believed that Brexit was the real problem we face but rather a lack of investment over many decades in the regions and the North. It is that unfair lack of investment from Westminster that has led to many people having poorer lives than people living in the South. We have seen once again over this summer the disparities in investment between the South and North. The Northwest receiving just £1 for every £6 invested in the South. The current Conservative government intends to carry on with that disproportionate investment which will only widen the gap, their words simply empty rhetoric.

I will be taking this up with my Rossendale Conservative neighbour Jake Berry MP who is now the Northern Powerhouse minister, though I suspect he will achieve little.

Throughout history, investment in transport has always achieved economic gains and it is why as your MP I have continued to prioritise improved transport including a desire to extend the M65 to the A1 and better train services. The reality is it will require a Labour government because only Labour governments invest in people and only Labour governments invest in the regions. We need to be credible.

Improving our industrial base is a priority too and I am glad to see Hyndburn land at Whitebirk now being developed into Lancashire’s largest industrial estate. I also continue to support the skills agenda.

Within society, the personal abuse continues to rise and within politics, we are seeing the emergence of intolerant and fascistic groups. It is worrying. People who think that the force of their arguments and the level of their abuse elevates the deluded superiority of their argument.

I know Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow has engaged in a big campaign over the summer to tackle this intolerance. I do feel deeply sorry for people who have distanced themselves so far from reality that they don’t have an intellectual or more importantly a broad- minded perspective. Many great Labour politicians of the past missed out on an education but that didn’t stop them from thinking.

I was delighted to see the new Great Harwood Facebook page take a firm stance against idiotic and abusive comments.

Real free speech and real democracy is about the breadth of arguments and the freedom to speak and that means tackling (deleting the comments of) those abusive individuals who try to undermine those great principles.

The biggest local issue over the summer has been the continual fires in Great Harwood. I have done my best to change the law and I have kept residents in touch. There is no need for the fires and it is a great discourtesy that they continue. The person lighting the match is the one responsible, no one else.

I am trying to get a meeting with the minister but government ministers seem more obsessed by the long drawn out and complicated Brexit talks than ordinary people’s lives. We are back next week and on day one at the very first vote I will be seeking out the policing minister Nick Hurd again.

People want to live in a progressive and responsible society.

Please contact me by email or telephone 01254 382283 if you have any queries.