Sara joins education team
BILL JACOBS
HYNDBURN’S MP has been promoted to the unpaid bottom rung of the government ladder.
Sara Britcliffe, elected in December 2019 in place of Labour’s Graham Jones, has become a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) in the Department for Education.
Aged 25 she is the youngest Conservative MP and ran a bakery in Oswaldtwistle between graduating with a languages degree and going to Westminster.
Her new role will see her supporting Education Secretary Gavin
Williamson and his ministerial team in the House of Commons chamber and acting as their ‘eyes and ears’ among colleagues at Westminster.
Ms Britcliffe, who remains a borough councillor for St Andrew’s ward, said: “I am honoured and delighted to have been made a PPS in the Department for Education.
“It means I will be working on issues I feel very strongly about and ensuring the views of colleagues across the north are fed back to ministers.
“Ensuring a great education for children is a really important part of the ‘levelling up’ agenda and something I fell incredibly strongly about.
“I am looking forward to bringing my experience of talking to teachers, heads and parents in Hyndburn and
Haslingden to the department and feeding back concerns, thoughts and questions from colleagues.”
Her father, veteran Oswaldtwistle Lancashire County Councillor and former Tory leader of Hyndburn council, Peter Britcliffe said: “I am delighted that Sara’s work has been recognised at Westminster. I think it is good for her and good for Hyndburn.
“She will ensure that the views and concerns about schools and education of people in the North-West are heard at the top table of government.”
Labour council leader Coun Miles Parkinson said: “I congratulate Sara on her promotion. This is extremely good news.
“Any involvement in government by a Hyndburn MP is good for the borough.
“This is especially true of education which is vital to young people’s life chances, employment, income and future.
“Hopefully she will now be able to play a part in education policy that will benefit Hyndburn residents and boost the borough.”
A CONSULTATION into the future of Lancashire’s nursery schools is set to start next month - a year after it was first expected to take place.
Lancashire County Council had said that it intended to hold a consultation into all 24 council-run sites - including Accrington Lee Royd in
Accrington South, and Fairfield in Accrington West/Oswaldtwistle Central - on the basis of the latest financial and pupil data.