MP’s tribute to businesses

HEYWOOD and Middleton MP Chris Clarkson has paid tribute to constituents who have given their all to support their community during his maiden speech in Parliament.

Mr Clarkson was elected as Heywood and Middleton’s first Conservative MP at the December 2019 general election.

Speaking last Wednesday (June 3) during the Second Reading of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill – which will introduce measures to help UK businesses avoid insolvency during the uncertainty of lockdown – Mr Clarkson highlighted individuals and businesses from his constituency who have worked to support their communities throughout the coronavirus crisis.

He said their work was among the ‘countless reasons’ he is proud to represent the area.

Local residents mentioned in the speech were Alkrington shopkeeper Damian Edwards, who has worked 22-hour days to provide residents with essential supplies, staff and students of Middleton Technology School and Hopwood Hall College, who have produced thousands of pieces of PPE for key workers, 100-year-old Win Page, who raised more than £15,000 for the North West Ambulance Service, and Mike Goldrick of Heywood, whose blinds manufacturing company has become a scrub hub for NHS workers.

Mr Clarkson described his constituents as ‘some of the finest, most patriotic and enterprising people not just in the north, but in the whole country,’ and pledged to stand up for ‘the forgotten towns of the North’ who have ‘waited their turn, promised so much by the people they have elected, only to see themselves passed over again and again’.