MP Jake ‘putting family first’
ROSSENDALE and Darwen MP Jake Berry has stepped down as the government’s Northern Powerhouse Minister after a cabinet reshuffle.
Mr Berry, who has just become a father for the third time, announced the decision on social media last week and he said it was the ‘greatest privilege of my life’ to serve in the role since June 2017.
The father- of- three quit Boris Johnson’s government after rejecting a post in the Foreign Office.
He said he could not accept a role which “would have required substantial amounts of foreign travel”.
Mr Berry, who has served as Rossendale MP since 2010, was made an under-secretary of state for the
Northern Powerhouse under Theresa May, a position that was elevated to a full ministerial role when Mr Johnson took power.
Announcing his decision, he said: “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to fight for the North in Westminster.
“For the last two and a half years I have helped move the Northern Powerhouse from concept to Cabinet table.
“I firmly believe that the Northern Powerhouse was the foundation stone of the blue wall that delivered a Conservative majority Government.
“I chose to leave Government after being offered another role that would have required substantial amounts of foreign travel. I have three children under three, the youngest of whom is less than a week old.
“Family will always come first and I felt unable to accept the offer.”
The former minister says he will continue to support the Prime Minister from the back benches where he will now sit with the exchancellor Sajid Javid.
Mr Berry retained his seat in Rossendale for the fourth election in a row last year when he was part of the Tory landslide that put Mr Johnson back in power.
He won more than 27,000 votes in a crushing six-point swing towards the Tories.
FATHER of newborn forced to quit job after boss tells him he’ll have to see less of his kids.’
As headlines go, it’s one to stop you in your tracks, isn’t it? In the 21st century, an era of apparently family-friendly work regulations, how could this happen?
Yet that’s exactly what’s happened to our local MP, Jake Berry. He’s been the Northern Powerhouse Minister for a number of years, banging the drum for the North at a time when, certainly under previous PM Theresa May, the North wasn’t getting much of a look in.
Along came Mr Berry’s mentor, Boris Johnson, and the post became one which attended cabinet. At last, the North’s voice finally at the top table.
But not for long. In last week’s ministerial reshuffle, the Prime Minister who has vowed to ‘level up the North’ (whatever that means) and ‘unleash the Northern Powerhouse’ (again, whatever) decided the Northern Powerhouse Minister no longer deserved a seat at the Cabinet table.
Indeed, the post is apparently no longer needed. It’s been folded into another role in the Department for Communities and Mr Berry was offered a ministerial job at the Foreign Office.
Mr Berry, who last week announced the birth of his third child - he now has three little uns under the age of three - felt he couldn’t take on so much foreign travel and is now on the backbenches.
It’s a shocking way for a Government to behave in the 21st century. Government should lead by example, not pretend they are above the (employment) law.
It’s also no way for Mr
Johnson to treat someone who has been so loyal to him, either,
Still, the Government’s loss could be Rossendale and Darwen’s gain.
Mr Berry has never been one of those MPs who gets the first sniff of power in Government and forgets his constituency - far from it.
But being back on the backbenches does give Mr Berry more space to speak out about things which he might disagree with the Government on - and that’s got to be good for Rossendale.
There are no shortage of issues to look at here - but top of this column’s list for Mr Berry would be demanding better funding for our councils, both borough and county.
Both councils continue to get the rubbish end of the Government’s funding formulae for councils, with councils in the south doing relatively well while both Lancashire and Rossendale councils continue to rummage down the back of the sofa, counting the coppers and trying to avoid selling off the silverware.
Services are reduced, we pay for services which used to be free, we get less and what’s more council tax just continues to rise. So we’re paying more, and getting less.
But perhaps a bigger challenge for Mr Berry is going to be getting the Government to take Rossendale and Darwen seriously when it comes to getting money for the ‘big’ infrastructure projects which are being talked about.
Mr Johnson is said to be keen on rewarding the constituencies which ‘lent’ their votes to the Tories in December - areas like Hyndburn for example, which went from red to blue.
Rossendale went blue in 2010 and has remained loyal to the Tories since.
We’ve seen loyalty counts for little with this Government, so what are our chances of getting some of the investment we not only deserve, but very much need?
A vocal voice on the back benches may result in Mr Berry being far more influential than when restricted by being part of a collective Cabinet. We shall see.