Tommyfield Market closes ahead of new indoor market opening – but the heritage remains …

A big moment for Oldham yesterday as Tommyfield market closed its doors ahead of the new indoor market opening next week. For generations, Tommyfield has been at the heart of our town. Our market charter dates back to 1849, serving a booming industrial Oldham and the thousands of families who built this place. That historyContinue reading “Tommyfield Market closes ahead of new indoor market opening – but the heritage remains …”

This week in Parliament

A quick round-up of my week in down in Westminster 𝐒𝐭. 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐒𝐜𝐀𝐬 πƒπšπ² 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐑𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐒𝐬𝐑 π„π¦π›πšπ¬π¬π² It was wonderful to spend time with friends at the Irish Embassy this week celebrating St. Patricks Day, thank you for having me. 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐒𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐑𝐒𝐩 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐑𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 Labour is boosting apprenticeships with the expansion of the Youth Guarantee. IContinue reading “This week in Parliament”

450,000 children to be lifted out of poverty as two-child benefit cap is officially scrapped

The Universal Credit Act now has been granted Royal Assent. The two child benefit cap is now gone and from next month, this new law will come into force. This was a failed Tory experiment that punished innocent children and held too many families back. It was wrong then and it is right that aContinue reading “450,000 children to be lifted out of poverty as two-child benefit cap is officially scrapped”

Another life lost on Oldham’s roads. Enough is enough.

This week another life was taken as a result of a road traffic collision in Royton. Another family has been left devastated, and my thoughts are with them. Our borough saw 8 people killed in 2024, that’s the highest number in a decade and of those 6 were pedestrians. There were more pedestrians killed inContinue reading “Another life lost on Oldham’s roads. Enough is enough.”

Tackling the scourge of fly-tipping

Local parks, lanes and country parks are being used as dumping grounds by rogue developers, landlords and dodgy waste firms. New proposals announced by this Labour government can’t come quick enough: 20 hours of community service for fly-tippers to pick up their own rubbish Fines of up to Β£300 Courts given powers to punish illegalContinue reading “Tackling the scourge of fly-tipping”

Ukrainian delegation to Parliament

It was a pleasure to meet with Ukrainian MPs visiting the Parliament this week with the Inter-Parliamentary Association as part of their delegation to the UK, many of whom we met during our cross party delegation to Kyiv a few weeks ago. President Zelenskyy was also in Parliament to address MPs and Lords at theContinue reading “Ukrainian delegation to Parliament”

Labour set to boost apprenticeships

Yesterday the Labour government boosted apprenticeships with Β£3k Youth Jobs Grant for employers who take on a young person unemployed for 6 months; and a Β£2k bonus for small and medium sized businesses taking on a young apprentice. An extension of long term unemployed jobs guarantee to 22-24 year-olds was also announced. 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 π’˜π’† π’Œπ’π’π’˜Continue reading “Labour set to boost apprenticeships”