Its brilliant to see two big sports clubs in our borough, which matter to so many local people, working together to ensure they and Boundary Park all have secure futures.
Promoting community ownership, which was one of my priorities at the election, can be delivered by securing sports grounds as Assets of Community Value to safeguard their future, which we worked hard to achieve for Boundary Park.
This means it will be put into even better use for local people so that they can enjoy great football, great rugby and other social and youth events at the venue in the knowledge that the ground and both clubs are all in good hands.
Today, the new Labour government’s legislative programme was spelled out in the first King’s speech under a Labour government for over 70 years.
For the people of Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, plans have been announced which will deliver on my local priorities:
In delivering better paid and more secure jobs, the government will introduce the Employment Rights Bill. This will implement our New Deal for Working People to level up workers’ rights by banning exploitative zero-hour contracts, ending Fire and Rehire, and giving people rights at work from day one.
In creating a safe place on our high streets and in our neighbourhoods, the government announced both the Crime and Policing Bill and the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill. These focus on measures such as strengthening community policing powers to deal with anti-social behaviour and to help victims, while also tackling the causes of crime with the Youth Futures programme.
In fighting for more decent family homes for local people, we will set in motion both the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the Renter’s Rights Bill. These include measures to reform planning so we can build 1.5 million new homes and measures to support renters such as ending no-fault evictions.
In terms of promoting community ownership, I am proud of the recent work we’ve done to save the Oldham Coliseum using the co-operative model of ownership to safeguard our town’s community venue in a way that puts local people in power.
As Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, I will play a role in implementing the English Devolution Bill. The purpose of it is to bring in new powers for metro mayors and combined authorities in England to support local growth plans. We will push power out of Westminster and give it to those who know their areas best because we think democratic decisions are best made by people with skin in the game.
Labour promised during the election campaign to change Britain by ending the chaos and decline we suffered under the previous government. This King’s Speech begins a decade of national renewal to boost the living standards of working people and get Britain’s future back.
Oldham Council has received a “Good” Ofsted judgement across all areas of its Children’s Services.
I want to pay tribute to the staff and political leadership who have made this such an important focus of work.
Keeping our children safe and providing the best possible outcomes is essential, and there can be no doubt that the financial cliff edge facing councils has hit hard and made this challenge much harder.
However that hasn’t stopped investment nor political focus, the opposite has happened.
The Ofsted report said;
“Since the last inspection in March 2019, when services for children and families were judged to be requires improvement to be good, there has been a relentless focus on improvement, driven by the director of children’s services and his strong and stable leadership team.
“The pace of change has been purposeful and has ensured that children now benefit from good-quality help and support.
“Political and corporate commitment have translated into significant financial investment to strengthen services and provide increased workforce stability.”
They have my full support in continuing this focus.
It’s been an incredibly busy and rewarding week as we have began serving the British people in the first Labour government for 14 years.
I am honoured to play my part as Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
My role includes responsibly for growing out devolution across England, local government finance, reform and standards, and many other important aspects including workforce and pensions.
The team couldn’t have made me feel more welcome and it’s a pleasure to work with our friend and neighbour – and Deputy Prime Minister – Angela Rayner, and the team she has brought together.
It’s a strong frontbench team and I’ve been inspired by the quality and dedication of the civil servants I’ve met both in London and during a visit to the departmental office in Wolverhampton, where the reception couldn’t have been warmer.
I believe strongly in shifting power away from Westminster into our regions, councils and local communities and I see huge potential to deliver our missions to change Britain.
Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton have a seat at the table and I’m determined to ensure the impact is felt across every community.
As a former Local Council leader, I understand how vital it is for local authorities to be properly funded so they can provide the front line and community services which many people rely on.
Our new government wants to change course from the previous 14 years under the Conservatives who cut council budgets to the bone, leaving some local authorities of every political stripe going bust over the last couple of years.
As Minister of State, I will work to repair the relationship between local and national government so that each can thrive and serve the public in the way they deserve.
This week on ITV’s Good Morning Britain I spelt out how we are going to alleviate financial pressures in local government.
Reigniting economic growth is only possible and worthwhile if it is done in every community in every party of our country. We need wealth to be created far and wide.
As a newly appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, part of my role will be enhancing the combined authority model of devolution so that power and resources are further away from Westminster and closer to where people actually are. Decision-making power should be left to those who have skin in the game, with communities and local people taking control of their future.
However, our new government will not impose decisions on places, we want local power to be fostered from the grassroots upwards, and a national government which empowers rather than derides local government.
Our devolution agenda has already begun with the Prime Minister giving Metro Mayors a seat around the table in his first few days in office. This collaboration will make sure that local areas across the country have governments at every level which want to work together to increase prosperity and the number of good jobs.
I talked about these plans on ITV’s Good Morning Britain earlier this week.
Building an NHS fit for the future was one of Labour’s five missions for government that we put forward in our manifesto at the general election. In our first week in office, we are taking steps to achieve this mission by addressing the junior doctors strikes we inherited from the Conservatives.
The government has hit the reset button on relations between the government and junior doctors by actually getting in the room to try and come to a resolution over pay and conditions so that junior doctors can get back to doing what they want to do: carry out vital, life-saving work. In this way, Labour is already delivering for towns like Oldham across Britain.
On Tuesday, I spoke with Kay Burley on Sky News about this, along with what Labour is going to do to cut waiting lists and remodel the health service towards prevention, thereby making outcomes better for both staff and patients.
At the general election, one of my four priorities for the people of Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton was to fight for decent homes for local people.
Our new Labour government is hitting the ground running in our first week in office with the Chancellor announcing how we are going to reform planning to ensure we build the 1.5 million new homes over this parliament we pledged to build at the general election.
We will work with communities to utilise brownfield sites and distinguish between the green belt which protects us from urban sprawl, the countryside which makes up our world-class landscapes, and the ‘grey belt’ which includes disused car parks and other areas which local people want to be developed.
Brownfield and ‘grey belt’ sites must be where we solve our housing crisis and rebuild national infrastructure to reignite sustained economic growth to boost living standards and allow us to properly fund our vital public services. By contrast, green belt land and our countryside must be protected and preserved. In this way, work will be done with communities, not done to communities.
I discussed the new government’s initial work to review the National Planning Policy Framework with Kay Burley on Sky News yesterday morning.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 