Constituents of a certain age may remember the BBC children's television series Jackanory, in which an actor seated in an armchair read fables and tall tales. I regret that this column has been used as an ‘easy chair’ for the spinning of yarns recently by some of my political opponents.
Columns by the Labour candidate for Whitehaven and Workington, and the Lib Dem hopeful for Penrith and Solway have been riddled with false claims and distortions. This has prompted me to take the unusual step of writing in to correct some of the more glaring whoppers. I cannot stand idly by whilst my constituents are being deliberately misled by those who hope to represent them.
Whether it’s false claims about Cockermouth school, while omitting to say that the school is to be rebuilt after I helped to secure its place on the school rebuild programme, in line with my 2019 promises to work to provide the best possible start in life to the next generation and follows our rebuild of Workington Academy and the £millions invested I schools across the patch;
Or that “the tax burden for those employed is at its highest level in decades”, which is also demonstrably false. Except for cohorts in the top five per cent you now take home more of your gross pay than you would have done in 2010, under the type of Labour government for which the Lib Dems are campaigning.
We also had the Labour candidate who ‘forgot’ to mention that it his party which has decimated local bus services, while continuing to fail to spend government funding on buses.
This Government supported people through the Covid pandemic, paid their wages while we were locked down, continues to protect all households from higher energy bills resulting from Putin’s war in Ukraine, and continues to support our most vulnerable families. The Conservatives delivered Brexit and membership of the world’s fastest growing trade bloc. We have secured THREE TIMES the £350 million extra a week for the NHS promised by Vote Leave. And all of these achievements have been delivered against the backdrop of a global pandemic and Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in an election year, promises made by opposition parties will get even wilder. You will be promised the moon on a stick - but they can’t find the moon and they don’t have a stick. They have no plan, no ideas: there is no pot of gold at the end of their rainbow, only higher taxes. Scratch the surface of and you will find nothing of substance.
Liars make the best promises. As Abraham Lincoln said: “We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot.”
Meanwhile, more than £1bn of investment and support has flooded into the Workington constituency since I was elected in 2019. School funding has increased by more than 10% in real terms, just as I promised, and the median wage has increased ahead of inflation.
Here are some of the things I have delivered against My Plan (which can be seen at www.mark-jenkinson.co.uk/myplan) to show that when I make promises, I keep them:
- Work has started on our new £15m Community Diagnostic Centre in Workington. This will enable residents to access quicker diagnosis and treatment and complements the £23.1 million Government-funded Workington Town Deal which will provide office space next door, further regeneration of the town centre through improved wayfinding and the renovation of the link between Murray Road and the shopping centre, regeneration of the Port and Oldside, and a new shared football and rugby stadium.
- Work is about to start on the £10m Workington Gateway Project through the Levelling Up Fund which will help improve access between the A66, A595 and A596 – fixing the longstanding problems both at Ramsay Brow and further along at Hall Brow. The project also delivers a fantastic renovation of the former Workington Hall walled garden, in conjunction with West House. Having long been a champion of Workington Hall and its Parlkands, I’m looking forward to my first coffee in the garden.
- Work is nearing completion on the £40 million investment of phase 2 of the West Cumberland Hospital (WCH) redevelopment. This is on top of the £90m investment from phase one and the £15m rebuild of Cockermouth Hospital.
- In Maryport, I have secured a new Banking Hub. This is already providing a much-needed lifeline for continued cash access in our community. The wider town is undergoing a transformation through the £11.5m Government’s Future High Street Fund – and these works are gathering place now.
- Cumbria Police now has more police officers than ever before, with hundreds of additional officers recruited in less than four years. We’re opening new police bases and putting bobbies back on the beat to drive down crime and antisocial behaviour. Nationally, crime down by 56 per cent since 2010 and 10 per cent since last year.
I have said it before. and I will say it again: honesty in politics matters. My constituents know that I am a man of my word. I will fight tooth and nail in their interests. I have a plan and it is working. I can’t promise flying unicorns, but my track record speaks for itself.
A vote for Labour or the Lib Dems risks sending the country back to square one – the managed decline of our great nation, and of our towns and cities. As we see here in Cumberland.
