Letter from Parliament – Tony Lloyd

I’m thrilled that Rochdale has been awarded £5m in flood defences. Liz [McInnes MP for Heywood and Middleton] and I have lobbied for this over the past few months and it’s great that Rochdale will benefit.

It was the 100-year anniversary of the first woman who was elected in the House of Commons this week. Countess Markievicz was an Irish Nationalist and an early feminist who never actually took her seat. We have been celebrating the role of women in the public life to commemorate this historic milestone.

There is a crisis of trust in water companies. United Utilities, which provide water to Rochdale, have implemented a hosepipe ban, yet they still waste huge amounts of water through leaks in their system. They have some questions they need to answer.

Our rail fiasco continues as Northern Rail cancelled 107 train services last week because their rosters weren’t properly scheduled. Quite frankly, it is pathetic.

This week I had a meeting with the Hepatitis C Coalition. Hepatitis C is generally transmitted through blood and can be caught by sharing razors or toothbrushes with an infected person. There is an aim to eliminate this by 2025 and Greater Manchester has been put forward as an area of best practice.

It’s entirely curable if it is caught, but only around 10,000 people have been diagnosed of the thousands who have it. We’re calling for them to come forward, especially if they are at risk of the virus.

I had a meeting about the Irish population in Britain. There are many families in Rochdale who are from Irish family backgrounds. The project is aiming to set up a legacy for the ‘nurses, navvies and Irish’ who came over to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.

There is a need for people to make the most of their community pharmacies, who are being asked to do more and more these days. If they’re used properly, they can help relieve pressure on GPs. Really, it’s common sense to see how we can use our community pharmacies, who can help with ailments and treatments. They also offer diabetes screening for those with a high risk of the disease.

I’m hoping to visit one of our local pharmacies soon, to really see their work and how they can help.

As my former role of former Police and Crime Commissioner suggests, I do have a large interest in our police forces and how they can be improved. Regarding the armed police, we do have very low levels of firearms, but we do need to have highly trained officers who can be called on at a moment’s notice. Like the horrific attack at the Manchester Arena, we do need these people who are trained to protect us.

The ongoing conflict in Syria still shames us all. How quickly things can descend to conditions such as these in which people lose their lives.

I attended a reception for numerous organisations committed to tackling cancer. Research has made huge strides over the years as many forms of the sickness are no longer the killers they once were, like breast and bowel cancer. However, we still need to work hard to find cures for other types, like lung cancer.

I went to a couple of meetings about retail. Whilst we are building a third shopping centre in Rochdale, we still have Yorkshire Street and Drake Street and other shopping areas further afield in the borough which need a viable future. We need to look at alternative uses for some of these streets and how they can fit in with a modern high street and shopping.

A strategy with housing providers needs to be set out for new houses, I visited the local Job Centre to see how the Universal Credit rollout has been handled, and I also attended an awareness event at Castlemere Community Centre.

This weekend, I’ll be celebrating South Asian culture at the Manchester Mega Mela in Platt Fields Park, experienced some local traditions at the Littleborough Rushbearing and looking forward to the ‘Around the World Celebration’ in Falinge Park.