WHAT will it take before the government realises that Cumbrian schools need more money?

Members of parliament and teachers have been warning for years about the financial timebomb in our education system, but these warnings have fallen on deaf ears. Then we had the general election, where I know for a fact that concerns about school funding played a huge role in losing the Conservatives votes nationally and here in Furness. But still there was no reaction from the government.

Now ahead of the budget, 70 headteachers from across Cumbria have written a powerful joint letter to the chancellor making the case for extra money for our schools.

They have a strong argument. The heads explain that schools in Cumbria are facing a staggering £13.3m in cuts by 2020. That is the equivalent of the salaries of 272 teachers. Many schools are already overstretched due to staff cuts and simply don’t know how they can reduce staffing numbers any more.

I saw just how stretched local schools were when I spent time in the classroom training as a teaching assistant and I know budgets have got tighter since then. Our rural geography means we can’t be expected to find the efficiency savings that big cities can by combining resources. The heads rightly point out that it is the most vulnerable students who will suffer the most from these cuts, harming social mobility and holding Cumbria back.

This simply isn’t good enough. If we are serious about giving the next generation a brighter tomorrow then we simply have to invest properly in their education today. Cumbria is speaking with one voice on this issue, it is time for the government to start listening.

If you need another example of the voice of Cumbria being sidelined by this government, then you could find it in the debate about nuclear regulation in the House of Commons on Monday.

The government has brought forward the Nuclear Safeguards Bill to restructure our nuclear safety laws after we leave Euratom, the European safety regulator. You might think this sounds perfectly sensible, the problem is that there is absolutely no reason why we should be leaving Euratom in the first place. It is not part of the EU so we could stay in when we are outside the EU and the nuclear industry has been very clear that staying in Euratom would be the best option for the UK.

In my speech I argued that uncertainty over this issue is harming the industry, and making it less likely that we can find new investment for the Moorside plant up the coast that is set to create 21,000 jobs. I have signed an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill that would give MPs a vote on staying in Euratom and I hope the government will finally see sense and do what is right for our nuclear sector.

Finally I just wanted to say a few words about Hurricane Ophelia which battered Furness on Monday, causing real damage to Holker Street and other buildings. None of us are strangers to extreme weather but we haven’t seen a storm like this in quite some time. The emergency services did a fantastic job in keeping people safe and I want to thank them all for their hard work.

I know that there were still problems with power cuts and with road blockages in parts of Furness. With storms like this set to continue, as well as other disasters like floods, the case for more investment to make our energy and transport infrastructure more resilient is only strengthened.

This is something I hope to discuss on Friday in the first meeting of the newly reformed Cumbria Better Connected campaign which will be fighting for a better deal for transport in Cumbria. I will keep you updated on progress.