Letter from Parliament - Simon Danczuk MP

Simon Danczuk MP welcomed Retail Ready People to Rochdale

In recent years we’ve seen thousands of people line the streets to pay their respects to Britain’s soldiers. From Wootton Basset to Handforth, Cheshire and Littleborough here in Rochdale there has been a huge outpouring of support and respect for the sacrifices our soldiers make.

It’s only right then that we should do all we can to permanently recognise the bravery of our troops and that’s why I’m really pleased to see Rochdale Council naming streets after soldiers from our Borough.

Lance Corporal Steven Shaw, who was awarded the Military Cross after risking his life to save a colleague in Afghanistan, is the first to have the main street in his home town named after him. And I hope there will be others who get the same honour.

Challenging the existing way of doing things should always be what drives people in public life to achieve progress, and nowhere is this more important than where our town centre’s concerned. One suggestion, made by Councillor Farnell recently, is that we should move the market outside to bring back the bustle to our high street.

This is a great idea. Lancashire has centuries of market history and I think we need to re-establish ourselves in this market tradition and bring back a stronger sense of community to our high street.

It’s rare that I talk about my life before I became a politician, but in the last few weeks I’ve been asked more frequently about my background before coming into politics and how my experiences growing up helped shape my views on work and welfare.

Last week I spoke on BBC Radio 4 about how growing up on benefits made me desperate to escape poverty and throw myself into the world of work. I’m a big believer in a strong work ethic and the transformative nature of work. Work can change lives. It’s as simple as that, and it’s no good leaving people parked on benefits for years and years. If we want a strong society we need as many people working as possible, and that’s why the Government should be re-doubling their efforts to support the economy to create jobs rather than pushing people into poverty.

Quite often this week I’ve found myself humming along to the Geoff Alexander song ‘Going back to Rochdale’, which is becoming a great campaign tune to put pride back into Rochdale. It won’t top the charts, but it sure is catchy!