Recently, I welcomed the Home Secretary to Stoke-on-Trent to officially open the new Home Office Hub in the city, following the Home Office’s pledge to bring more than 500 skilled well-paid jobs to our city.
As a lifelong Stoke-on-Trent resident, I believe that we should be fully harnessing the skills and talents, from areas like ours. We cannot be reliant on a purely London based civil service to help run a nation that brings success for all. For this reason, I am very pleased to back the Government’s plans to grow the number of civil service jobs outside of London and in areas like Stoke-on-Trent.
The opening of the Home Office Hub at Two Smithfield in Stoke-on-Trent is just the start of plans to create a full civil service campus in Stoke-on-Trent with the Home Office being the first part of what is hoped to be a much larger number of skilled well-paid jobs located in Stoke-on-Trent.
It was fantastic to welcome the Home Secretary to Stoke-on-Trent to officially open the new hub. During the Home Secretary’s visit, we had the opportunity to tour the new hub and speak some of the recently recruited teams. We also had the chance to discuss various concerns in Stoke-on-Trent such as immigration and local crime with the Home Secretary. These high-profile visits from the Government are proof that our city is at the forefront of the Government’s agenda.
The new Home Office Hub will particularly help deal with the illegal immigration backlogs, supporting Government efforts to stop the boats and deport those who have no right to be here. With over 1,279 asylum seekers and refugees now in Stoke-on-Trent, I have repeatedly called for further action to tackle illegal migration. I have also called on the Government to ensure public services across the city are not over-stretched by illegal migration and that those who come here through illegal routes have no right to remain.
I fully support the Government’s efforts through the Illegal Migration Bill currently making its way through Parliament. This new law aims to properly deter dangerous illegal journeys, ensuring anyone who enters the United Kingdom has no right to remain and bringing an end to the repeated often spurious legal claims. Over the next two weeks a battle is likely to ensue between the House of Commons and House of Lords to pass these new laws.
The Lords are doing everything in their power to stop the reforms which are needed to tackle illegal migration, having tabled numerous amendments, and most recently voted against the measures proposed on 20 occasions, with opposition parties trying to wreck the whole bill. I will be doing everything in my power to ensure these new laws pass, no matter how late Parliament must sit through the night and how many times we have to throw back the Lords attempts to overturn the wishes of the democratically elected Chamber.
Work from the Home Office doesn’t stop there. Staffordshire has been the focus for additional police investment with 332 additional new police officers delivered for Staffordshire Police and we are one of 16 force areas receiving investment through the Hotspot Policing Pilot to tackle crime hotspots.
As part of the Safer Streets Fund, several projects have been delivered to tackle anti-social behaviour, improve safety in our communities and reduce violence against women. I have been working with Staffordshire Commissioner, Ben Adams, to ensure our area gets a fair share of this investment. This has particularly included Blurton, where the efforts of Cllr Lorraine Beardmore has resulted in £17,000 being secured to tackle anti-social behaviour locally, including the development of a Community Gardens. In East Fenton over £1 million of Safer Street Funds have been invested towards safety measures such as CCTV, security gates, and improved lighting. These types of investments go towards improving our local area and deterring crime to help people feel safer.
As the MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, I speak with many residents who often raise concerns around anti-social behaviour across the city, especially our town centres. I work closely with our hard-working local police team from Staffordshire Police to help tackle this unacceptable behaviour. I have been working hard to ensure we secure even more investment to deliver similar safety improvements in other areas.
For this reason, I was very pleased to hear the Government’s announcement last week that they are increasing the Safer Streets Fund. The Government is providing another £60 million – £1.4 million for every police force area in the country – to invest in CCTV or street lighting, and local community projects.
Following the news of the extra Government funding, I will be pushing for funds towards CCTV in Longton to tackle the ongoing issues we have seen with criminal damage and anti-social behaviour in the town centre. This will help people to feel safer and ensure that those who break the law, feel the full force of the law.
