Gordon Birtwistle & Burnley Liberal Democrats

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Gordon Birtwistle, MP for Burnley and Padiham visited Burnley Manufacturer Futaba-Tenneco UK Ltd on Friday 25th March for an extremely positive announcement about a major deal which Futaba has just landed.

Futaba-Tenneco UK Ltd has secured a major order from a major Japanese company to manufacture pressed and welded components. The order will effectively give the plant an almost full order book for the next few years, but importantly still leaves capacity for any other work that the Company secures.

Gordon Birtwistle at Futaba Tenneco

The winning of this order shows that the Company’s drive, vision and long term strategy, coupled with the exceptional commitment of the entire workforce has successfully guided it through the recession and the re-structure that was necessary to ensure that the plant remained competitive. The re-structure persuaded Futaba and Tenneco (the Mother companies) to continue to invest in the plant, and also kept its major customers onboard.
The Company has an excellent safety and quality record as shown by recent awards received from Toyota for both quality and delivery, and has recently invested heavily in the training and development of its employees, one of the issues heavily discussed during the meeting.
Mr Birtwistle offered his full support and will be working closely to help the company access some of the government’s £1.4 billion apprenticeship schemes (which saw an additional £180 million in funding announced in the recent budget) to aid the company in securing not only its own future but that of its workforce, as well as providing a boost to local employment.

Assistant Managing Director Kevin Schofield says, “This is not only fantastic news for the Company and all its employees, but also for the Burnley area and our supply chain. There are not many other companies in this area that can boast of the prospect of several years work and is testament to the hard work put in by every single employee. In fact, production levels are higher than expected at the moment which has led to 23 temporary workers being employed through a ground breaking scheme developed between FTUK and Neville Gee Employment Agency.

About the visit Gordon said “Futaba Tenneco are a fantastic local company, and this is very positive news for Burnley’s economy. The hard work and exceptional commitment of Futaba’s entire workforce are an example to us all, and Futaba are a company which Burnley should be extremely proud of.”

Liberal Democrat MP for Burnley & Padiham, Gordon Birtwistle has welcomed the announcement in yesterdays Spending Review that the national Apprenticeship scheme is to be expanded.

Spending on adult apprenticeships will be boosted by £250 million by 2014-15 providing an extra 75,000 apprenticeship places. The move has been welcomed by groups like the Federation for Small Businesses.

Commenting on the announcement, Gordon said
“I am delighted by this expanded commitment by the coalition government to the apprenticeship program. This will reverse the slide we have seen in apprenticeships over the last 20 years. We need skilled workers to help boost the economy and apprenticeships will help train people for these vital jobs”

Burnley and Padiham MP Gordon Birtwistle has been working with Lancashire County Council and Transdev to provide a better bus service to the people of Rosegrove and Gannow who live near the 4 and 5 bus routes. At the moment buses don’t run the full route on evenings or Sundays, unfairly disadvantaging those people who rely on the buses for their transport.
 
Gordon has asked that Lancashire County Council and Transdev look into the feasibility of providing a more accessible bus service to Rosegrove and Gannow, which they will be doing over the coming weeks.
 
Commenting, Gordon said:
 
“It is ridiculous that in the twenty first century, residents of a town such as Burnley should be restrained by a bus timetable that does not extend into the evening or Sundays. Over a Bank Holiday the people of Rosegrove and Gannow can be left from Friday evening until Tuesday morning without any means of getting into the town centre, which is unacceptable.”
 
“It is the most vulnerable of society who rely on the buses, and it is neither fair nor right that these people should be constrained by lack of a service which many people in towns and cities across the country take for granted. I hope to see an improved bus service for the people of Rosegrove and Gannow as soon as possible.”

Gordon Birtwistle, newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Burnley continued to press the Government about apprenticeships during a debate on ‘Building a High Skilled Economy’.

Drawing on his experience as an engineering apprentice 50 years ago, and as leader of Burnley Council in trying to attract high-skill jobs to Burnley, Gordon highlighted the need to invest in new developments and in the people to deliver them.

Following the debate he said, “The last Government had this idea that over 50% of young people should go to university, this has meant that there is now a dearth of well qualified young people who have been trained through apprenticeships for hands on jobs such as manufacturing. Quite often big jobs are sent abroad as we can’t supply enough skilled labourers, I want to see apprenticeships and vocational college courses become as highly regarded as the top university degrees and think that the young people of Burnley deserve the opportunity to have plenty of options to chose from when leaving school.’

Gordon Birtwistle has also been speaking to newly appointed Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable about the apprenticeships scheme and is due to meet the Apprenticeship Director of the Business & Skills Department at the end of the month to discuss how the apprenticeships will be delivered in Burnley.

Victims of the Equitable Life collapse can finally expect compensation as Liberal Democrat MPs push forward new legislation.

Liberal Democrat MP for Burnley, Gordon Birtwistle described the announcement as a “massive relief” for the millions of people who lost up to half their pensions in the collapse.

The Equitable Life Bill, which was outlined to the House of Commons yesterday [Wednesday], will give the Treasury the authority to make payments to policyholders or dependents who have been fighting the Labour Government for compensation since 2000.

A previous Liberal Democrat motion to get compensation for the millions of people involved was defeated in October 2009.

Gordon Birtwistle, Liberal Democrat MP for Burnley said:

“The previous Government continually ignored the millions of people who lost their savings.

“People in Burnley lost up to half their pensions in the fiasco yet Labour failed to act, ignoring Liberal Democrat advice, ignoring the High Court and ignoring an Ombudsman report.

“This Bill is a massive relief to thousands of pensioners and is long overdue.

“I am delighted that something the Liberal Democrats have been calling for can now finally happen. We are using our position in Government to give policyholders the money they deserve.”

The full text of the written statement to the Commons is available here: