By the time of the next election, I would have worked in politics for twenty-five years, including fifteen years as the Member of Parliament for Camborne, Redruth, and Hayle and last week I confirmed that I would not be standing at the next election.
It was a difficult decision because I have a deep bond with the area where my family have lived and worked for over four hundred years, but I will be 53 at the next election and I want the chance to do something different in life. In my time as an MP, most of the 35 or so schools in this constituency have had at least two head teachers, I am on to my third Chief Constable, there have been six Council Leaders and more NHS leaders than I can count. In every field in life, people take on difficult leadership roles for a period before moving on, and politics is no different. Of course, there are still almost two years left of this current parliament and I will remain the MP until the final moment and fight for local constituents all the way to the line.
Last Friday I visited Cornwall College at Pool. I am a former student of the college who has done a Business Studies course there and I also learnt to weld in my teenage years. The college is doing incredibly well after a difficult few years. Last year it had a glowing Ofsted report and was rated as “good” across the board and the staff at the College were singled out for great praise and much deserved too. Student numbers are recovering. Last week I saw students learning to weld, as I did, but using a new digital, virtual reality system to get started and I also saw a new suite dedicated to online sports which are growing globally. The college has some challenges with rising costs as do many other organisations, but they also have some exciting plans to invest and renovate key parts of the campus and have secured the capital funding from the government to take this forward.
I also visited two great projects in Redruth which are moving forward. Firstly, the Buttermarket in Redruth has secured several million pounds of funding to create office, retail, and living space, which will secure the future of the amazing architecture at the site. Redruth has done incredibly well to mobilise local talent and enthusiasm to make excellent use of some of the High Street Heritage Action Zone money that was awarded to the town, and it is great to see this good work coming to fruition. I also visited the social enterprise behind The Ladder, which is working to bring the old library back into use as a social enterprise hub focusing on performing arts but also supporting families and the community. They already have a number of organisations getting involved and are seeking some funding from the future devolution deal.
