Sunday marks a month since Cumbrians went to the polls to vote in the general election.
The political landscape changed beyond recognition as Labour swept the board in North and West Cumbria winning the new seats of Carlisle, Penrith and the Solway and Whitehaven and Workington.
They say a week is a long time in politics so, by that logic, a month must be a lifetime.
The direction of British politics has been turned on its head and has brought a huge level of change for Cumbria.
Cumbria is set for some of the largest increases in housing targets under the Government’s new methodology.
For Cumberland Council, the annual starts target increases from 224 to 1,217 while for Westmorland and Furness, it rises from 227 to 1,430.
It follows after the Deputy Prime Minister unveiled plans to overhaul the current planning framework with hopes of delivering Labour’s promise of building 1.5m homes over the next five years.
The government has put house building at the heart of its plan to grow the economy and two of our new MPs have joined the ‘Labour Growth Group’ to make sure the government keeps to its plans.
Julie Minns, MP for Carlisle and Josh MacAlister, MP for Workington and Whitehaven were both co-signatories in a letter to the Prime Minister which called on him to ‘grasp the nettle and go for growth’ and to help ease the ‘housing crisis’.
Critics of the plans has said that Labour is looking to ‘concrete’ over the countryside.
The new Labour government has claimed that there was an 'error of law' in granting planning permission for the west Cumbria coal mine and has pulled its defence of the decision in forthcoming legal challenges.
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The decision was welcomed by Whitehaven and Workington MP, Josh MacAlister who said that “The proposals for the mine won’t provide the long-term jobs that we need,” and called on the government to provide an ‘alternative plan’ to bring new well-paid jobs to West Cumbria in ‘industries that will last.’
With the next election not slated to happen until 2029, Labour will try to use their large parliamentary majority to effect the change they promised during the campaign.
Change is already afoot in Cumbria after one month and with more than 50 months to go before the election, more is likely.
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