Carlisle's new MP tells House of Commons that "flooding has already decimated our city twice during this century" as she commits to seeing the flood defences completed in her maiden speech.
Julie Minns delivered her maiden speech to the commons during a debate on Great British Energy, a new publicly owned clean energy company set-up by the Labour government, in which she spoke about her key priorities as MP.
As well as setting out her priorities, she also praised former MP John Stevenson for his role in bringing the Pears Medical School to the city and Eric Martlew who worked to get a university set-up in Carlisle in the first place.
Ms Minns said: "I shall campaign for the completion of our flood defences – defences that were promised but not delivered by the last government – the rebuilding of NHS dentistry across north Cumbria, and the growth of Carlisle’s night-time and visitor economies."
The Environment Agency has finished phase two of the flood defence works, but is currently looking into the feasibility of options for phase three which will cover the Willow Holme and Denton Holme areas.
READ MORE: Carlisle MP to urge government to complete flood defences
The agency anticipates that the outcome of this review will be available by spring 2025.
Ms Minns used the debate on Great British Energy to highlight the impact that flooding has on Carlisle and the surrounding areas, as well as to speak on farming and energy bills.
She said: "It is apt not just because the transition to clean energy and tackling climate change are critical to Carlisle—flooding has already decimated our city twice during this century, and local villages are too often cut off by localised flooding—and not just because we need to remove the obstacles that prevent Cumbria’s farmers from connecting their solar and wind farms, but because people right across Carlisle and north Cumbria tell me that they are desperate to see that cut in their energy bills."
Her maiden speech also shared "little-known facts" about the city including it being home to the country's first black police officer, the Beatles being thrown out of the Crown & Mitre Hotel, and pubs and bars being nationalised to curb drunkenness among munitions workers during World War I.
You can read the speech in full on the UK Parliament website.
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