You can read Sharon's latest Echo column below or on the Sunderland Echo Website.

This has been Tory sleaze and they will never learn.

It has been 31 years since John Major assumed control of the Conservative party but once again an old word has returned to haunt British politics, ‘Sleaze’.

Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Oct-Nov 2021 number 144

Click on the picture above to read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Oct-Nov 2021 number 144

You can read Sharon's latest Echo column below or on the Sunderland Echo Website

On climate change, we need Britain to lead by example.

The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, will take place this month in Scotland.

It will be the largest summit ever hosted by the United Kingdom, with over 30,000 delegates. After the 2015 Paris Agreement established that we must limit climate change to an increase of 1.5°C, COP26 attendees in Glasgow will look to establish ‘how’ we achieve that limit, perhaps over haggis, neeps and tatties.

They will have a lot to consider.

Sharon holds public meeting with Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuiness at the Tansy centre in South Hylton.

Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Sep-Oct 2021 number 143

Click on the picture above to read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Sep-Oct 2021 number 143

You can read Sharon's latest Echo Column below or on the Sunderland Echo website.

Britain’s social care system is on its knees

A decade of Conservative and Lib-Dem rule has seen a generation of older people struggle to access the care they both need and deserve.  Years of neglect have brought about high employee turnover, low pay and chronic funding shortages which plague the sector.  It is no exaggeration to say that the Conservatives are the party of levelling down.

Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Aug-Sep 2021 number 142

Click on the picture above to read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Aug-Sep 2021 number 142

Sharon Hodgson, Member of Parliament for Washington and Sunderland West and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food, recently visited the ‘Wear Here 4 Summer’ programme at Rickleton Cricket Club, Washington.

The ‘Wear Here 4 Summer’ programme, which is funded by the Department for Education’s Holiday Activity and Food Programme, has been supporting children and young people with a range of fun activities and food throughout the summer holidays.

The ‘Wear Here 4 Summer’ bus has been travelling around Sunderland bringing different activities to different areas across the city.

On Wednesday when Sharon visited, the children were taking part in a huge range of activities including smoothie making, boxing, boot camp and circus skills. There was also lots of hot and healthy food available.

The Holiday Activity and Food Programme was announced in 2020 by the Department for Education. It provides funding to Local Authorities. The funding covers Easter, summer and Christmas holidays in 2021 only.

Speaking at the ‘Wear Here 4 Summer’ bus, Sharon said:

“It was great to see the children and young people enjoying the Wear Here 4 Summer programme. They’ve had some fantastic activities and delicious food over the school holidays.

“As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food, I have been campaigning for many years for the Government to introduce funding for food and activities for children on the approximately 170 days a year when the school gates are shut.

“This programme will no doubt have had a positive impact on children across Sunderland this summer. That is why I believe the Government’s Holiday Activity and Food Programme should be available for all school holidays during the pandemic and beyond.”

ENDS

You can read Sharon's latest Echo Column below or on the Sunderland Echo website

I can’t imagine many people in the region missed the news coming from Nissan last week, and rightly so.

This three-headline announcement has the potential to transform our country’s automotive industry and is an incredible vote of confidence in our region’s world-class workforce.

Firstly, Sunderland will move full throttle towards its aim of being a carbon-free city by 2040, providing green jobs and clean energy with the construction of a ‘microgrid’.

This microgrid will then power a Gigafactory, which will be producing batteries for electric vehicles as we race towards the 2030 ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars.

And finally, to match the increasing demand for electric vehicles, Nissan have announced their next electric model will be built in Sunderland.

This collaboration between Nissan, AESC Envision, and Sunderland City Council, with support from the Government, is a result of incredible hard work.

But let’s not forget, the automotive industry was pushed to a cliff edge last year awaiting Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal which came through at the very last minute.

The deal emphasised the necessity for a domestic battery-manufacturing industry which for years has been highlighted by Nissan, local stakeholders and in Parliament by myself and colleagues, in order to meet the 2030 electrification goal and the moving goalposts of the UK-EU trade deal.

The Gigafactory commitment is therefore a massive sigh of relief for us all, and will pioneer the way ahead for British batteries.

The Sunderland plant has truly been certified as the jewel in the Nissan crown, with our region reaping the economic and employment rewards. In the North East, we all know people employed by Nissan or its supply chain, so we should all be very proud that their hard work has brought us here.

I will continue to showcase our automotive superpower in Parliament; a job that will be significantly easier after last week’s announcement.

Sunderland Echo website > 

Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Jun-Jul 2021 number 141



Click on the picture above to read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Jun-Jul 2021 number 141