Simon Fell Column: MP meets Multicultural Forum and returns to Chetwynde School

On Tuesday, at the Home Affairs Committee, we met with Dame Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to discuss a range of issues.

One was the policing of vigils.

COAST: Meeting the owners of Marsh Farm in Askam about coastal erosion

You will remember the scenes of Clapham Common where people gathered peacefully to pay their respects to Sarah Everard, and the shocking images on our screens when the situation turned to violence.

It was therefore fascinating to hear from the Commissioner and her Deputy about the challenges they face, fairly and without prejudice, when such events are used by those seeking to exploit them for their own ends. This serves only to increase tensions: the last thing that anyone needs.

I also spoke in the Chamber when the Prime Minister announced a full public enquiry into the Government’s handling of the pandemic.

This will begin next year when the worst pressures of Covid are behind us.

COLUMN: Simon Fell with the team at Dalton Leisure Centre

When I spoke, I stressed that communities like ours – where many suffer from underlying health conditions that exacerbate the effects of the virus - faced a particularly difficult struggle.

So while it is crucial that we examine what the Government, Public Health England, the NHS and others did and didn't do, we must also examine how to support communities like Furness so that we never again face that toxic mix: we need a healthier community, with all the tools needed to underpin that, not just expenditure on infrastructure.

On Thursday I returned to Chetwynde School, having talked to their students, alongside many other Furness schools, online last week as part of the Bright Stars initiative.

They are undertaking community litter picks as one of their activities, in response to the increase in litter that they noticed during lockdown.

They plan not just to improve the local environment but also to raise funds, and are hoping to buy a greenhouse to grow vegetables.

During the past months we have all become more aware of the challenges to the environment, so it is fantastic to see these young people tackling this head on.

SCHOOL: Simon speaking with students at Chetwynde

On Friday I met the Furness Multicultural Forum, a great organisation which does much to help those in the community who really need support.

For them, the virus and associated lockdowns led to delays and introduced obstacles to offering the level of support that they provided pre-Covid.

I will be raising this with the Minister to see what can be done.

Finally, I met with fellow coastal MPs to discuss how to support the struggling shellfish industry.

It faces a double jeopardy, namely punitive export controls from the EU, and the massive fall in demand as a result of the closure of restaurant businesses as a result of the pandemic.

We are working together to try to ensure that these organisations and the fishing families who supply them, can recover.