News: Rothbiz gains an ally - the Prime Minister
If you can get past the headline-grabbing heckling, the fudged answers to press questions, the less than enthusiastic audience reaction and the "light-hearted remark" from the host, you'll find that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom stood up and promoted positive stories about Rotherham businesses.
Boris Johnson used a high profile event in Rotherham to renew a drive to give more power to Northern regions.
At The Convention of the North held at Magna, the PM said: "[It is] only right that we are meeting here on the banks of the Don, literally the crucible in which the history of the nation was forged - and indeed of the modern world.
"When Nelson defeated the French at Trafalgar and set this country on course for about 100 years of imperial expansion, the cannons on HMS Victory were forged here at Walker and Company.
"It was Rotherham pipes that brought fresh drinking water to Hong Kong, Rotherham steel that clad Brunel’s Great Eastern and formed the skeletons of New York skyscrapers and did you know that every fire hydrant in New York was cast in British steel less than two miles from here at the works of Guest and Chrimes.
"That was before it occurred to anyone to put tariffs on British steel.
"This place where we meet was so central to our national life that it was bombed in both the first and second world wars.
"And so it was entirely fitting that 50 years ago the works here at Templeborough adopted as its logo the phoenix – perpetually rising from the ashes.
"And across this region you can feel that phoenix-like transformation as the Northern Powerhouse – which Jake just spoke so eloquently - thrums into life with a low-carbon, fuel efficient roar.
"Look at Catcliffe.
"Where a factory that once made superb glass is now being used by McLaren to turn super-light, super-strong Yorkshire carbon fibre into the fastest production cars on earth.
"Right next door, at the Advanced Manufacturing Park, Xeros Technology are producing the world's most environmentally friendly washing machine - that's the spin and I bet it's true.
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"Boeing chose Sheffield as its first civil aerospace factory in Europe – with nearly half its employees taken on as apprentices.
"And did anybody have a bagel this morning? Did you? No?
"Well if you did, it was probably made just up the road in Mexborough, where, in the largest bagel factory in Europe produces fully three-quarters of the bagels eaten in Britain every day.
"Sheffield is the home of the UK's largest provider of hybrid and electric vehicle drive systems, a company called Magtec.
"A world-first initiative, Magtec is retrofitting Sheffield's refuse lorries with battery-power, with enough juice to negotiate the seven hills and recharge themselves with energy they generate from the very rubbish they collect.
"Rubbish powered rubbish vans – there's a joke there somewhere which I will leave to you.
"I tell you, there is no limit to the imagination, innovation, ingenuity and leadership in the North."
The Prime Minister also said that the Government are committed to getting the Sheffield City Region devolution deal done and set out his intention to allow Northern communities to take more control over their rail services.
He added: "In this birthplace of the railways, we can do so much better. Today – coming from London on the train, it took me just over an hour and a half to get to Doncaster. But if, for example, you travelled from Liverpool to Rotherham – less than half the distance – you might have had to leave an hour earlier than me, and change as many as three times."
Images: NP11 / pscp.tv
Boris Johnson used a high profile event in Rotherham to renew a drive to give more power to Northern regions.
At The Convention of the North held at Magna, the PM said: "[It is] only right that we are meeting here on the banks of the Don, literally the crucible in which the history of the nation was forged - and indeed of the modern world.
"When Nelson defeated the French at Trafalgar and set this country on course for about 100 years of imperial expansion, the cannons on HMS Victory were forged here at Walker and Company.
"It was Rotherham pipes that brought fresh drinking water to Hong Kong, Rotherham steel that clad Brunel’s Great Eastern and formed the skeletons of New York skyscrapers and did you know that every fire hydrant in New York was cast in British steel less than two miles from here at the works of Guest and Chrimes.
"That was before it occurred to anyone to put tariffs on British steel.
"This place where we meet was so central to our national life that it was bombed in both the first and second world wars.
"And so it was entirely fitting that 50 years ago the works here at Templeborough adopted as its logo the phoenix – perpetually rising from the ashes.
"And across this region you can feel that phoenix-like transformation as the Northern Powerhouse – which Jake just spoke so eloquently - thrums into life with a low-carbon, fuel efficient roar.
"Look at Catcliffe.
"Where a factory that once made superb glass is now being used by McLaren to turn super-light, super-strong Yorkshire carbon fibre into the fastest production cars on earth.
"Right next door, at the Advanced Manufacturing Park, Xeros Technology are producing the world's most environmentally friendly washing machine - that's the spin and I bet it's true.
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"Boeing chose Sheffield as its first civil aerospace factory in Europe – with nearly half its employees taken on as apprentices.
"And did anybody have a bagel this morning? Did you? No?
"Well if you did, it was probably made just up the road in Mexborough, where, in the largest bagel factory in Europe produces fully three-quarters of the bagels eaten in Britain every day.
"Sheffield is the home of the UK's largest provider of hybrid and electric vehicle drive systems, a company called Magtec.
"A world-first initiative, Magtec is retrofitting Sheffield's refuse lorries with battery-power, with enough juice to negotiate the seven hills and recharge themselves with energy they generate from the very rubbish they collect.
"Rubbish powered rubbish vans – there's a joke there somewhere which I will leave to you.
"I tell you, there is no limit to the imagination, innovation, ingenuity and leadership in the North."
The Prime Minister also said that the Government are committed to getting the Sheffield City Region devolution deal done and set out his intention to allow Northern communities to take more control over their rail services.
He added: "In this birthplace of the railways, we can do so much better. Today – coming from London on the train, it took me just over an hour and a half to get to Doncaster. But if, for example, you travelled from Liverpool to Rotherham – less than half the distance – you might have had to leave an hour earlier than me, and change as many as three times."
Images: NP11 / pscp.tv
2 comments:
Top PM, let him get on with Brexit, unlike all the treacherous undemocratic MPs he as standing in his way!
Let's hope all this positive stuff is not obscured by Brexit hoo-ha!
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