Mark Eastwood MP: Out and about in the community

Remembrance honours those who have served, or continue to serve, to defend and protect our democratic freedoms and way of life. Last year the Speaker of the House of Commons opened the first ever Constituency Garden of Remembrance at the House of Commons, where I, alongside many members of parliament, planted remembrance stakes dedicated to our constituents. On Monday 7 November, this was opened again, I attended the opening ceremony. It was an incredibly moving service, and I was honoured to plant a remembrance stake on behalf of the Dewsbury constituency. It was my privilege to lay a wreath on behalf of the constituency at remembrance parades in Dewsbury and Mirfield on Sunday.

It has been a busy month for visitors to the constituency. On November 4, in my role as trade envoy to Pakistan, I welcomed the Pakistan high commissioner to the constituency to meet with the vice chancellor of Huddersfield University, Bob Cryan. It was a very productive meeting where we discussed fostering closer ties between the universities in Pakistan and Huddersfield. The high commissioner and I then met with local business owners from across Dewsbury and Ravensthorpe, where we discussed import and export opportunities and improving trade links. A thank you to Shire Beds for hosting the event.

I also welcomed Seyfi Onur Sayin, the Turkish consular general to our town, where we visited several local businesses in Ravensthorpe that have an interest in exports to Turkey to enhance their growth.

Finally, last week, I had the pleasure of joining Michelle Donelan, the secretary of state for the department of culture, media and sport to visit the West Yorkshire Print Workshop, based in Mirfield, and congratulate them on the grant they have been awarded from the Arts Council. This significant investment of £100,000 will enable the West Yorkshire Print Workshop to continue to support artists of all ages and to bring creativity and culture to all in the community.

I updated you in my last column about the work my colleague Jason McCartney, MP for Colne Valley, and I have been undertaking to tackle speeding in our towns and villages. We recently held a meeting with the mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin and the deputy mayor for policing and crime, Alison Lowe OBE, to discuss the outcome of our survey and explore what can be done to tackle the issue. We will continue to push the mayor to make this a key priority moving forward.

Recently, I visited Boothroyd Primary Academy in Dewsbury to discuss their concerns about road safety outside their school. The children had some fantastic suggestions, and I was able to ask the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, a question about improving road safety outside schools in his first Prime Minister’s Questions.

Thank you for reading. As always, the team and I are here to help. Please feel free to contact me via email: [email protected] or telephone 01924 939 007.