On Thursday, 6th January, I was very pleased to welcome the Prime Minister to Northampton, where we spent a few hours meeting local key workers.
I accompanied the Prime Minister firstly to the NHS Moulton Park mass vaccination centre, where he had the chance to thank the town’s NHS staff, armed forces workers, and volunteers for their continued efforts on the booster programme.
At the Moulton Park centre alone, hundreds of thousands of vaccinations have been administered and I was pleased that the Prime Minister got the chance to personally thank those from the NHS, military and volunteers who are helping to deliver in our world-leading programme.
Our booster programme is allowing the UK to end restrictions and come out of the pandemic faster than anywhere else. If you have not had your booster jab yet, please do come forward and Get Boosted Now!
The PM then travelled on to Weston Favell Police Station where he spoke to local police officers – including new recruits - about getting more officers on the streets.
The police work tirelessly to serve our communities and make our streets safer, often in the most difficult of circumstances. We are grateful for their vital assistance throughout the pandemic. It was fantastic to meet some of them together with the Prime Minister in Northampton North.
We spoke of the importance of getting more officers on the streets and also had the chance to see the Force’s SNO (Safer Nights Out) van and new interceptor cars, which are very powerful cars are specifically designed to fight against those who are using the county’s road network to commit crime. The cars are high performance and utilise new technologies used by the Police to intercept and respond to criminals.
Northamptonshire Police is ahead of its target for recruiting additional police officers and I encourage those who may be interested to take advantage of the opportunities through its ongoing recruitment campaign. We have pledged to recruit 20,000 new Police Officers nationally to help keep our people and streets safe, and Northamptonshire Police will soon exceed 1,500 officers – the largest that it has ever been!
We can be very proud of the extraordinary job our police officers do, in often difficult circumstances, to protect our community. Along with all key workers, the Police have stepped up during this global pandemic to help keep the public safe and I am grateful to them for that.
The Prime Minister has visited Northampton previously at my invitation and he is well aware of the priorities for Northampton residents. Indeed, in an interview with local media on the day he said "I think Northampton is doing brilliantly in many ways. I know the town centre has been successful in getting money from The Towns Fund… We will continue to make sure we support regeneration in the town centre in any way we can."
For instance, Northampton has benefitted from a generous share of the government's Future High Streets Fund, which shared £380 million across town and city centres in the UK, and additionally the town received £25 million from the Towns Fund grant in 2021, which I helped to secure and which will be spent on a range of projects, including the redevelopment of the old Marks and Spencer and BHS buildings, Four Waterside, a new arts centre on Guildhall Road and an extension of the museum at 78 Derngate.
(Photo Above: Prime Minister Boris Johnson MP, Michael Ellis MP; Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire Stephen Mold; and Assistant Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police Simon Blatchly)