'A town to be proud of': Read Jeremy Corbyn's 50th birthday message to Telford
Jeremy Corbyn was brought up near Telford. Today, to mark the town's 50th birthday, he explains how important it has been to his life.
"Shropshire shaped my life and my politics.
The Wrekin was where I grew up and campaigned for Labour. And after leaving school I worked briefly at the Star’s sister paper, the Newport and Market Drayton Advertiser.
I made my first ever public speech on 1 July 1967 at the Charlton Hotel in Wellington, at the annual dinner of the Labour Party Young Socialists. We spoke about the new town at that time and have been speaking up for Telford and the region ever since.
Telford was first designated in 1968. The new town sparked opposition, with some opposing its expansion - but the expansion brought vital new housing and industries.
Like many other places, Telford eventually ended up losing much of its heavy industry. However it has, to some extent, been replaced by high-tech, very efficient industries. I visited world-leading company Protolab’s Telford facility recently and I was very impressed by what I saw.
Telford, of course, had its origins in the pioneering 1945 Labour government that created the NHS. Atlee’s Government set up a New Towns Commission to look into how to rebuild the country after the destruction and decay resulting from the Second World War.
Similar to Dawley’s famous Captain Webb, the first person to swim the English Channel, that government did what many believed to be too difficult. As Dawley’s statue of Webb says: “Nothing great is easy”. (I still have the famous postcard questioning who put the large pig on the wall so it could see Captain Webb’s procession go by.)
At the time, locals distinguished the area through its historic market towns. Coalbrookdale and the Ironbridge Gorge are among the birthplaces of the industrial revolution – and the Blists Hill museum is a brilliant way of helping visitors understand Telford’s vital contribution to the world.
It was here in Telford that a unique combination of ingenuity, hard work and science forever changed the trajectory of industry and the economy. And Telford remains the beating heart of industry and business in Shropshire.
So much has happened over the last 50 years to confirm Telford’s place not just as one of the most successful ‘new towns’, but as a beacon of Britain that continues to thrive.
Last year, for example, I was fortunate to visit Southwater – a modern, open plaza, and a first-class demonstration of a leisure and recreation space fit for a 21st century town. I also visited Newdale Primary School, where the pupils showed me model cars they had built for competition racing.
Telford’s next generation of engineers, nurses and programmers are enjoying the very best learning environment thanks to Labour’s ambitious secondary school building and refurbishment programme – with eight new schools built and six others refurbished.
But the town, like so many across Britain, is facing the full force of Tory austerity, with over £117 million so far cut from local services.
It saddens me to think that Newdale, and all the other schools in the area, are have to battle against huge cuts to their budgets. Tragically, this includes more than £500,000 of cuts to funding for educating children with complex needs. Under Theresa May’s Conservatives, Telford and Wrekin Council has faced £1.7 million in education cuts. That’s £79 less for every pupil attending Telford schools.
But Labour in Telford continues to do a fantastic job. Crucially, every library, community centre and children’s centre is protected from closure. Labour has invested £9 million in adult social care and protected services for children and young people. We have spent £50 million on new housing and put £4 million towards super-fast broadband. The Labour council has also invested £50 million in creating new jobs for residents and recently announced £20 million of new investment in roads and other infrastructure, the largest of its kind for over two decades.
And we are equally determined to help the people of Telford have access to the first class healthcare that they need and deserve – that’s why, as Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth confirmed last month when he visited, it’s a day one priority for the next Labour Government to put in place measures to secure the future of the Princess Royal Hospital A&E department.
The council is determined to make sure that the benefits of being one of the fastest growing towns in the Midlands are enjoyed by every single resident. This is the ‘new town’ spirit of the 1960s in action, and it is what all governments should aspire to: building a future for the many, not the few.
The people of Telford are rightly proud of their town, proud of where they live and proud of what has been accomplished.
Telford is my political home, and I love coming back to visit. I wish Telford and everyone who lives there a happy 50th birthday."
