I want to thank the people of Hartlepool who voted for me to be the town’s Member of Parliament for a third time.

It is always a huge honour and privilege for anybody to be elected to the House of Commons, in any part of the country. But I think it is a particular privilege to serve as my hometown’s Member of Parliament. I speak to some colleagues in the House of Commons and I think that it must be odd to be an MP for This-and-that Central or Thingy-me-bob North, with no real sense of distinct character. The great thing about Hartlepool is its strong sense of identity and its collective sense of community and history. I don’t just want to be MP for anywhere: I want to be Hartlepool’s MP, a strong champion for the town in Westminster.

I want to pay strong tribute to my opponents in the General Election campaign. I think Alan Wright, Reg Clark and Steven Allison conducted themselves well and with dignity. I think it is often thought by some people that when you are fighting an election campaign you spend all your waking hours with your opponents. In reality, you rarely see them at all, with the possible exception of brief hustings throughout the campaign. I have known Alan Wright since I was a boy, and I was on Hartlepool Council with Steven Allison. Both men conducted strong campaigns and I respect both of them more at the close of the campaign having seen them in action. I hadn’t met Reg Clark before, but think that he is a decent, honourable and balanced man, a great asset for any party. I wish all three men the very best.

I also want to pay tribute to all the candidates and winning councillors in the local authority elections, which were held on the same day as the General Election. I am sure that all those councillors will work hard to ensure that the town prospers.

At the time of writing, Gordon Brown has just resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, and David Cameron has just kissed hands with The Queen to be this country’s new Prime Minister. I do think that Gordon Brown will be judged less harshly by history than he has been by current commentators. His handling of the global financial crisis will be seen as one of the most decisive acts of recent political history, and probably saved this country and the world’s economy from meltdown and depression, which would have led to many millions of unemployed.

It is strongly anticipated that David Cameron will lead a Government made up of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in coalition. I wish the new Prime Minister and the new Government all the very best, for the sake of the country’s future. I hope that it does well, and serves the nation with respect and concern. I will also be keeping a close eye on it in Parliament, holding it to account and questioning what help and assistance will be given to Hartlepool and the North East. These are difficult times, with political uncertainty and economic problems to resolve. If the new Government acts at all in a way which does not assist our town’s future, I will be resolute in putting Hartlepool’s case in the House of Commons.

I have always worked hard for Hartlepool, but the election victory has given me renewed energy and vigour to ensure that I battle for Hartlepool in the House of Commons. Many thousands of people raised issues with me on the doorstep, and I intend to work hard to address them all. Thank you again for all those who felt able to put their trust in me and in the Labour Party, and I’ll work hard to re-pay that trust.

Iain Wright MP has welcomed Government moves to back a secure future for the Post Office. There will be more banking services for local people following an overwhelmingly positive response to the Government’s consultation on the future of the Post Office.

The Government is to provide £180 million of new funding for the Post Office. There will be a major expansion of the financial services offered by the Post Office, in a drive to put banking back into the heart of communities and making the Post Office network of 11,500 branches more sustainable.

Local MP Iain Wright said:

” This is great news for our Post Offices. People have made their views clear and the Government has listened, we will get more services provided by the Post Office.

“This will open up a range of good value, simple financial products for everyone. Today marks a major step towards making the Post Office a sustainable neighbourhood banking service.”

Lord Peter Mandelson said:

“Since the global banking crisis we have set about reinventing the financial services industry piece-by-piece, building a system that is fairer, trusted and more responsible.

“Today is the next step in that process. The Post Office is a well-loved community institution and this move will bring more banking services back to the heart of those communities.”

These new measures build on recent announcements in the Budget. They show that the Government will continue to work to improve the supply of affordable credit for low-income households, including by supporting third sector lenders.

The Government has also announced an intention to consult on making sure banks make an appropriate contribution to community lenders, proposing using a new community levy to be funded by retail banks that will support a link between credit unions and Post Offices.

Town MP Iain Wright has welcomed the news that Corus in Hartlepool has secured an order for work on a prestigious new pipeline from Total E&P UK Ltd worth nearly £200 million.
The order, for the Laggan-Tormore offshore gas field development in the region West of the Shetlands, will see over 150,000 tonnes of pipeline, around 500km in length, being produced at the ‘Corus’ Hartlepool site.

Iain Wright MP said

“I’m absolutely delighted that the Hartlepool site has been awarded the contract by Total to supply new pipelines for the Laggan and Tormore gas field projects. I worked hard with Corus and across government to try to win this contract for the town. This is a real show of support for the world class steel pipe-making facilities at Corus in Hartlepool. It also safeguards the valuable jobs for hundreds of people at the site and in the supply chain. This demonstrates that manufacturing in the North East, and Hartlepool in particular, has a great future and can compete with the highest level of competition across the world.”