Frank's Westminster Blog

Looking at the empty premises in Mount Road last week, you would never have been able to guess that Natwest had been operating here until just the day before. Local residents told me that it had all gone – lock, stock and barrel – in just a day, including the cash point. The nearest branch is now all the way over in the town centre.   I’d been informed a few weeks ago that Natwest was about to close its doors in Higher Tranmere, and so I contacted the Post Office to...

We had the most wonderful meeting at the Friends of the Williamson on Saturday. There was a big turnout and plenty of enthusiasm for its future. You may recall that this time last year it looked as though the Williamson might need to close its doors for good. There was no way Wirral Council could have continued to fund the gallery given that the Coalition Government had cut its grants by over a third. Instead of accepting the closure of the gallery, the brilliant response from our community...

A large and growing number of local residents tell me they’ve had enough of the crime and thuggery that’s blighting parts of Birkenhead. I’ve never before encountered such fear and anger in the town. Things have become so bad in parts of the Noctorum Estate that they’ve become known locally as ‘Beirut’. People are literally barricading themselves in their own homes to protect themselves. There are bonfires being lit and rockets being fired towards...

It was announced on Monday that one in four workers here in the North West – 600,000 in all – are paid poverty wages that fail to cover the cost of living. The proportion is probably higher in Birkenhead where people work hard and yet struggle to make ends meet. Clearly something very troubling is happening at the bottom of our labour market. Can it be fair that someone who does the right thing and works hard is faced with the dilemma of whether to eat or put on the heating? Is...