It is a very difficult period for all of us in East Kent not least those who are directly employed by Pfizer and the many contractors who work on the site.
As you may have heard in response to a question that I asked in Parliament, David Cameron has committed to put all his and the Government’s efforts into securing the future for the site and those who work there. The Secretary of State for Business and the Minister of State for Science are fully engaged in working on solutions and your local MPs are at the forefront of these efforts.
Starting tomorrow with the visit of David Willetts Minister of State for Science to the Pfizer site, there will be a series of meetings both in Sandwich and in London this week to take forward the several options that exist, and we will all be working with Pfizer, the staff and the local communities to ensure that all ideas and possibilities are examined.
Your local MPs - Roger Gale (North Thanet), Charlie Elphicke (Dover and Deal) and myself will be holding a meeting for employees and contractors on Saturday to discuss the issues that we all face. Please do email me if you are an employee or contractor on the site for further details – or pass this onto anyone you know who works at Pfizer.
While this has been a devastating blow to East Kent I have never seen such political commitment from the Prime Minister and throughout all parts of Government to address a company closure.
For my part as the Local Member of Parliament there is not a waking hour that I am not spending focused on securing a long term future for the thousands of local people who are reliant on the site.
No words of support or good wishes for success from any of our local Labour politicians. All far too busy seeing how than can lay the blame for this on the government, KCC or TDC.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the Minister really got off to a flying start arriving in Thanet on a High Speed train that was 30 mins late leaving Laura Sandys waiting.
ReplyDeleteRealisticaly it is still early days yet and if a week is a long time in politics then two years is eternity.
Reading between the lines the government is keen for the site to remain intact for R & D as part of the national interest. Which is good news for the highly skilled staff. However, it does look bleak for everyone else but then it is early days yet and they do appear to be choosing their words very carefuly.
Annon 10:53, if Pfizer was on French soil it will not be the white flag they would be raising to save jobs like we do in this country.
ReplyDeleteOh no, not union action and workers revolting. How quaintly archaic and totally unproductive. What part of Pfizer are leaving do you not understand, Tony B. Working together to create new jobs is what is needed not militancy and blame culture.
ReplyDeleteAnon 13:43, it will be very interesting to see how many jobs will be created for the semi and unskilled Pfizer workers who have lost their jobs as a result of this closure.
ReplyDeleteAs for France they are nationalistic and they work together to save jobs, the trouble with this country we are soft when it comes to dealing with foreign companies.
Anyway annon who said anything about militancy, union action and workers revolting.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that what our French neighbours do at every opportunity, leastways they seem to every time I try to cross the channel.
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