South Ribble MP Katherine Fletcher has said that she is “chuffed to bits” to serve the people of South Ribble during her House of Commons maiden speech in Parliament on Monday (29 June).
She told the House that her speech was “in tribute and thanks to the wonderful people of South Ribble who throughout this horrible, once-in-a-century pandemic have kept their heads, asked sensible questions and looked out for each other in a myriad of ways, small and large”.
She also said that her constituents’ humour and perseverance really is the “best of British” and paid tribute to her predecessor Seema Kennedy, who served South Ribble in Parliament from 2015-2019.
Proud to represent a Lancashire constituency, she said:
Despite what you may hear from those who want you to ‘know your place’, I see no conflict at all in being proud to wear both the red rose of Lancashire and the blue Conservative rosette.
Speaking of the North, she said that “what’s in the interests of the North is in the interests of the Tory Party and the country, full stop” and that the broader region wants to “rewrite a century of complacency” and be “respected and cherished”.
Her speech also had several references to the history of South Ribble, including the proud engineering past and present of Leyland with its truck-building and the secured funding for flood defences in Penwortham and Croston.
Ending her maiden speech, Katherine said: “We are best as one nation, not divided by class war, or political tribalism” and that Covid is a “huge test for us and we'll only pass it if we take a leaf out of the Suffragettes' book and work together - equally."
If residents would like to watch back the speech, you can find it on Katherine’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHc4Qu2-TE.