Getting Bulls back playing in Bradford is ‘hugely significant’ - MP

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IN my piece today, I welcome some promising developments for Bradford, let you know what I am fighting to change and my hopes for the future.

Firstly, Bradford Bulls’ return to Odsal stadium on Sunday for a home fixture against York City Knights is great news for Bradford, the club, the fans and the sport. Odsal is totemic for rugby league in Bradford and getting the Bulls back playing in Bradford is hugely significant.

I am pleased to have worked with the club, helping them to achieve their ambition to return to Bradford. I’m now looking forward to continuing that work to help secure their return in the long-term. 

Less good is the news that the club has not been granted an Elite Academy Licence by the Rugby Football League (RFL).

This is a disappointing announcement and a major worry for all of Bradford’s aspiring young players hoping to make a career in the sport, as well as the coaches and staff. 

The Bulls Academy has been productive and respected for its work which has produced rich source of playing talent. Leon Pryce, Sam Burgess, and John Bateman to name but a few who have come through the academy and gone on to star at the highest levels of our sport.

The team, academy and the wider activities of the club have also been a source of employment, training and career opportunities for local people. Bradford Bulls is rooted in the communities of Bradford, the people and the fans.

The RFL’s academy decision endangers those deep social roots in an area with a huge affinity for the game. I find it worrying that these links to the grass roots of the sport would appear to carry little weight.

That’s why I have written to the RFL, both as the local MP and as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Rugby League asking that they reconsider their decision.

None of us could have predicted what the last 15 months would bring. It’s been a period of enormous sacrifice, challenge and very sadly loss.

The vaccination program means there is hope on the horizon and that better days potentially lie ahead.  With the concerns surrounding the ‘Indian variant’ of the virus, however, there is serious talk in government of reinstating local restrictions like those that blighted Bradford last year.

None of us want to see Bradford held back again, becoming one of the few places in the country to be kept in some new version of a local lockdown. Bradford cannot afford to be left behind as most of the country moves on, and so, I urge everyone to have the vaccine and to follow the rules. I am determined to ensure that Bradford recovers quickly to fulfil its massive potential.

This takes me onto what sort of country we want to build post Covid-19. The unfairness of the United Kingdom economy has been highlighted throughout this pandemic, I want to see a change of course for our country and our economy made fairer.

I don’t want a recovery that simply restores the things to how they were, with London and the South East getting richer. Regional inequality in the UK is greater than in most comparable countries and has been worsening through the last 11 years of a Conservative government.  

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had an opportunity to address this inequality in the Queen’s Speech, but instead we got the usual rhetoric, empty promises, and gimmicks.

A promise to level up on the cheap will not rebalance the UK economy. It will not bring about the change needed to generate good jobs and rejuvenate our high streets or provide the massive improvement to transport links that Bradford needs. This will require real and sustained investment.

The Conservatives have presided over a decade of decline in Britain’s high streets and despite promises from Government and the banking sector to ensure that people have access to a local bank we have seen on street banking provision in Bradford South totally wiped out, with the Santander Bank in Wibsey the last high street branch in my constituency being scheduled to close shortly.

I met Santander alongside local councillors to argue the case for keeping the Wibsey branch open.

I am also worried that new planning rules introduced by the Conservatives will lead to Britain’s high streets being sold off to the highest bidder for poor quality housing, all without planning permission being required. I instead believe we should give local people a proper stake in their town and village centres and support new businesses to open up on our high streets to help rebuild a post-pandemic Bradford that we can all be proud of.