Dear Editor,
The anonymous letter in last week’s Newton News ‘Bandwagon MP’ completely misses the point of Phil Wilson’s role in ensuring the Hitachi deal went ahead. Although Hitachi had picked Newton Aycliffe for its train building factory, the factory would not have been given the go-ahead by the company if the Government hadn’t signed the contract for the rolling stock to replace the intercity trains using the East Coast Mainline.
That’s where the campaign led by Phil Wilson came in and was successful by ensuring the Government signed the contract so that the factory could receive the go-ahead.
Phil Wilson is also the first to praise those who were involved in the campaign, including Durham County Council, North East Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Echo, the Northern TUC, UNITE the Union and the thousands of Newtonians who signed the petition Phil Wilson personally delivered to the door of 10 Downing Street calling on the Government to give the project the green light.
So when a leaflet is delivered around the town by Phil Wilson which states: “We Did It!” he is right, we did.
I now believe we should celebrate our success and stop sniping from the sidelines.
Finally, if the author of last week’s letter wants to be taken seriously, perhaps he or she can put their name to any letter they want to have published in the future. Or why not just go and see the MP in his office to discuss any concerns you may have, it would be a lot more constructive.
I respond to this in my capacity as Branch Secretary of UNITE who played an important role in securing this deal as one for jobs and applying pressure to get the government to sign the deal.
Vince Crosby
Unite Branch Secretary
