English Tourism Week is a chance to celebrate our visitor economy. But it is also a reminder that supporting tourism is supporting towns like ours.

Counselling In The Community (CITC) has been allocated funding from the Pride in Place Impact Fund to ensure a long-term future for the charity which provides vital, affordable and accessible mental health support to residents.

By the end of the day, more than 1,000 roles had been secured there and then. Thousands more CVs were handed over and interviews lined up. Conversations started that will turn into jobs over the coming weeks.

Boathouse Youth’s Sarah Lindsay selected after competitive process to lead £20m community regeneration programme across Layton and Grange Park

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am committed to the grassroots organisations that are quietly transforming lives in our town, and that I am a big boxing fan. When the two collide, you are sure to find me ringside, cheering them on.

Yesterday morning I felt a mixture of both pride and alarm as I brought together some of the most dedicated people tackling poverty in our town.

Young people will be given a mandatory targeted plan to stop them reoffending and protect the public.

The Secretary of State has agreed to open the event hot off the news that his department is launching a new mobile jobs centre service in our town to break down the barriers that stop people finding good work.

The digital world offers huge opportunities for learning, creativity and connection, but it also exposes young people to risks that simply didn’t exist when I was growing up. This government is taking action.

Yesterday I sat down with the Chancellor at 11 Downing Street to talk about South Shore. I went there with one message. Our community needs urgent investment and it needs it now.

Our new National Cancer Plan represents a fundamental shift in how we care for people with cancer – one that recognises that treatment is only part of the story.

The Government’s new Road Safety Strategy is the first comprehensive plan in over a decade to make our roads safer for everyone.

The Labour Government has announced plans for a new Victims’ Code which will provide better support to child victims in Blackpool to understand their rights and how to get the help they need to recover.

For some people reading comes easily. For others, like me, it doesn’t. I found my way into stories, ideas and learning through a different door and that’s one of the reasons I welcome Labour working with the National Literacy Trust to name 2026 the National Year of Reading.

Around 80 residents of Grange Park turned out over two days last week to help design the future of your estate.

Yesterday I secured a meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss long-term investment and regeneration in South Shore – one of the most deprived areas in the country – after shining a spotlight on the area in Parliament.

In my role as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism, I’ve been pushing the government for recognition that the UK’s visitor economy is far more than a pleasant distraction – it’s an economic force and part of our national prosperity.

Sweeping reforms made by the Labour government are set to clean up the water industry, strengthen regulation and put an end to failing water companies marking their own homework.

Have you used maternity or neonatal services in England? Share your experience with the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation and help shape the future of care for women and families across the country.

Last week the future of the 90 year old engineering workshed that serves our heritage trams and acts as a visitor attraction – Tramtown – was called into question as a council report revealed it is in need of millions of pounds of repairs.