Rochdale MP Paul Waugh made his maiden speech in the House of Commons and used the occasion to praise the place in which he represents
As is usual in an MP’s maiden speech Waugh used the occasion to honour the region he represents
Writing on X he said
“It was a real honour to make my maiden speech in the House of Commons today – and to pay proper tribute to our town and its people.
He reminded the House that it was it was a Rochdale lass, 15-year-old Emily Kelsall, who, in 1843, laid the foundation stone of the Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben.
Rochdale was the home of Richard Cobden and his ally, John Bright, who famously described England as the mother of Parliaments,
“I am proud to be the first Labour and Co-operative MP in our town’s history” adding that
”That sense of co-operation and community has been enhanced by the currents of migration that have flowed through our town as steadily as the River Roch itself. Scots, like my own Waugh clan, the Irish, Italians, Ukrainians, Poles, Pakistanis, Kashmiris, Bangladeshis, Nigerians—we even welcome the occasional Yorkshireman —have all staffed our factories and our NHS and created new family businesses.“
Many other Rochdale people,organisations and places were mentioned,Richard Tang, whose Zen Internet started as a small, home-based business and “Sir Peter Ogden, who founded Computacenter and this year invested millions into my beloved Rochdale AFC” as well as the Springhill Hospice and the Milnrow brass band
“The Pennines are famously the backbone of England, but the people of Rochdale are the backbone of England too. Common-sense radicalism, resilience and renewal—those are the watchwords of my home town, of this country and of this Government, and I will do my utmost to live up to them“
