Unemployment blow to Fenland whilst College faces savage cuts

01/08/2009 by Steve Barclay.

I call in with MP Malcolm Moss to see Principal David Pomfret for the latest news on the College of West Anglia.  It is clear that the Labour Government’s cuts are having a savage impact on courses and staff numbers.  It comes against the worrying news that unemployment in Fenland is now worse than anywhere else in Cambridgeshire. We are the only district in the County with unemployment above the regional average, and there are 840 youngsters locally not in education, employment or training.  The collapse of firms like March based MBMG which has lost 100 jobs makes the work of the College in offering training even more important.

What is disgraceful is that all of the 13 Colleges which received Government funding are in Labour constituencies.  Labour has turned their back on students in Fenland in what has been a blatantly biased set of funding decisions.  The case for funding in Fenland is strong - 18 out of 25 of the most deprived wards in Cambridgeshire are in Fenland, and less than half of pupils here achieve five or more GCSE grades A to C here compared with 70% in South Cambridgeshire.  The College of West Anglia is crucial to the future prosperity of the area if we are to attract new businesses as they expand from Cambridge and allow the next generation to fulfil their true potential.  Fenland is being short changed.  It is cynical politics of the worst kind by Gordon Brown.

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