With the news last week that pharmaceutical company Pfizer will be closing its site in Sandwich (photo, right), I spoke directly with Pfizer’s UK general manager to put pressure on them to save as many of the local 2,400 jobs as possible. There is no doubt that job losses of this scale will have a devastating impact on individuals, other businesses and universities that relied on Pfizer, so saving jobs and selling the site to a suitable buyer as quickly as possible should be the top priority.

We have called on the Conservative-led Government to make use of the EU funding available and no matter how desperately it is needed throughout areas of the South, like Kent, this Government seems unwilling to act. The Globalisation Adjustment Fund is EU money that is meant to be used exactly for situations such as this; money that could be used to retrain local Pfizer workers that have lost their jobs and to market the soon to be empty site. All the time the Conservatives and Lib Dems dither, other countries are applying for these funds and making proper use of European money.

As a former university lecturer and as an MEP I have encouraged the excellent working relationship between Pfizer’s research and development department and the local universities for well over 10 years. If this relationship is to end, it could have a serious knock on effect for local science students.

This is indeed disastrous news for workers in Kent. This will not just affect the 2,400 individuals that will be losing their jobs but the impact on their families, children and futures could be devastating. People living in the area have already had to cope with losing their services and public sector jobs and it is clear that the private sector is also struggling, due to these harsh government cuts. Days after the Conservative led Government announced its Dickensian ‘employment charter’ to help boost the economy, we can see the truth is they are doing nothing to help secure jobs in the South of the country.

Please follow the link to hear BBC Kent’s coverage of the Pfizer closure, the Pfizer reaction starts at 1:59.30.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00d8qc5/Breakfast_with_John_Warnett_and_Clare_McDonnell_Pfizer_reaction/

Associated British Ports (ABP), a major employer across the South East, received good news recently when the Department of Transport (DoT) said that a rival ports operator in Liverpool could not upgrade its facilities to match those in Southampton.

The news means that the Port of Southampton (right) remains one of just a handful of ports in the UK capable of handling ‘turnaround calls’, where a cruise ship starts or finishes.

ABP approached me to help them lobby against the Liverpool upgrade. I found their argument compelling: that the development of ‘turnaround’ facilities at the Liverpool port should not occur before £21 million of public funds – almost half of which came from the European Union – used to build the Liverpool port in 2007 were repaid.

I contacted the European Commission, DoT and my colleague and Transport Minister Paul Clark to explain the situation and voice my view that a distortion of competition through public funds should not be allowed.

The DoT agreed, ruling in December 2009 that an upgrade of the Liverpool port would be unfair. This is really good news for ABP and Southampton. It means that visitors from around the UK and the world will continue to embark on their fabulous holidays from the city (after having spent a bit of money in its many wonderful hotels and restaurants of course!).