Not just the chocolate

8.21.00am GMT Fri 5th Feb 2010

Bristol residents were shocked to hear Cadburys Somerdale plant will close. American giant Kraft u-turned on keeping the plant open. Prospective Lib Dem MP Mike Popham says "much as I am devastated for Keynsham, there will be an impact much wider. Whilst Keynsham gets starved of jobs the ripples will be felt much wider - from workers and families to local businesses. We all lose out. East Bristol previously saw Elizabeth Shaw close in Greenbank. It's déjà vu. It takes time for a community to get back on its feet, especially during a recession".

Mike added "The Royal Bank of Scotland is largely owned by the taxpayer, also known as you and me. And it lent hundreds of millions of pounds through a complex banking consortium to Kraft, the American food giant, to help its bid to take over Cadbury, a move that even the chairman of Cadbury admitted will "inevitably" lead to job losses. Well how true that turned out to be! We own 70 per cent of RBS, and will soon own 84 per cent. Bristol East MP Kerry MacCarthy' s Labour Government ensured that the taxpayer is represented on the board. Why, then, is the Labour Government not pushing the bank to do what's right? We have given the banks support totalling more than £850bn - more money than most of us can even imagine.".

Bristol East constituency comprises those neighbourhoods to the East of the M32 and bounds North East Somerset. At the north of the constituency is Stockwood ward. This ward is closest to the fated Somerdale factory. Mike explains "Stockwood gets a raw deal economically anyway. It can do without the shake-up at Cadburys. This ward has the second lowest number of jobs in the City anyway. It could do with more help from this Labour administration. Take for example Burnbush Hill that falls into the lowest 10% nationally for skills and training. If I am elected to Parliament, I will be lobbying for a better deal for Bristol East and wards like Stockwood. We need to be more recession proof with sustainable employment and training policies".

Notes:

Stockwood has economic and employment inequalities. In an extract from Bristol City Council's 2001 Ward profile (Stockwood): at p7 Rank of number of jobs (1 = ward with lowest number and 35 =highest), Stockwood was ranked no.2. In the same report under poverty and deprivation at p8 "While Stockwood is not ranked in the 10% most deprived areas in the overall Index of multiple Deprivation, 'Burnbush Hill' is in the worst 10% nationally in terms of Health and disability and Education, Skills & Training and Barriers to Housing" (see http://www.bristol.gov.uk/WardFinder/pdfs/stockwood-profile.pdf (accessed 13 Feb 2010).