Ashfield MP assured in Parliament that 10pm closing for pubs is backed up by the science

Millions of pounds of tax payer’s money has been used to keep pubs open but they now must close at 10pm to try and reduce the spread of Covid.

I asked the Secretary of State to reassure pubs like the New Cross that the science dictated the new measures in place, and he assured me it does.

Like other MPs, my inbox is a mixed bag with people supporting the new rules, people disagreeing with the rules and people who are 50/50.

The Government will never please everyone but it will always act in the best interests of the British public.

This pandemic has brought the very best out in people and non-more so that the brilliant Trish and Toni who I met last Saturday at their free face mask stall in Morrisons at Kirkby.

Over the past few months, their voluntary groups The Love of Scrubs and Tiger Green have made and given away more than 28,000 items of PPE to the public, NHS and care homes.

This is a classic example of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in their own time.

Coal was back in the news this week as plans to open a mine in West Cumbria were passed by the local council.

I have always been of the view that if we must use coal in this country, then it should be mined in the UK.

A lot of campaign groups are up in arms, but the opening of this mine makes sense.

The coal to be mined is coking coal needed to make British Steel and is the sort of which is currently being imported which makes no sense when we have millions of tonnes of it underground in the UK.

The irony is that this coal is being used to make high quality steel products such as the blades on wind turbines which is probably the purest form of green energy.

Last week, Gordon Fisher from Sutton sadly passed away from Covid.

Gordon was a lovely man who I met at the Huthwaite Hub voluntary group, who freely gave up his time to teach others how to turn wood on his lathe.

His sad passing is a reminder to us all to be careful.

Lots of love to his wife Jan during this difficult time, we will all miss Gordon.

Lee Anderson is MP for Ashfield.