Latest news with #NatalieFleet
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bolsover MP explores rail technology at SRS Rail System
Natalie Fleet, MP for Bolsover, has visited SRS Rail System, a road rail vehicles (RRV) supplier based in her constituency, as part of the Railway Industry Association's (RIA) Rail Fellowship Programme. The initiative aims to provide politicians with a deeper understanding of the operations and contributions of companies within the UK rail supply chain. During her visit, Fleet toured the depot site, observing the practical workings of RRVs, including how the vehicles transition on and off tracks and operate on rail. She gained insights into how this technology enhances rail efficiency. Fleet said: 'It was fantastic to visit SRS Rail System and see first-hand the innovative technology and expertise that exists right here in the Bolsover constituency. 'The team's commitment to developing efficient, safe, and reliable road-rail vehicles is not only vital for our transport infrastructure but also for supporting skilled jobs and local growth. The MP also met with members of the SRS team and had the opportunity to test drive an RRV on a designated test track. Discussions during the visit covered ongoing challenges faced by the plant supply chain, particularly about current work volumes. SRS Rail System's Gethin Thomas said: 'It was a pleasure to invite Natalie to SRS via the Railway Industry Association's (RIA) Rail Fellowship Programme. 'The aim of the visit was to demonstrate SRS's capability, skills and equipment, along with being a major employer in the area. It was also a perfect opportunity to highlight the current ongoing crisis faced across the plant supplier supply chain.' SRS Rail System is a specialist rail plant provider, supplying a large hire fleet of RRVs with trained operators to Network Rail and Tier 1 suppliers for maintenance, renewals, and other infrastructure tasks. The company also manufactures RRVs, enabling it to offer multiple options supported by detailed performance data. Additionally, the company provides OLE linesmen for various work options, operates as a Plant Operating Scheme (POS) provider, and is an approved training provider under the National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR). In March this year, UK's rail infrastructure manager Network Rail began using drones to monitor 20,000 miles of track, partnering with Drone Major for trials on the Wolverhampton and Severn Valley Railway lines. "Bolsover MP explores rail technology at SRS Rail System" was originally created and published by Railway Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Plans to improve Derbyshire M1 junction in 'early stages'
National Highways is in the "early stages" of exploring ways to improve "safety and travel times" at a motorway junction in organisation, which maintains motorways and major A roads in the UK, said it was seeking to "develop solutions" to benefit all road users at junction 28 of the M1 in South comes after transport focused group Midlands Connect said there could be more than 80,000 additional journeys a week at the junction in Highways said it was awaiting the results of a government spending review for a longer-term strategy after it received a £4.8bn interim settlement from the Department for Transport for 2025/26. Midlands Connect said data showed there could be 81,830 extra trips a week using junction 28 of the M1 in 2035 due to the potential increase in the number of homes and jobs in the organisation, which is made up of local authorities, businesses and representatives of government bodies, said "rat-running" through nearby towns and villages would be reduced if repairs were carried out. 'Maximum capacity' MPs, councils and businesses have asked for the project to be included in the government's upcoming Road Investment Strategies (RIS), Midlands Connect MP Natalie Fleet said upgrades to the junction were "essential" and added she would "continue to press" the government to make the government said it would fund works on motorways and major A roads by providing an interim settlement of £4.8bn to National Highways in 2025/26 while a new longer term strategy is Rob Reaney, deputy leader of Derbyshire County Council said the junction was at "maximum capacity"."This problem isn't going away and it's clear that extra investment is needed now to keep pace with the level of economic development, in the area in the future," he Highways head of planning and development, Kamaljit Khokhar, said the body was "always looking" at ways to improve journeys. "Working closely with Midlands Connect, we continue to support a strategic approach to long-term investment as we seek to develop solutions to benefit all road users," he added.
The Guardian
30-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
MP, rape victim, teenage mum . . . and first Mother's Day as a grandparent
Today marks Natalie Fleet's first Mother's Day as a grandmother – or nana, as she says. The Labour MP for Bolsover will spend the day in her constituency, surrounded by her children, her daughter's newborn baby, her husband, mother and sister. Fleet is only 40 years old. Her eldest daughter, now 24, was conceived when Fleet was a teenager after she was groomed by a much older man. 'To have a child conceived at 15 felt as bad as it could get. Being a nana at 40 feels like I've won the jackpot,' Fleet says. 'So I'll spend my first Mother's Day as a nana with the baby… just enjoying the fact that she exists, that my daughter could choose who the dad was. It's something every woman should have.' Last summer, a few weeks after being elected as an MP for the first time, Fleet spoke publicly about her grooming ordeal, and revealed that her eldest daughter was the product of statutory rape, where the victim is too young to consent. She is now campaigning for a change in the law to prevent rapists from having access to the children conceived as a result of an attack, which she says would remove one of the barriers to women speaking out when they become pregnant and offer greater protections for mothers. This week, she will meet home secretary Yvette Cooper to make the case. She said: 'How can we let children be the only proceed of crime that the criminal can have full access to?' Since speaking out, Fleet says many people have called her brave. 'I don't want this to be brave,' she says. 'I want this to be normal.' She wants to ensure rape is spoken about more openly so we can end what she describes as a 'he did it, she hid it' culture. Fleet believes the perpetrators' existing parental rights mean some women are too scared to say they've been raped. Some women have told her that their rapist threatened them that if they revealed what had happened, he would demand access to the child. The Centre for Women's Justice estimated that in England and Wales alone, between 2,080 and 3,356 children could have been conceived by rape in 2021. Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that in April 2024, 3,100 households in the UK declared 'non-consensual conception' on official child benefit forms. Fleet took Bolsover, the East Midlands seat held for years by Dennis Skinner, in the Labour landslide in July. She grew up on a council estate in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, not far from her constituency. Her family experienced homelessness as well as domestic violence. 'That is something that has definitely scarred me. It was difficult to grow up like that,' she said. 'I was a vulnerable child.' When she became pregnant aged 15, 'nobody ever asked me about the dad, the fact that he was much older than me. The fact that it was statutory rape just wasn't spoken about. It was happening so widely.' Fleet credits the then Labour government for supporting her as a teenage mother. A SureStart centre, a maternity grant and university scholarship changed her life, she says. 'I felt like the state saw me and wrapped its arms around me so I could fulfil my potential.' It was this that motivated her to become a Labour MP. Until last year she hadn't used terms such as 'grooming' and 'statutory rape' to discuss her own experience. As she prepared to enter parliament, she spoke to her daughter, who was by then pregnant. Fleet sought support online, searching for resources for parents wanting to disclose this difficult truth to their children, and support for the children in question. She couldn't find anything. 'As part of my role on the women and equalities select committee, I asked about some guidance on [conception] via rape [to be] put on the NHS website,' she says. She also believes women and children in these circumstances need a dedicated charity 'where there's a helpline where women can call to have these conversations, and it can be a voice for these women, to advocate for things like the law change'. On International Women's Day she told the House of Commons that football had been discussed more often than rape in the previous parliament. Fleet has been open with her daughter about the circumstances of her conception. Her daughter has been 'really supportive'. 'It must be so hard for her, and my other children – nobody wants to hear your mum say those things. But that's why I've got to normalise it.' Bringing up a child conceived by rape poses serious challenges for victims. 'I look back and remember there was a time when I struggled that she didn't have the same hair as me, I struggled with the way that she looked,' Fleet says. 'I just wish there had been someone to tell me: that's OK, you can be her mum and love her, and you could also think the circumstances that she was conceived under were horrendous.' She is concerned about the apparent increase in misogyny, particularly among young men. Debates prompted by the recent TV show Adolescence, which tells the story of a teenage boy driven to murder after being radicalised by misogynistic content online, are encouraging. But more needs to be done. 'I am really scared by misogyny and how widespread it seems to be,' says Fleet. 'As a woman in politics, I had to have an acceptance that I was going to receive a huge amount of misogyny. One family member said, 'I wish you could post a picture of you and your newborn granddaughter without someone commenting that they'd like to murder you both.' I wish that too.' Fleet says the more she speaks out about rape, the more abuse she receives. 'There is a backlash from men … [but] that's another reason to keep going. I have been accosted on the street. I'm having to take a lot of precautions around safety.' The main people she wants to reach with her message are women who find themselves in the situation she was in 24 years ago. 'My hope is that other women will hear me on Mother's Day and think: 'What happened to me was dodgy too.' If we can have those conversations, we can start to get that societal change we desperately need, where shame does finally change sides.'
