Our politicians must fly the county flag

In the run up to the General Election we brought prospective parliamentarians to meet chamber businesses.

Members, friends and firms questioned, probed, explored and, in some cases, made demands of the candidates who were pitching to represent us for the next five years.

And some common threads emerged.

Among them was the desire to achieve a successful devolution and see Lancashire receive strategically valuable levels of funding and the powers to use it, to elevate our ideas and raise our aspirations.

Meanwhile, the frustration with short term government was evident, along with oppositional politics and a two party system that seems to thrive on deconstruction of the former team’s achievements at the beginning of every term of office.

We cannot build anything of significance, literally or figuratively, if we tear down every decision made at the beginning of every new government.

We need long term policy decisions and far-reaching cross party commissions to enable all the truly difficult problems to be tackled.

Energy policy, nuclear power and the national grid. The NHS, the care system. The railways. Water infrastructure. Education, education, education.

These things require commitment and dedication from experts, co-funding and public-private partnerships.

We need our new tranche of MPs to be allies and part of a new tribe - a tribe that doesn’t just fly the flag of blue or red, but that of Lancashire.

For all our sakes, we must take the needs of this wonderful and distinctive county to Westminster. Together.