Members of Labour’s Shadow Business team were in Cambridge last week, and left highly impressed by what they had seen. Cambridge Labour Parliamentary Candidate Daniel Zeichner welcomed shadow industry minister Iain Wright MP, and Lord Tony Young who leads for Labour on skills in the House of Lords as well as members of the LFIG executive for a full day of visits to key Cambridge employers. The group visited Marshall in the morning before being briefed on the high-tech cluster at the Hauser Forum and visited Owlestone Nanotechnology on the Science Park.

In the evening the team attended an open meeting organised with Cambridge Fabians at Clare College. Daniel says that the visit was very valuable: “It was a pleasure to welcome the LFIG group to Cambridge and show them the powerhouse that is Cambridge. Marshall is one of our longest-established employers and plays a key role in the civic life of the city, as well as providing a large number of highly-skilled jobs.

For a number of years the Liberal Democrat controlled City Council sought to persuade Marshall to move away, to make way for 12,000 homes on the airfield. Cambridge Labour campaigned strongly against this, and we are delighted that our ‘Keep Marshall Flying in Cambridge’ campaign has been successful.

The Cambridge phenomenon is well-documented, but it is striking how much time the current Government spends lauding Tech City in London, when the success story that is Cambridge is so much better established and has so much potential to drive economic recovery. That success can’t be taken for granted, however, and without the right levels of investment in transport infrastructure and housing, Cambridge will be strangled. I’m delighted that the Shadow Ministerial team left with a clear understanding of how important Cambridge is to the nation’s economic future.”