Sir Mark Hendrick MP on Preston’s housing crisis, city’s hospital and Labour’s plans

Sir Mark Hendrick MP pictured at Preston Docks

Two months into his latest tenure as an MP, we sat down with Preston’s now veteran member of Parliament, Sir Mark Hendrick.

With his redrawn constituency boundary we wanted to know what the Labour MP – who has served under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and now Keir Starmer was getting in his mailbag and his take on issues affecting the city too.

We invited Blog Preston readers – who subscribe to our twice-a-week email newsletter – to send in their questions and talking points for Mr Hendrick to address.

There were also themes to follow-up on following the general election hustings we held in conjunction with The Lancashire Lead and the Lancashire Post back in June too.

Here’s what Sir Mark Hendrick had to say on everything from the future of the Guild Hall, winter fuel cutbacks and why he thinks we need a complete shake-up in the way local government works for the city and surrounding area.

Let’s start with Radio 2 In The Park in Moor Park, you were there, what did you think?

I went on the Sunday and took my eight-year-old lad with me. Despite the weather then everyone had a great time didn’t they?

Paul Heaton was the stand out for me. I’ve seen him a few times before and he didn’t disappoint. It was great to be out in the crowd for that.

I think it helped show to music promoters the appetite there is for festivals like this in Preston. And it’s not the first time as we’ve had Radio 1 here back in 2007.

It was a different type of festival though given it had a ticket price – Radio 1 was a ballot – and people need to remember there’s a lot goes into it in terms of security and what not, so that reflects it in the ticket price. There’s so much that goes into a festival like that coming together. But it was fantastic to see it in Preston and I think everyone did a great job – especially the crowd sticking it out on the Sunday.

My son enjoyed it although we didn’t stay until the end, we went home and watched the Pet Shop Boys on the TV.

We’ve had a lot of readers contact us about the winter fuel payment cutback, you voted for bringing that in, can you explain your position?

Well we said in our manifesto there wouldn’t be rises in income tax, in VAT and so when you’ve got a situation where the economy is in a difficult situation – as we’ve been left with from the last government – then there have to be changes. And this is one where we feel a lot of people are receiving the benefit but they perhaps don’t need it. I’ve had constituents who are pensioners say to me, and I know other colleagues have, why am I getting this payment each year?

However, I think we do need to look at some sort of taper on the payment as there will be people who don’t qualify for pension credit – who might be right on the cusp of it – and so taking away the winter fuel payment will be difficult for them. I accept that. And I think we need to bring in a taper so people still get something to help.

In terms of Pension Credit, we need people to apply for it. I think the application process needs to be looked at, because it is long and complicated and for a lot of people that’s intimidating. It needs simplifying. There’s also an element of pride, some people don’t apply because they don’t want to accept they need some help and it’s important the government gets the message out there that this help – and other help – is available to people.

With this cutback to pensioners, is that an area we’re going to see Rachel Reeves and the Labour government continue to target?

We’ve got to make some tough choices, there’s no doubt about that. I think you’ll see there’s going to be a big focus on education and health.

Particularly health, that’s what I’ve been pushing for, because if you look at the per head spending that’s taking place it is nothing like it used to be in the Brown and Blair years. Even though the government says it is spending more in total.

I think what we’re seeing is the result of the relative success of the NHS under the previous Labour government in the 90s and 2000s. We have people living longer, which is great, but they have health conditions which need care. And so we have to find a way to pay for that.

If you look at the number of working people, and put that against the numbers not working, or retired, or young and in education, then they are outnumbered. So we need to help working people – as they are the ones paying their taxes and supporting it.

We also need the NHS getting people healthy and into work, because then we’ve got more people paying tax and we get the growth back into the economy.

But what about pensioners specifically, are you going to be taking more money from them?

We’ve said pre-election we are committed to maintaining the triple-lock for pensioners, I think that was worth something like £900 uplift this year for the average pensioner. We will keep that and are committed to it so there will be help for pensioners.

There also needs to be reform to the Pension Credit system and make it simpler for people to access it.

Staying with health, the future of Royal Preston Hospital, it came up in the hustings. What’s the latest on that?

We know these 40 new hospitals which were promised by the Tories, well, it’s just not true is it? Not sure where the money is coming from for that.

Wes Streeting [the health secretary] he’s taking a look at it all and we will see what he decides.

But my view is we have a good hospital in Fulwood and it is a good site for it, so there will need to be some sort of facility that keeps operating there.

All the talk of a super hospital out at the M6, I get the need for new facilities but we need to think about where is accessible – because out on the motorway junctions it’s fine by car but not for a lot of people who actually need the healthcare.

So I think we will see some sort of city centre health centre too. I’d definitely support that.

Take Fulwood, a new facility out at the M6 junctions, something in the city centre and Chorley as well of course and you’ve got a good health facility that can serve different needs.

We had a lot of correspondence about the Ashton Park bid, and other city council projects. What do you think will happen with government funding of local authorities?

I do think the city has missed an opportunity with Ashton Park and creating the sports hub there. They should have found a way to do it. That links with healthcare and getting people active. It would have been a great facility.

I’ve said as such to the leader and the chief executive of the city council, I think in future they have to make sure they’ve got consensus and public support when they go in for these types of government-funded schemes.

If you look at Old Tram Bridge, you can see the support for that, with county chipping in and others because everyone can see the benefits of it.

I don’t think these ‘Levelling Up type funds’ are much use really, we can see from how the government operated them that they skewed in favour of areas the Tories were trying to prop up rather than where needed the money. It’s not a good way to operate that type of funding, and we end up with authorities spending as much time and money on bidding for the funds as then actually spending on doing them.

Read more: See all our Ashton Park coverage

The city centre came up a lot during the hustings, and you yourself have moved your office from near it to outside of it, what can be done?

What we are seeing now is the shift that started before Covid and it’s just accelerated it. People are doing their shopping online and at the retail parks. It’s hard to stop that.

With the cinema scheme and other things in Preston that will start to address it.

We’ll also see more people coming back to living in the city centre again, but it has to be the right type of housing.

And yes, I think the days of the city centre MP office – with the rise in attacks and vitriol towards MPs – then it’s not becoming feasible. It’s sad. We had a good set up just off North Road but we meet with police and get other advice and having a safe place for myself and staff has to be the priority. There’s still colleagues who carry on with the big billboard and a shopfront, and that’s fine, but I have to take the necessary precautions after what happened to Jo [Cox] and David [Amess].

What’s your take on Devolution deal for Lancashire? Will it happen in its current form? (Editor’s note: The interview took place before the latest Devolution deal announcement by the government)

I’m a heretic when it comes to this. I think we should just start again. And I know it won’t be popular with plenty of my colleagues in Labour and elsewhere who are councillors.

What we have now with all these district authorities and then the county set up, it just doesn’t work. They don’t have the clout and resources to get things done. Look at Preston, it’s a city but it’s small when it comes to being a local authority. A lot of those challenges in the city centre, they’ll never be able to solve them because they’d need to get County to support them – and they won’t because they are juggling so many different things.

And when county do things, well, just look at Friargate. It took ages, it’s caused businesses real harm and it was a mess. They aren’t interested. It’s people in County Hall who on the most part don’t care about Preston. How many people could name the leader of the county council? Not many I don’t think. You’ve got all these cycle lanes going in and no one using them – except these takeaway delivery drivers whizzing along.

Look at how Blackpool and Blackburn are able to get things done. So I’m sorry, it’s not popular with many councillors, but this whole parish, district, county thing – many of whom have the same people at each level, which is daft – we need unitary authorities in Lancashire each with about 250,000 people in and the ability to get things done in terms of budgets and then you have a Mayor over the top of it to speak for Lancashire and they also can get things done like Burnham and Rotherham.

I sat on Salford Council, back in the 80s, when it became a unitary and I tell you we had education, housing, all the big strategic things, and we then got together with AGMA it was called, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, and it was an informal body but again it meant everyone was talking to each other but could get on with what they needed to do anyway. I thought it worked well.

It’s with Angela Rayner now to take a look at the current [Devolution] deal, I don’t know what will happen, but I’ll be making my feelings clear on the matter when I am asked.

The Guild Hall comes up regularly from our readers, do you think it will be re-opened?

It’s got the RAAC in it so I don’t think it’s going to be quick. It’s something we as a city are stuck with now.

And I think in terms of government priorities then no I am not sure we’ll see any solutions very quickly.

Looking back then that deal done with Simon Rigby, it looked good at the time but it turned out not to be. I do think the city needs a venue though, we need that place for people to come and play and we as a city can go to.

What’s the biggest issue you’re contacted about?

Housing. There are such problems, both in terms of the lack of quality and lack of availability in social housing.

We see people who often have a lot of complex issues and it is affecting their ability to have a place to live. They will be families who are living in parents living rooms.

What can you do as an MP though?

I don’t have the resources to fix it, but we can advocate for those people. We know the council, the housing associations, and we can help to encourage them to get situations addressed as often they only look at it in a very black and white way. There may be mental health issues or other issues the authorities aren’t aware of and as an MP I can present a more holistic picture to them. It’s very hard though as if the housing stock isn’t there, you don’t have places to put people.

How do we solve it?

We need to stop the land banking [the process where people buy land but don’t develop on it] going on. We need housing developers to build the houses that young families and young professionals need.

Yes there’s been lots of houses built in Preston but if you look at what people need in terms of two and three-bed houses, it’s not those which are going up at the fast enough rate.

We saw riots and disorder during the summer, thankfully Preston saw very little take place. Why do you think that is?

The far-right like to offer very simple solutions to what are complex problems. Social media doesn’t help that – as it amplifies and creates an echo chamber. It’s not regulated and we saw following the very sad events in Southport how that escalated.

People look for scapegoats and that’s what has been happening. I think in Preston we are a university city and we also have a good history of communities living and working alongside each other. In other places, perhaps, there isn’t the same integration as there has been in Preston so they saw more issues over the summer.

You only need to look at the bile that the likes of Farage, Musk, Trump and the like are coming out with – especially online – and I hope what we don’t see is the Tories move even further to the right as then we will have other parties then push further to the right as a response. There used to be that battle to occupy the centre ground but what you see now in politics, and if you take the recent election result in Preston as an example, you’ve got far-left Hamas supporter coming second and a Reform candidate who barely campaigned coming third, with the Lib Dems and Tories fourth and fifth. That ability for single-issue or populist parties to gain large amounts of votes.

I hope we as a government can cut through this. We need to ensure we deliver on what we’ve promised and also keep making sure we are making the case for a peaceful and progressive country – rather than some of the rhetoric that is out there online in particular.

You’ve been an MP for many terms now, will this be your final stint?

Well I’m 65 now and by the end of this term I will be 69 – and yes I’m sure there’s a big queue of people who would like to replace me, in fact I know there is. But I enjoy it, I like to help people and do a job to represent the city. I think we, as Labour, we have an important job to do to help get this country improved again.

I’ll have been an MP for nearly 30 years and I think the average length of time is 12 years.

Sir Mark Hendrick at the Preston count Pic: Blog Preston

While you’ve been an MP and around Preston for a while now but some people may not know much about Sir Mark, so politics aside a few quick fire-questions about you… first up, tea or coffee?

Well I like both…

Come on Mark, don’t sit on the fence…

Ok well I drink a lot more coffee as I’ve got older than tea.

Favourite sandwich filling

Ham.

Last TV show/series you watched and you’d recommend

Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams. I thought that was a great series and what he did for those kids was superb – even if you know it’s a bit set up and the like. But it was very good and very well made.

You’ve got 24-hours in Preston, what are you recommending people do?

Well if North End are doing better then you’re wanting to get to Deepdale, and then go for a walk around the city centre and the parks, and then get into the pubs. Anyone who knows me will know I’m a big supporter of the pubs in the city and there’s some really good and varied ones now.

There’s one packet of crisps left in a multipack, what are you hoping it is?

Prawn cocktail

Favourite politician and why

Harold Wilson. He put kids like me through primary and secondary school and made sure we got a good education

Favourite soft drink

Pepsi max

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