WEAVER Vale's new MP raised the issue of food bank use in Northwich during his maiden address in Parliament.

Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who took the seat from Conservative incumbent Graham Evans during the June 8 election, told the house his new constituency was ‘a tale of two communities’, with idyllic rural life in some areas and poverty in others.

Pledging to bring new industries to Weaver Vale that would employ locals in skilled, high quality jobs, he said people were tired of austerity.

He told Parliament: “In the past year the use of food banks has gone up by 25 per cent in the Northwich, an issue that was highlighted only recently by one of the local newspapers, the Northwich Guardian.

“It seems that those who are most in need in our society are paying the price of a failed austerity programme that has more to do with an ideological drive to shrink the state, while living standards go into reverse gear and the national debt is now more than £1.7 trillion.

“This is not a society that works for everyone.”

He also used his first Commons address to pledge a new drive to bring green jobs to Waver Vale, promising a ‘race to the top’ with highly skilled and sustainable careers rather than a race to the bottom with ‘insecure’ zero hours contracts.

Mr Amesbury – who previously served on Manchester City Council for 11 years – also blasted the public sector pay cap.

He said: “Unlike some in the House, I do not have a long line of ancestors who served this House and the other place next door.

“My family made me who I am. My dad, Barney, was a carpet fitter, then a publican. My late mum used to clean caravans and serve school dinners, and my younger sister is a teaching assistant.

“All those people would be hit by the pay cap. All of them were and are extraordinary people in their own right: grafters, fighters, and real people.”

“I bring my real life experience into the Chamber as a check and balance on the Government and as a champion for my constituents, especially those who are most in need.

“To represent the people of Weaver Vale now is the greatest privilege of my life."