John Denham

Welcome to the website of John Denham

John Denham has been representing Southampton Itchen in Parliament since 1992. 

He is currently Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. 

On this website you'll find news about what John's been up to in both Southampton and Westminster. 

You can get in touch with John on constituency issues by following the link below.

 

Building Schools for the Future

John has vowed to make Southampton's new secondary schools his top priority in the coming weeks.

The City Council bid for money from the Labour Government to rebuild five of the city’s secondary– Bitterne Park, Sholing Technology College, Chamberlayne College for the Arts, St George Catholic College and Upper Shirley High School.

The money was made available to Southampton after lobbying by John in recent years.

The five school building programmes, together with works that will benefit all secondary schools in the city, was approved by officials in the Department for Children, Schools & Families just before the election.    But at the outset of the election campaign the Conservative Education Spokesman, Nick Gibbs, said that a Conservative Government would not guarantee any BSF projects, which had not reached full legal and financial completion.   

John said, “These vital school projects are now hanging by a thread.  The new Conservative/Liberal coalition has promised an emergency budget of  swinging spending cuts.   It is essential that our city’s schools are protected and that this much needed investment goes ahead.   I will be taking every opportunity to raise this matter in the House of Commons and to put pressure on Government Ministers.”

During the election campaign, David Cameron told the Daily Echo that money for the Building Schools for the Future programme was protected.   John commented today, “We will have to see whether this becomes the first broken promise of the new Conservative Liberal Government.”