2025 has been a year of real progress and opportunity for Ipswich.
One of the most significant moments this year was our government’s green light for Sizewell C. The Prime Minister made the multi-billion-pound announcement at Suffolk New College and it was a poignant moment.
Sizewell B was the last nuclear power station in our country to be commissioned and, 30 years later, it will be young people from this college and our town who will build C.
It follows the agreement that I negotiated and signed with Sizewell C which will guarantee at least 500 jobs for Ipswich, and I have continued to work hard so we can maximise other employment and investment opportunities.
The project has already delivered 100 apprenticeships -1,500 will be created during the project’s lifetime – and 350 jobs will be created at Orwell Logistics Park. Contracts worth £581million have been awarded to local business in Suffolk so far, with more to come.
I am also very proud of the action our government has taken this year to improve the lives of children and families.
Our expansion of free school meals means 6,500 children in Ipswich will receive a proper meal every day at school, and we are rolling out free breakfast clubs for all primary school children, with local schools Stone Lodge Academy and The Beeches among the first in the country to benefit.
Our government is also introducing Best Start Family Hubs - inspired by the legacy of Sure Start - giving parents a go-to destination for accessing whatever support they need.
The capping of school uniform items and a big boost in funded childcare for working parents will save families money too.
And the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap will lift over 3,000 children in Ipswich – and 450,000 children across the country, the majority from working households - out of poverty.
With this cruel policy and other factors like insecure work and wage stagnation, the previous Conservative government pushed 900,000 more children into poverty. In contrast, our Labour government will achieve the biggest reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since records began.
Ipswich’s arts and culture scene has been simmering away for a few years now, but over the past 12 months, we have seen it reach boiling point.
Ed Sheeran returned home to Suffolk for a hat-trick of shows. Decked out in pink, we came together and showcased Ipswich on the global stage – while 90,000 people descended on Portman Road stadium itself, 200,000 people visited our town on that special weekend.
Brighten the Corners gets bigger and better every year, attracting some of the UK’s best artists and platforming our best homegrown talent.
The inaugural Ipswich Book Festival was another standout, with over 1,300 tickets sold for events in venues across town.
We had the return of the wonderful SPILL Festival, the fabulous reopening of the Regent, our new Portal and standout productions from the New Wolsey, Eastern Angles, Red Rose Chain and DanceEast.
We also celebrated the Ipswich Witches triumph, enjoyed a whole host of community-led events, and our cultural assets, like our parks, are simply stunning.
Together, these achievements and initiatives show a town really coming into its own.
Of course, we have our challenges, but my job isn’t simply to moan about them, but instead find the solutions and lead us to a better future.
That is exactly why I have been leading the charge on one of the most exciting opportunities in our Ipswich’s modern history, a bid for UK City of Culture 2029. This is not simply about hosting more gigs and events in a few years’ time. This is Ipswich’s regeneration project.
By attracting people and investment into our town, we will fulfil our potential, begin a new era in our town centre and restore pride.
As we head into 2026, I am pleased of the progress we have made this year, but I am as ambitious and focused as ever. There is a lot of work to do, but I will keep working hard for our town. Have a very Happy New Year.
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