Liz Blackman has been the Member of Parliament for Erewash since 1997. She was a member of the Treasury Select Committee between 1997 and 2000. Between 2000 and 2006 she became Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Rt. Hon. Geoff Hoon MP Secretary of State for Defence and Leader of the House of Commons. In 2006 Liz accepted a post in the Government Whips Office and in 2008 became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jim Knight at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, in 2009 continued as PPs to Jim Knight but at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Liz Blackman has successfully lobbied for major projects within the Erewash constituency including:

Funding for the Ilkeston Link Road

M1 noise barriers and quiet surfacing

New build for Long Eaton School

New Treatment and Diagnostic Centre at Ilkeston Hospital

Intermediate care ward at Ilkeston Hospital

New Medical Centre in Long Eaton

Timely funding to merge Westbrook and Stanton Vale Schools

Money to upgrade Sandiacre town centre
Government grants e.g. to Community Concern Erewash, Home Start and Sandiacre Cricket Club

SureStart initiative Ilkeston

Liz continues to campaign on many other local issues including: A railway station for Ilkeston and improved flood defences

Above all Liz believes that politics must be made to work for local people.  She said: ‘What’s happening in Erewash has been as a result of partnership between a Labour Government and the local community, and people really can see the difference.  In 1997, so many schools were falling to bits, and hospitals and health centres were crumbling under the strain.  Now we only need to look around us to see substantial improvements.

Parliamentary Achievements:

Liz has campaigned to secure:

NICE agreement on beta interferon prescribing for Multiple Sclerosis

NICE agreement on atypical anti-psychotic prescribing for schizophrenia

New regulations regarding information disclosure for prospective adoptive parents

A greater understanding by Government of autism which is now to be used as an exemplar in the Children’s National Service Framework

A wider use of exclusion orders to ban perpetrators of violence from licensed premises

A speeding up of settlements for ex-miners suffering from lung disease and vibration white finger

A tightening up of the law in the use of air guns

Flu jabs for those over 65 years old

Compensation for victims of pensions mis-selling

Mainstreaming of SureStart