Written by RICH GUTTRIDGE

SCORES of apprenticeships are to be made available in Burton at a huge event to be held later this summer in a bid to boost the number of young people in work.

Burton’s MP Andrew Griffiths revealed details of the apprenticeships fair aiming to offer the town’s jobless a route into work.

The event will be held at Burton and South Derbyshire College at a date which is expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Burton's MP found beer drinking to be a religious experience by enjoying a pint with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Tory Andrew Griffiths hosted the Most Reverend Dr Justin Welby when he visited Parliament's Strangers' Bar to celebrate the sale of Archbishop's Ale.

The drink is brewed by Black Paw Brewery, based in Bishop Auckland, which the Archbishop visited when he was Bishop of Durham. Brewer Phil Whitfield developed the beer to honour the clergyman after he was appointed head of the Church of England.

Written by ADRIAN JENKINS

BURTON’S MP has met the Prime Minister to discuss the potential effect on Burton’s Queen’s Hospital should key services be withdrawn from its scandal-hit Stafford counterpart.

Andrew Griffiths and five fellow Staffordshire MPs met David Cameron days after the trust running Stafford Hospital was put into administration by Monitor, the health regulator.

Written by JOSHUA TAYLOR

A SOLDIER from Burton has been given the red carpet treatment during a visit to the Houses of Parliament.

Trooper Jake Wheeler, who hails from Winshill and now serves in the 4th Mechanised Brigade, has recently returned to Britain after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

The squaddy, who studied at Abbot Beyne School, met Burton MP Andrew Griffiths in Parliament after the brigade marched through Westminster to mark its homecoming.

Written by RICH GUTTRIDGE

BOSSES at Burton’s Queen’s Hospital are refusing to budge over the controversial decision to introduce parking charges for the disabled following a challenge from the town’s MP.

Andrew Griffiths has hit out at the decision, as reported by the Mail yesterday, and has stepped up a campaign to derail the policy.

Mr Griffiths has now officially launched his petition against the measures and also revealed he had written personally to Helen Ashley, the chief executive of the NHS Trust which runs Queen’s, asking her to reconsider the move.

Written by JOSHUA TAYLOR

THE Chancellor George Osborne has attended a beer summit with leading members of Burton’s brewing and pub industry.

Mr Osborne spoke to senior executives and Burton MP Andrew Griffiths at Marston’s Shobnall Road brewery yesterday afternoon.

The Chancellor’s visit came on the back of his decision last month to cut beer duty by 1p in his Budget. He also abolished the annual rises in beer tax.

Today’s announcement by the Chancellor is a huge boost for Britain’s brewers, publicans and hard pressed beer drinkers alike.

By scrapping Gordon Brown’s hated beer duty escalator and cutting the duty on a pint, George Osborne has helped to support community pubs across the country. George Osborne is the first Chancellor since 1959 to cut beer duty, meaning that you would have to be 72 to have enjoyed a pint to celebrate on that day.

By axing the duty escalator, the Chancellor has gone a long way to saving the Great British pint.

HUNDREDS of young teenagers are going to be targeted in a new first-of-its-kind two-day health event in Uttoxeter which is hoped to create a legacy for years to come.

The innovative project is being led by the Patient Participation Group (PPG) at the town’s Balance Street Surgery in conjunction with Thomas Alleyne’s High School.

The two-day event on March 21 and 22 will see the school’s 278 year nine pupils take part in 14 workshops covering subjects such as alcohol awareness, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and general health care, as well as healthy eating and finances.

Written by ADRIAN JENKINS

AN MP has exchanged debating and voting for mashing and fermenting to spend a day brewing beer.

Burton Conservative Andrew Griffiths learned the tricks of the trade by working a 10-hour shift at Burton Bridge Brewery, in Bridge Street, Burton.

“I did the who brewing process from start to finish – it was a real grain to glass experience,” he said.

Written by JOSHUA TAYLOR

A NEW video has been launched as part of the growing campaign to scrap the beer duty escalator.

Leading brewing industry figures are featured in the 10-minute video, which makes the argument for abolishing the escalator, which adds two per cent onto alcohol duty every year above the rate on inflation.

The film, presented by Marverine Cole, also features Andrew Griffiths, Burton MP and chairman of the parliamentary beer group.

BURTON’S MP has backed a campaign to renovate a Burton war hero’s grave.

Andrew Griffiths has also been made a patron of the Victoria Cross Trust, which plans to renovate the grave of William Coltman, at St Mark’s Church in Winshill.

William Coltman was one of the most decorated soldiers in the First World War, being awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry. He was also twice being awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal.

Last week the Mail revealed the Victoria Cross Trust is waiting on written permission to renovate Williams Coltman’s Grave.

Written by JOSHUA TAYLOR

A CEREMONY has taken place to mark the efforts of those involved in a campaign to gain recognition for a Russian bravery medal.

The nation offered its Ukashov Medal to all British veterans who served in the Arctic convoy missions during the Second World War.

But strict British military convention prevented the Russians from handing out the medal — until David Cameron recently intervened and asked officials to examine ways round the ban.

BY JAMES BRINDLE

UTTOXETER’S MP remains confident the much-maligned rail service through the town will be improved – despite seemingly missing out on major investment.

Network Rail yesterday unveiled £37.5bn plans to develop the UK’s railway infrastructure over the next five years.

The plans include the electrification of the Midland Mainline, platform extensions on the same line to allow for longer trains and the remodelling of the line at Derby.

Written by BY ROB SMYTH

‘I THINK these changes will save lives’ were the words of Burton’s MP after highways bosses confirmed the closure of ALL ‘dangerous’ gaps in the central reservation of the A38 and the implementation of a speed limit restriction.

Burton’s MP Andrew Griffiths revealed that experts from the Highways Agency and road maintenance firm Amey agreed that the implementation of these changes would ‘see a drop in the number of accidents’ along the accident-plagued road.

Written by JOSHUA TAYLOR

MEMBERS of Parliament have made an impassioned plea to save local newspapers.

Under-the-cosh regional publications must survive in order to defend democracy, hold councils and public bodies to account and provide local communities with impartial news, the Westminster Hall debate was told.

MPs also gave warning that local papers were not guilty of crimes such as phone-hacking and needed to be protected from the Leveson Inquiry fallout.

Written by Adrian Jenkins

BURTON’S MP has demanded answers after flooding closed the A38 for the second day running, clogging the town’s roads with thousands of extra cars.

Andrew Griffiths’ move emerged after commuters faced another nightmarish journey to work as they were forced to sit in lengthy tailbacks on alternative routes including the A511 and A444.

BURTON’S MP has backed a campaign to allow British Second World War veterans to be awarded the Ushakov Medal.

The honour, granted by the Russian government,is handed to servicemen who assisted in the 78 Arctic convoy missions to transport supplies to the Soviet Union.

Tory Andrew Griffiths is among 30MPs to have signed a letter to the Foreign Office and the Honours and Decorations Committee calling for a rule change to allow British veterans to receive the medal.

Written by ROB SMYTH

BURTON’S MP has been named a top tweeter and has proclaimed that social networking is a ‘perfect tool to engage and talk to people in the town’.

Andrew Griffiths came out top when compared to compatriots South Derbyshire MP Heather Wheeler and North West Leicestershire’s Andrew Bridgen in terms of the number of followers the trio have amassed on social networking site Twitter.

Mr Griffiths topped the local pile with 2,234 followers, with Mr Bridgen next up with 1,846 and Mrs Wheeler with 1,787, as listed in a new report by think tank Parliament Street.

Written by JOSH TAYLOR

THE Government collected £3.4 billion in beer tax in Britain last year — more than 1,000 times the £330 million levied on cider.

The figures emerged as MPs, led by Burton’s Andrew Griffiths, were due to debate the beer tax escalator in the House of Commons this afternoon.

HM Revenue and Customs revealed it pocketed £3.42 billion in beer duty last year, up more than £300 million since 2007.

Meanwhile the cider industry contributed £328 million in alcohol duty in 2011.

Written by ROB SMYTH

BURTON’S MP has won a national award for his role in helping to improve safety on the A38.

Andrew Griffiths was named Road Safety Parliamentarian of the Month by road safety charity Brake and Direct Line after his campaigning saw a major safety review undertaken after the deaths of two sisters in April highlighted a range of problems on the notoriously dangerous northbound stretch near the Branston junction of the accident-plagued road.

Written by JOSH TAYLOR

STAFFORD Hospital’s A&E department must be reopened to reduce the ‘untenable strain’ on medical services in Burton, an MP has said.

Conservative Andrew Griffiths has written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to warn of the dangers to Burton’s Queen’s Hospital if casualty services in Stafford remain closed each night.

Written by JOSH TAYLOR

TRANSPORT bosses will look at ways to compensate people whose lives have been affected by a controversial railway footbridge and improve disability access.

The pledges were made by Network Rail, which maintains Britain’s railway infrastructure, during a meeting with Burton MP Andrew Griffiths to discuss the footbridge that connects Old Road and Warren Lane in Branston.

Written by JOSH TAYLOR

A JOBS fair featuring some of the region’s biggest employers has attracted more than 1,700 eager jobseekers.

The event, held yesterday at Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium, pulled in bumper crowds as companies, including online retail giant Amazon, offered a whopping 2,000 job vacancies.

The event was the second annual jobs fair in Burton to be organised by the town’s MP, Andrew Griffiths.

Although the number of attendees this year was down from the 2,500 who flocked to last year’s event, the number of jobs on offer was nearly double the 2011 total.

Written by ADRIAN JENKINS

ORGANISERS of Burton’s second jobs fair hope to offer more than 2,000 vacancies — double the total at last year’s inaugural event.

They confirmed the figure just hours before welcoming the first jobseekers to the 2012 event, due to be held from 10am to 3pm tomorrow at Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium.

Burton MP Andrew Griffiths, who is organising the event with Burton and District Chamber of Commerce and Job- Centre Plus, said he was delighted with the total, telling the Mail it had far exceeded his initial expectations.