British MP wants stronger ties

A visit to Scotland last fall by representatives of the Digby Area Board of Trade has prompted a visit here this month by Gordon Banks, a member of the British parliament.

The 52-year-old Banks is the Labour Party representative for Ochil and South Perthshire in Scotland. He chairs the party’s foreign affairs committee and is parliamentary private secretary to the British government’s secretary of state for culture, media and sport.

Ian Russell, a transplanted Scot who now lives in Hill Grove, has been organizing Banks’ visit during which the MP will meet local municipal officials in this area, as well as Kings County and Halifax. “He’s coming as a direct result of the October trade and cultural mission from the Digby board of trade,” Russell said last week. “He wants to see the area for himself, and wants a look at ways to encourage cultural and tourism ties between the two areas.”

Russell said Banks looks to be a rising star in the Labour government of Gordon Brown, who recently replaced Tony Blair.

The MP, whose background is in construction and building supplies, has a meeting scheduled with Lewis Mouldings, which has just announced a major expansion to produce a door and window trim product for housing construction.

Banks is also scheduled to visit the sea cadet camp, HMCS Acadia, at Cornwallis where a number of British cadets are training this summer.

The MP’s visit to Kings County also repays a visit to Scotland this year by a delegation similar to Digby’s. Banks is to tour the Michelin Tire plant, and meet with business leaders and politicians, both municipal and provincial.