A judging panel have sifted around 100 essay entries to produce a shortlist of five amazing individuals who all have close links with the city.

Students from the Newland School for Girls and Archbishop Sentamu Academy have been penning essays set to the question, ‘The naming of the bridge – who inspires me and why?’

The shortlist includes World War Two veteran Thomas Ransom – a great uncle of one of the students who flew around 30 missions in a Lancaster bomber and was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. He survived the war and died in 2017 aged 97.

Second on the list is Dr Mary Murdoch who was Hull’s first female GP, House Surgeon at the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Park Street and founder of the Hull Women’s Suffrage Society.

The remaining three names include ‘headscarf revolutionary’ Lillian Bilocca, philanthropist and abolitionist William Wilberforce and Julia Lee – the first woman to officiate men’s rugby league games in the United Kingdom.

Highways England senior project manager James Leeming said:

I can speak for the entire panel when I say we were really impressed by the calibre of the entries and it was a real challenge to narrow the list down to five.

Now we are asking the public to come along and cast their vote on who they think should inspire the name of the new bridge which is going to significantly improve connectivity in the centre of Hull.

When we have the results of the online and Minster votes, the judging panel will work with the winner and their school to finalise a name for the bridge based on the winning theme.

Five boxes will be placed at Hull Minster where members of the public can go along, read the essays and decide who to vote for by placing a token in their chosen box.

An online poll will also run on the scheme website. The vote will open on Monday 9 March for two weeks.

The judging panel consists of Emma Hardy MP, Katy Duke (CEO Deep), Cllr Daren Hale (Deputy Leader of the Labour Group), Karen Oliver-Spry (Humber LEP Investment Programme Manager) and key members of the internal Highways England Project Team.

The bridge is due to open to the public next spring and the new name and winner will be announced at a ceremony when it opens to the public.

It is being part funded with a £4 million contribution from the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership’s local growth fund programme, secured through its growth deals with Government and part of the Government’s commitment to the Northern Powerhouse.

Details of the online poll will be announced shortly and will run on our A63 Castle Street – Princes Quay Bridge and Roger Millward Way page. Updates will be provided via Twitter using #a63hullpqbridge

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

December 2019 energy statistics that allow a provisional assessment to be made of trends in energy production and consumption in 2019. A more detailed analysis will be available in Energy Trends, to be published on 26 March 2020.

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Published 27 February 2020

Two further patients in England have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of UK cases to 15.

The virus was passed on in Italy and Tenerife and the patients have been transferred to specialist NHS infection centres in Royal Liverpool Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital, London.

Published 27 February 2020

The Prime Minister has announced an extra £236 million to help get people off the streets and appointed an independent adviser to lead an urgent review into the causes of rough sleeping.

The new funding will go towards offering Housing First style ‘move on’ accommodation for up to 6,000 rough sleepers and those at immediate risk of rough sleeping, to give them stability and certainty over the long-term.

Dame Louise Casey has been appointed to undertake a review into rough sleeping that will provide the Government with advice on additional action required to end rough sleeping within this Parliament.

Dame Louise has decades of experience both in the rough sleeping sector and within Government and is excellently placed to provide Government with advice on what is needed to end rough sleeping.

Adam Holloway MP will also be appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Robert Jenrick with specific responsibility for rough sleeping.

This announcement comes ahead of the publication of new annual figures on the numbers of rough sleepers, and before a visit by the Prime Minister to a homelessness charity.

Speaking ahead of a visit to a homelessness charity, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

It is simply unacceptable that we still have so many people sleeping on the streets, and I am absolutely determined to end rough sleeping once and for all.

Today I’ve announced extra funding to help thousands more people get off the streets, and I have appointed Dame Louise Casey as an adviser to undertake an urgent review into the causes of rough sleeping and provide expert advice on vital next steps.

We must tackle the scourge of rough sleeping urgently, and I will not stop until the thousands of people in this situation are helped off the streets and their lives have been rebuilt.

The new funding will bring suitable housing forward by acquiring new units, refurbishing existing accommodation units, and leasing private rented sector properties specifically for those who are rough sleeping or at risk of rough sleeping.

Dame Louise will report to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. She will consider as part of the urgent review the links between 24-hour street activity and rough sleeping and how best we can support this group. It will also look into those struggling with drug and alcohol misuse, and those with physical and mental health issues.

The appointment of Dame Louise and the new funding are the latest measures to support rough sleepers.

The Government has already committed £437 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in 2020/21. This includes more than £112 million last year to fund services for people sleeping rough through the Rough Sleeping Initiative. This funding will be used by councils to provide up to 6,000 beds and 2,500 staff over the next year. 

This new action also forms part of a wider strategy to tackle all forms of homelessness. The Government is already investing £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness, and introduced ambitious new legislation, the Homelessness Reduction Act to ensure people at risk of becoming homeless get help more quickly, with councils receiving funding to support them in these duties.

This comes ahead of the publication of the annual rough sleeping statistics this morning – showing how many people were counted or estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night.

Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

I’m determined that we end rough sleeping in this Parliament, meeting our moral obligation to support the most vulnerable in society.

We will be bringing together housing, addiction, mental health and the criminal justice system as never before to tackle this social ill from every angle. The coordinated effort that we will now pursue, beginning with this review, builds on the progress we have made in recent years, reducing the number of people sleeping on the streets.

Dame Louise Casey said:

I am pleased to accept this commission from the Prime Minister and the Housing Secretary. Homelessness, and within that rough sleeping, is something that causes misery so I hope that I will be able to help the Government and the country expedite action on this issue.

Well, thank you very much, Madam President. And thank you, of course, to Under Secretary-General Nakamitsu, and to our briefer as well, Ambassador Zlauvinen.

Madam President, over the last 50 years, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, has minimised the proliferation of nuclear weapons, provided the framework to enable significant levels of nuclear disarmament and allowed states to develop secure and safe, peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It has played a crucial role in providing the basis for our discussions on Iran and DPRK. And the UK is committed to the NPT review process and will work with all partners for a positive outcome.

Madam President, we want to ensure that the upcoming 2020 Review Conference allows us to hold full and frank discussions with the widest number of state parties about all pillars of the NPT; reflects on the successes so far, and; sets collective direction for the future. Our ambition is that state parties agree a consensus outcome.

Madam President, let me highlight four of the United Kingdom’s contributions to a successful RevCon. Firstly, we will be submitting a final national report, setting out how we’ve implemented the NPT across all three pillars during this cycle. We tabled a draft version during the NPT Preparatory Committee last year and have hosted a series of feedback sessions with a wide range of states, civil society and academics.

Secondly, we have coordinated the P5 process since Prep-Com, continuing the excellent work that took place under Chinese leadership. The United Kingdom hosted a P5 Directors General conference in London on the 12th and 13th of February this year and welcomed there Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen and other members of the bureau for a fruitful exchange of views. P5 discussions at that conference covered all three pillars of the NPT and included improving transparency and P5 cooperation on a range of initiatives.

Thirdly, in light of our focus on transparency, the conference included a day for civil society and think tanks to engage with P5 officials and discuss these important issues.

And fourthly, on peaceful uses, P5 states have been working together to enhance peaceful uses of nuclear technology. We all fully support the IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Programme to ensure the benefits of nuclear technology are accessible to those who need it most.

Nevertheless, Madam President, we do not underestimate the challenges around the Review Conference. We know that some states feel progress on nuclear disarmament has been slow. The United Kingdom continuously engages with a wide range of states and it takes these concerns seriously. The UK’s view is that any meaningful discussion on disarmament must take into account the wider security environment, which is increasingly difficult. We all have a responsibility to work towards a safer, more stable world in which those states with nuclear weapons feel able to relinquish them.

On the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, which others have raised, the United Kingdom has been clear we will not sign or ratify the treaty. Instead, the United Kingdom will continue to promote the step by step approach and work for universalisation of the NPT; early entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and; promote the early commencements and conclusions of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament.

We must also ensure the NPT RevCon gives proper regard to the achievements that it is made possible under Pillars 2 and 3. On Pillar 2 the NPT has played an unparalleled role in curtailing the nuclear arms race. Historic predictions were made of tens or even 20 nuclear arms states. Today, there remain fewer than 10.

On Pillar 3, the global, peaceful use of nuclear energy allows us to address some of the biggest challenges, from climate change to economic growth. As a direct result of the NPT, we’ve been able to harness nuclear power to improve the lives of our citizens – for example, in the fields of food and agriculture, health care and, as I mentioned, climate change.

For these reasons and more, the United Kingdom continues to believe that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, approaching its 50th anniversary, remains essential to the maintenance of a safe and secure world. We look forward to engaging with all Security Council members and all state parties to achieve a successful outcome at this year’s review conference and help to ensure the Non-Proliferation Treaty remains effective and central to our collective security for many years to come.

Thank you, Madam President.