ONE of Suffolk’s newly elected MPs has called for better road and rail links to enable the county to fulfil its potential.

When making his maiden speech to the House of Commons during a debate on energy policy, Peter Aldous, who won Waveney at last month’s General Election, said that “we Suffolk people hide our light under a bushel and do not make the most of the virtues we have.”

He added: “We have been crying out for better roads and railways for what seems like many, many years.

“In November 1959, Jim Prior - now Lord Prior - described the road and communications system in East Anglia as the Cinderella of the country.

“It seems as if we have not got much further in the past 50-odd years,”

“Energy and offshore renewable energy is vital to the future of my constituency - Lowestoft and the surrounding area have suffered from industrial decline for the best part of 30 years.”

Mr Aldous said Lowestoft, which had been hit by business and industrial closures and the decline in the fishing industry, had been presented with a golden opportunity to boom again thanks to offshore renewables playing a key role in providing the UK with energy security.

“We owe it to future generations to take a major step towards a low-carbon economy. We need a mixture of energy sources - green energy sources.

“Nuclear has a vital role to play, so does clean coal, and micro-energy is also of great importance. But it is offshore renewables on which I want to focus.

“We have to get 15% of our energy supply from renewables by 2020. We have a long way to go, being at just over 5% now.

“There are great opportunities for green jobs. Lowestoft has a great opportunity and great advantages in setting about giving us those green jobs and taking us forward.

“It has a great location, close to where the offshore turbines will be - the East Anglia Array and Greater Gabbard farms.

“We have a skills base, built up over the years, in fishing, in shipbuilding, and in the North Sea oil and gas industry.

“Those skills are transferrable and we can make the best use of them in the renewables sector,” said Mr Aldous.