While some County Durham branch members were taking part in the recent national Weekend of Action around the county, a couple of activists stayed behind in Spennymoor to continue gathering signatures for the 'Local Jobs for Local People' petition. 

Pete and Amanda Molloy have been collecting signatures around Spennymoor in between their work commitments.

Mr Molloy said: ‘We had to miss out on the weekend of action because of the children, so Amanda and I decided to help the party out locally by doing the petition.

‘Sometimes it has just been Amanda, who is 17 weeks pregnant, going down to the town centre as a sole activist to get signatures.’

Mrs Molloy said: ‘While Pete is at work and the weather is good, I'll take our one-year-old son with me and do an hour collecting signatures. 

‘The majority of the people of Spennymoor are supporting our campaign because the town has lost a lot of well-paid manufacturing jobs to other European countries where the labour costs are cheaper.’

The petition calls for local jobs to go to local people at the nearby £200 million Durham Gate project. Once complete, the petition will submitted to local MP Helen Goodman.