Last weekend the borough of St Helens welcomed a large delegation from our twin city of Stuttgart and I was happy to join with them as we celebrated together the strong ties, forged at the end of the Second World War and still going strong 70 years later.

In a series of events including a food and drink festival, arts exhibition and the opportunity for the Mayor and politicians from Stuttgart to rededicate us all to the longstanding friendship and to work together to strengthen those bonds.

I had the opportunity only recently to speak at the Council of Europe about the importance of our twinning, and it was a pleasure to welcome Deputy Mayor Dr Martin Schairer and the delegation here to my constituency. To underline the depth of our relationship the group contained representatives of schools, arts, businesses and the players of TSV Uhlbach who played a match against St Helens Town FC.

The visit was a great success, with even the football ending in an honourable 4 all draw with no penalty shootout! I had the opportunity to talk with Dr Schairer about our ongoing relationship and the benefits both St Helens and Stuttgart have had from our relationship and how we can strengthen them moving forward.