My first month as your MP
It’s now been one month since I was elected as the new member of parliament for Erewash, and I want to report back on everything I have done so far.
Induction
On the Sunday following the election, I was very swiftly called down to London, to begin my induction as your member of parliament. While I spent ten years building a career outside of politics, I had only been to the Houses of Parliament three or four times in my life, so I was very grateful to be assigned a buddy, who showed me around the site and took me through various aspects of the Houses of Parliament, from security provisions to how to hire and employ constituency support staff. I was given access to my parliamentary email account, which has been diligently receiving upwards of a hundred pieces of communication every day since the election.
It is hard to overstate quite how strange the Houses of Parliament are – it really is like stepping into a fantasy novel, and I am not sure if I will ever come to terms with the fact that my office is now a tourist attraction. I am finding my feet, however, and after arrival I immediately set to work on a few core points, particularly: getting staff in place and setting up an office, preparing my maiden speech and planning for the months and years ahead as your MP.
Hiring staff & setting up an office
For the first month, the whole operation has just been me and a backpack – I don’t yet have an office or staff in either Erewash or Westminster. As such, priority number one has been setting up my office and hiring staff. As I mentioned, I am receiving an incredible amount of correspondence, and I need support in both Erewash and Westminster to function as your MP. I am glad to say that, at the time of writing, I have taken on some members of staff (yet to start formally, following notice periods from their former roles) and am imminently interviewing for the remaining members of staff.
I will be honest here – without staff, I have not been able to stay as well abreast of requests for support as I would like, and my response time is currently much slower than I am happy with. When I have staff in place and they are fully trained up, we will be endeavouring to respond to each piece of constituency case work within a day, and reacting appropriately to events as they arise. At the moment, however, I am covering six people’s jobs, including my own, and am doing my best within that constraint. I hope to be fully up and running by the end of August, and through the backlog a month or so after that. At that point, I will be arranging regular constituency advice surgeries, in roving locations around Erewash, according to demand. We’ll start fortnightly, and can then move up to weekly or down to monthly, depending on requirements.
In terms of setting up a constituency office – I am currently working through the conversations required to get a formal office in place, which may be the campaign office rented by my team and I during the election campaign, or it may be another location. Watch this space on that front, as I expect to have firmer plans in place in the coming week or two. Regardless of the eventual office location, I expect to be holding roving surgeries, to address the fact that I cannot have an office in both towns or, indeed, the Erewash villages
You will hopefully have seen that I have been doing my best to keep you all updated on progress via social media, with regular posts and stories on Facebook, Instagram, X etc. In the longer term and with staff support, I am planning a rapid expansion in constituency communications, both online and offline, so please keep your eyes open for regularly opportunities to engage as we move forward.
Speaking in parliament
Over the course of the month, I have been working hard on my maiden speech, but as there was such a large influx of new MPs at the recent election, I have not yet found a slot in which to deliver it. Parliamentary convention dictates that I cannot contribute to debates before delivering my maiden speech, so I am hoping to get the speech on the record books in early September. However, I have still wasted no time, having given two oral questions in the chamber, focusing on asylum hotels and pandemic preparedness. You can view these questions here and here, respectively.
Back in Erewash, I recently visited Belfield Home in Ilkeston, and have been to a number of community events, including the Sandiacre scarecrow festival and the Every One Eats family fun day. Alongside the eight other Derbyshire MPs, I also wrote to the leader of Derbyshire Country Council to express our deep concerns regarding closures of care homes and day centres and to request a meeting to discuss the issue. I am hoping that meeting happens in the very near future.
First votes
Thus far, while the election seems like years away, we have only really voted thus far on a handful of issues. Most notably, we have voted onthe King’s speech and related amendments, and on renationalisation of the rail system. The King’s speech laid out our plans for the coming year, and highlighted the various pieces of legislation that we intend to enact in the next 12 months, while renationalising the railways is an exciting step that I was very glad to have been able to bring forward to early in the parliament.
Of course, there have also been great difficulties in the first few weeks, as we became away of a £22bn budgetary black hole that the previous government left for us. I believe that the inheritance left behind by the previous Government is unforgiveable. With taxes at a seventy-year high and soaring debt, it was already clear that things were bad. However, as the new Chancellor set out, the situation is even worse than previously thought.
A Treasury spending audit has revealed £22 billion of unfunded pledges inherited from the last Government, including the Rwanda scheme, the Advanced British Standard in education and the New Hospital Programme. The previous Government also failed to increase departmental budgets to cover public sector pay settlements, which were £11-12 billion higher than accounted for at the last spending review. This spending gap means difficult decisions, but I know the Government is going to do everything in its power to mitigate the damage caused by the black hole.
And of course, like everyone, I was horrified by the killings in Southport, which I am sure will rightly warrant the strongest possible punishment. Bebe, Elsie, Alice and the other injured children deserve the fullest justice.
However, I have been shocked and appalled by the events of the past few days, with many of our cities experiencing disorder, attacks on police and violence and against people and property. These events bear no relation to the Southport killings and are entirely and completely unjustified.
I have received messages from local residents in Erewash, afraid for how we may be affected in coming days. Should anything occur, I will be in close contact with Derbyshire police and will support them completely.
My heart goes out to the families and communities affected by this week’s events, and I urge everyone to remember that there is more in this world that unites us than divides.