Tuesday 6th June started with the usual range of meetings in Westminster. The first meeting was in Conservative party HQ to get a briefing on the latest on the new boundary proposals. Followed by a Teams catch up with John Hewitt, the Chief Executive of Durham County Council, where we discussed everything from transport to ASB and devolution to investment zones. A catch up with the secretariat of my APPG for Left Behind Neighbourhoods was next where we discussed how to ensure the Community Wealth Fund, we have worked for is delivered in the best way. I also caught up with Baroness Barran MBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DfE (Department for Education) team to talk about our UTC (University Technical College).
I had a Teams call with ‘Which’ the consumer organisation, to discuss their processes and to encourage them to recognise the changing emphasis of energy in their assessments. I also went to a reception held by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), this is always worthwhile as with a constituency that covers 250 square miles, there are lots of farmers with many different issues and these receptions typically pick a specific one to educate us on. This time it was the Farm Safety Foundation (frequently known as the Yellow Wellies) support group, an independent registered charity working to address mental health concerns.
We had a private meeting of the Transport Select Committee to discuss Great British Railways’ plans and constraints. Followed later by an interesting drop-in meeting with a company offering alternate banking hubs. Although the proposals for Newton Aycliffe should not require this, it is always worth understanding other options. I joined a round table meeting in No 10 with others to discuss some forthcoming legislation on planning before going to the House of Commons chamber for Prime Ministers Questions, as the Prime Minister was in the USA it was taken by the deputy PM Oliver Dowden.
Wednesday 7th June was allocated to the Opposition to determine subjects for debate which this time was Teesworks. I spoke in the resulting debate as part of the Sedgefield constituency is in the Tees Valley. As part of my role as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) in the Treasury I attended a delegated legislation committee on amendments because of the Silicon Valley Bank that collapsed in the US and the need to protect the UK banking system from contagion. This type of session is usually quite technical and it is unusual for any divisive votes.
On Wednesday evening I headed north to be in the Aycliffe office on Thursday 8th June before heading south for the NRG (Northern Research Group) conference in Doncaster. The conference started with a dinner where the Chancellor was a keynote speaker and I was able to invite business leaders from both Aycliffe and Sedgefield.
Friday 9th June was the main conference day and the main thrust was to discuss and develop what we refer to as a manifesto for the North. We are a caucus of northern MPs who support the Government and want to make sure that Government fully appreciates the northern perspective before developing its manifesto for the next election. To this end we held a number of presentations and discussions but also several breakout groups where I sat on two of the panels. One on Devolution chaired by Peter Gibson MP also included the Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen. I chaired one on Business and I was delighted to be joined by representatives from Hitachi, Coherent and Durham County Council. We were also delighted that our special guest speaker, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was able to join us having just returned from meeting President Biden. Our theme of the conference was a Stronger North means a Stronger Britain and his speech confirmed he agreed that we need to grow the economy and he wanted the North to be at the heart of the UK’s economic growth.
Week commencing Monday 12th June I am in the Constituency most of the week with surgeries, school visits and meetings planned. With the recent announcement that Boris and two other MPs are standing down we will no doubt see some campaigning activity happening over the coming weeks. This should not distract too much from the work of Government. It was good to hear the Chancellor this week reminding everyone of the positives that are happening and that the signs are improving on the Prime Minister’s five key targets. I am pleased to see this happening and look forward to more good news.
We continue to plan surgeries and visits, so if you want to catch up, call 01325 790580 or email Paul.Howell.MP@Parliament.uk