MONDAY 19TH MAY

Morning: Quick catch-up with constituency staff in office then train down to London. Used train journey to work through my inbox. Arrived in Westminster and continued office work for an hour or so.

Afternoon:

– Met with Adoption UK, Kinship Carers UK and people with lived experience to discuss the Adoption and Special Guardianship Fund.

-Met with KFC about possibility of funding a full-time youth worker out of their Tindale branch.

– Men and Boys’ All-Party Group Meeting on positive messages to boys in schools.

– Some more office time.

Evening:

– Parliamentary Labour Party Meeting with Keir Starmer. I used my question to reiterate what I said in Downing St recently about the need to acknowledge hurt over Winter Fuel Allowance – not full u-turn, because it’s right that wealthy people don’t get it, but do more for pensioners who struggle.

– Met with Regional Moorlands Groups.

– Met with MP colleagues on various issues

– 10pm votes, 10:30pm – head to flat, a bit more desk work, bed around midnight.

TUESDAY 20TH MAY

Morning:

5:30am – Get up early and ready for 6:10 taxi to ITV studios for Good Morning Britain interview with Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid. Taxi back to Westminster for around 8:30am for more deskwork in constituency office. 10:30am meeting with Parliamentary Security Team on cyber security.

11:30- Treasury Questions – I “bobbed” (stood up indicating a wish to speak) for the whole hour but was not called. I wanted to ask about government developing a rural growth plan, because industrial strategy is focussed on more populated areas.

12:30:- UK-EU Trade Deal statement and questions with Keir Starmer. Again, bobbed for an hour but was not called to speak. Frustrating!

Afternoon: From 1:30am: most of the afternoon taken by International Development Committee, questioning representatives from International Alert, Search for Common Ground, and SaferWorld on atrocity prevention work. I had to sneak out for some of this for something called a “Delegated Legislation Committee”. This is when the government needs parliamentary approval to use or tweak at ‘statutory instrument’, so rather than all of parliament meet, a smaller committee of delegates meets. This one was on pollution.

Evening: Followed Victims and Courts Bill through to 7pm, but there was no vote in the end. Took a couple of hours to myself to go to gym and swim. Then back to flat to do more deskwork for an hour before sleeping.

WEDNESDAY 21st MAY

Morning:

Early morning cross-party prayer meeting in Westminster; deskwork for an hour from 9am; 40-minute meeting at 10am with Int Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES, based in Washington DC) to discuss impact of aid cuts on their work (as part of my Select Committee responsibilities); another hour in office, then in the Chamber for Prime Ministers Questions, followed by my friend, Luke Charter MP’s 10-min rule-bill (10 min to argue for introducing a new law) on better regulating bailiffs, which I fully support.

Afternoon:

-Quick catch-up with my work experience student from St John’s, and took him with me to meet The Care Worker’s Charity, to discuss better pay and conditions for Carer Workers and ways to elevate the profession so it is given more esteem.

-This was followed by writing a quick quote for the Northern Echo, on Keir Starmer’s hint that now the economy has been stabilised the government will look at widening eligibility for winter fuel payments.

-Met with constituent, Ben Tinkler, from Bridge Creative on the future of the Access to Work Scheme.

– Catch up with Baroness Hilary Armstrong on some local issues and her work on the Commission for Neighbourhoods – looking at doing so-called “levelling-up” properly a the hyper-local level with funding for left behind neighbours to develop social infrastructure.

– Run to chamber for votes

– Meeting with Railway Minister, Lord Hendy.

Evening:

-More votes around 7pm, then back to office to get through more deskwork until about 9pm.

THURSDAY 22nd MAY

Morning:

Get up early for a 90 min deskwork in flat, then 90 min gym from about 8:30am. By 10:15 in Westminster Office. Write a series of letters on issues such as Tees, Esk, and Wear Valley Foundation Trust; Lobular Moonshot; Lithium in Weardale; A66 dualling; closure of Bishop Auckland College Nursery; cuts to TAs at primary schools and more.

Afternoon:

1:30pm Interventions and speech in Westminster Hall debate on the UK-EU Summer (broken briefly by votes on Lords Amendments). Then, from about 3:30pm debate on NHS dentistry in House of Commons. I prepared a speech on this quoting lots of constituents, but didn’t get to give it as I was not called (again!). Following this was statement on securing the future of the strategically important Diego Darcia military base. I wanted to stay for my neighbour, Markus Cambell-Saviour’s adjournment debate on the future of the A66, but had to run for 7pm train.

Evening: Four and half train journey home (due to long delays). I used the whole journey to work through my inbox, getting down from 180 emails not responded to, to about 90. Arrived home about midnight.

FRIDAY 24th MAY

Morning:

-An hour’s deskwork at home, then 8:15am drove to Radio Tees Studios in Middleborough. Took a Zoom call on laptop from inside car at 9:30 with National Highways and the Dept for Transport on progress on dualling the A66.

-Interview with Scott Makin at BBC Radio Tees about 10:30, then drove straight to Barnard Castle (held up by Appleby Fare caravans).

Afternoon:

-Spent the afternoon at Deerbolt Prison meeting with NEPACS (the North East Prison and Aftercare Society), and a roundtable with some of the inmates who serve as Peer Mentors.

-3:30pm surgery at The Witham listening to local people’s concerns on a range of issues including resilience of Northern Powergrid and phone masts; issues with connectivity; the new trade deal with the EU; banking and access to cash; mental health services provision and concerns about DWP proposals on PIP; and why the government is covering up its knowledge about alien life.

Evening:

Heading back to London for the big day tomorrow at Wembley!!!