Dear Sir,

It is now six months since I was elected as your Member of Parliament, and what a six months it has been. We entered Parliament with one very high profile agenda item, namely, Brexit. We could not have imagined that something would happen that was so significant it wiped Brexit away from the headlines. But Covid -19 has achieved that in spades.

As with any new job, it is very appropriate to take stock after six months to evaluate what has happened and understand where best to focus next. So, looking at the last six months, it began with me entering the Palace of Westminster as a new Member of Parliament totally unfamiliar with the building and its processes. As is the case in many old buildings there are many corridors and staircases that seem at times to lead everywhere except where you want to go! I am pleased to say that I have my bearings now but as a result of Coronavirus there are a number of routes now closed off or temporarily designated one way so it’s still a challenge.

Where I have made real progress is in developing excellent working relationships with Senior Ministers which makes it so much easier to shout up for Sedgefield. You may have seen the questions that I have asked on behalf of the Constituency at Prime Ministers Questions or PMQ’s as it is also known. Whilst these are high profile and can be seen by many it is often also the corridor or tea-room conversations that can help make a real difference. It is there where you get the chance to socialise with ministers and discuss the importance and impacts of decisions they are considering and, hopefully positively influence them in actively considering your Constituency during their deliberations.

I am immensely pleased to have secured a position on the BEIS Select Committee as this gives me direct involvement in the important agendas that affect businesses and their employees. BEIS will be particularly influential as we exit this pandemic and, also as we take the necessary steps to exit the EU and regain our political and economic independence. As I mentioned last week, we will also be looking at the Committee on Climate Change within the context of Energy and Business which will be very interesting.

This week we will have the inaugural meeting of an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) that I will be jointly chairing with Gill Furniss, the Labour MP for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough. APPGs are cross-party groups of MPs and Members of the House of Lords who meet to consider topics that reflect their concerns as parliamentarians. They examine policies and new developments and ideas that are linked to their topic. They also invite Ministers and other partners like Campaign Groups, Charities and other non governmental organisations to take part and become actively involved.

This APPG will be supported by Local Trust, (you can find out more about them at www.localtrust.org.uk) and will be titled “Left Behind Communities”. I will be telling you lots more about this very exciting initiative in the near future.

Back home in the constituency a major disappointment has been the way Coronavirus has stopped me from meeting people. Because of the size of the Constituency we decided to establish our base in Newton Aycliffe and complement it with pop up surgeries elsewhere. We had just started to get momentum in these in Ferryhill, Sedgefield, Middleton St George and Trimdon with many others planned for our other villages and communities when Covid hit us. Similarly progress stopped on our office efforts but these are finally making real strides now and we are very pleased that we are heading into Sydney House.

One thing I am regularly asked is whether I am enjoying the role? I have to say that from day one that this has been the most incredible experience, and it is such a privilege that despite all of the unexpected pressures of Coronavirus, and the drip feed of abuse from those still frustrated at the election result, I would not swap it for anything and I hope to continue to represent you for many years to come.

As always if you want to reach us please use the details below.

Paul Howell

MP for Sedgefield

Paul.Howell.MP@Parliament.uk

020 7219 4272