As I set up my office and get my team in place, I thought it would be useful to explain the key roles of a Member of Parliament and how I can help you and your family.
Talking to long-serving MPs it’s clear the job is very varied and no two days are the same! But I’d say there are three main ways I can help you and our community:
Being a champion for our area
Standing up for our area will run through everything I do. I want to be a pro-active MP who makes a difference for our constituency and our country. I grew up in Aycliffe and live here, alongside lots of friends and family, so our community having a bright future matters a lot to me.
My top priority when championing our area is standing up for more jobs, better jobs and an improved economy. I’m working locally and nationally to push for more investment.
I’ve hit the ground running on this, working hard to push government ministers to explore all options for the future of Hitachi Rail. I’m also working behind the scenes with a number of other employers to provide support.
I’ll also be representing resident views on other important issues of concern. I’m representing residents hit by the foul smell affecting parts of the town, pressing the Environment Agency for an urgent update, a site visit and a public meeting.
Being an advocate for residents
One of the busiest parts of my new role, as your MP, is providing help and assistance to local residents facing particular issues. This could be because you’re struggling with a service provided by national government departments such as benefits, pensions or other payments, veterans’ support, immigration and visa issues or NHS services. Or, it could be because you’ve been let down by a local service from the council, housing association or other organisation, have complained, but don’t feel you’re getting anywhere.
I can speak to organisations to ask about your case and request things be looked at again if the way it’s been handled doesn’t seem right. I’ll also look for patterns in cases raised with me. That’s so, when the same issues come up time after time, I can spot wider problems affecting lots of residents that I need to raise with government ministers.
Helping make laws
Another crucial part of my role will be debating and voting on new laws to make sure our country is properly governed. This will involve scrutinising the details of proposed laws in committees, lobbying ministers to take our area’s needs into account and then voting on laws in the House of Commons.
The recent King’s Speech set out really ambitious legislation the Labour government wants to bring forward, so we’ll be very busy as lawmakers this year. Forty draft laws are expected, including a Crime and Policing Bill to crack down on anti-social behaviour, a Children’s Wellbeing Bill to create free breakfast clubs in every primary school, a Border Security Bill to tackle organised immigration crime and a Mental Health Bill to reform the treatment of people with mental health issues.
We’re a proud democracy, so all of these proposed laws will be debated publicly in Parliament. If you have strong views about a particular law, or have some experience you think should be taken into account, please get in touch. Our laws only work well if they’re made with a wide range of views taken into account.
Really looking forward to serving our community in this new role.
Please contact me, email: alan.strickland.mp@parliament.uk – if I can help with anything or you have views to share.