As your new Member of Parliament for the Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor constituency, I’ll be writing a weekly update for the Newton News, as well as doing a 60 second round-up for Aycliffe Radio. I wanted to thank Newton Press for giving me this opportunity. Syd Howarth MBE, who founded Newton Press, was an amazing mentor to me when I was growing up in Aycliffe and he led the Rotary Club. I’m proud of the role Newton Press and the Newton News have played in our community over many years.
As a newly elected MP, I’m currently working hard to set up my constituency office, Westminster office and recruit staff. Thank you to residents who’ve already dropped me an email – once I have everything up and running I’ll get back to you as I can. You can contact me on Alan.Strickland.mp@parliament.uk.
I’m really grateful to everyone who put their faith in me to represent our community. Having grown up in Newton Aycliffe, representing my home town is a huge honour and a privilege.
Whether you voted for me or not doesn’t matter to the help I provide – as our Member of Parliament I’m here to serve everyone in our area. I’m a firm believer in public service and the new Labour Government has set out clear steps to return politics to the service of working people.
I’ve been proud to hit the ground running on a number of key issues.
In my first few days I called the chief director of Hitachi UK to Parliament for an urgent meeting to discuss the situation at their Aycliffe train plant. I worked hard for 18 months as a candidate to stand up for the jobs at Hitachi in the face of dithering from the previous Tory government. Now, as our MP, I’m lobbying Labour ministers hard to do all they can to safeguard the plant. I’m determined to be an MP that gets things done.
To win wider support for the Hitachi plant, I led a delegation of newly elected Labour North East MPs to see for themselves the incredible engineering happening on our doorstep. They were impressed with the factory and met workers from each of their constituencies. This is all part of my campaign to fight hard for our area.
Last week I met with chief executive of the Eden Learning Trust, which covers Woodham Academy, to discuss the crumbling concrete situation at Ferryhill School. The staff continue to amaze me with the buoyant spirit and determination to deliver for the children despite their circumstances. I was proud, as a candidate, to campaign successfully to secure funding to repair the school and will continue to work with them on the next steps.
I also had had the pleasure of speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the Ladder Centre, a brilliant organisation that provides everything from welfare support to youth clubs in Ferryhill.
I’m also proud of our mining heritage. My Granny was a proud pit lass from Gurney Valley! I spoke at the formal unveiling of the new Deaf Hill Banner, ready for the 138th Durham Miner’s Gala. Despite the torrential downpour, I enjoyed my time at the Gala, celebrating our rich mining heritage and meeting residents from Aycliffe and across the area.
Time in Parliament has been incredibly busy with inductions, briefings and training for new MPs. But I’ve also got to see some of the incredible traditions at work. I was sworn in as a Member of Parliament by swearing an oath to the King on the Bible in front of the Speaker of the House of Commons. And I was privileged to see His Majesty The King set out the new government’s agenda for the year in the King’s Speech. I was really pleased to hear strong commitments on the economy, transport and the NHS. These issues came up time and time again on doorsteps in Aycliffe.
I was really pleased to speak at a meeting of the Newton Aycliffe Business Park Community and then spend time talking to individual businesses to understand the issues they’re facing. We have lots of fantastic local business in our town and it was great to start supporting their work as our MP.
It’s been great to hit the ground running and set the pace as a hard-working, pro-active MP. I’m really looking forward to being a powerful voice for our community and to meeting lots of Newtonians in the weeks and months ahead.
Alan Strickland, MP