Conference recess is now over and Parliament is once again sitting. I’ve been working hard in the constituency and Westminster throughout the recess period, dealing with incoming queries and issues. I’ve had several good local wins for residents, including backdated Pension Credit claims, some of which are in the thousands. Close to 800,000 people across the country are entitled to Pension Credit, but don’t claim it. I would encourage everyone to check their eligibility for Pension Credit here: https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator
I’ve been working around the constituency, meeting organisations and charities since becoming your Member of Parliament. Last week I met with the chief executive of Believe housing. We have roughly 1,300 homes in the constituency that are owned by this housing association. I get a lot of housing related casework, so it was a good opportunity to raise these issues in person with the organisation. As a former housing association director myself, we spoke about the challenges facing the sector and how I could help as the local MP.
I am back in Parliament this week and we look set for a busy legislative period. Several bills are currently progressing through parliament, these include:
Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill – This Bill will take railway services into public ownership when the private contracts end. This change will tackle delays, cancellations and unreliable rail services.
Great British Energy Bill – The purpose of this Bill is to create a publicly owned energy company that will help our transition towards net zero, create well-paying jobs and get our energy bills down. Just last week we saw a £22bn investment in carbon capture and storage in Teesside. This will create 4,000 good, local jobs.
Budget Responsibility Act – A Bill to impose rules on the Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility to respect fiscal rules. This means we can never again have the disaster of Liz Truss style reforms that brought our country to its knees and sent mortgages through the roof.
Renters Reform Bill – A major reform to our housing sector that will see an end to no-fault evictions and new rights for renters that include the right to own a pet. It will also allow tenants to challenge unfair rent increases, which is often raised locally with me.
Water Special Measures Bill – This Bill will allow the government to block the bonuses of executives who pollute waterways and ensure the independent monitoring of every outlet. The previous government allowed water companies to release sewage into our rivers.
These are just a few of the draft laws currently laid before parliament and it shows our commitment to deliver on the priorities that matter to us and our area. I look forward to supporting these measures when they come to the House of Commons.
As always, if there are any issues you think I can help with, please get in touch with me at: alan.strickland.mp@parliament.uk
Alan Strickland, MP.