Parliament Talk

Paul Howell, Member of Parliament for Sedgefield

Busy Friday last week, as is becoming normal. Started at Teesside Airport where Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley Mayor, announced his new flights around the UK including London, Dublin, Belfast, Southampton and the Isle of Man before I went to the Child Poverty Conference in Newcastle. The afternoon was with the Secretary of State for International Trade, Liz Truss, at Net Park near Sedgefield, here we visited Kromek, a company at the leading edge of technology, specialising in civilian radiation detection equipment. Before I then went for an interview with Chris Lloyd of the Northern Echo. As a result of the child poverty conference I have arranged a meeting with Paul Butler, the Bishop of Durham, to explore further the issues that were presented.

The weekend included visits to Middleton Hall near Middleton one Row and the Community Centre at Middleton St George to celebrate Village Hall week.

Tuesday saw the confirmation that Hitachi did not get the Nexus contract and I discussed with them how we could progress and we will be meeting with Andrea Leadsom, the Minister of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. I was then able to ask a question at Prime Ministers Questions on Hitachi and show my support for HS2.

For anyone that doesn’t know, Prime Ministers Questions takes place every Wednesday at 12.00 for 30 minutes and is when the Prime Minister answers questions from the Members of the Commons.

So, that’s my week, I hope you enjoyed yours and have a good weekend.

Paul Howell MP

Member of Parliament

for Sedgefield