Headed to London on Monday morning as normal, bit of a slower trip this time as some idiots had attempted to steal some of the electric cables from the East Coast Mainline! This meant I missed the DEFRA meeting but, thankfully, made it in time to join Tom Dower from Aycliffe UTC (University Technical College) and others who met with Lord Baker who was the inspiration for the development of UTCs. Despite being 87 years old he is still as passionate as ever about education.
The main business of the House on Monday was the second reading of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. This has been the subject of many comments accusing the Government of breaking the law, but I spoke with the Attorney General and she is clear that it does not. The Bill creates the option for two distinct streams of traffic into Northern Ireland, depending upon its final origin. Goods remaining in NI have a different treatment to those passing through to Eire. It has been noticeable that the criticisms emanating from the EU and its supporters seem to be entirely about process with close to zero complaining about what is actually happening. It does seem that they have little interest in what is the right thing to do and are too focused on ticking boxes on process being followed.
Opposition day debates happened last Tuesday, but I was in meetings and missed most of them. I was in BEIS where we challenged the Secretary of State, Kwasi Kwarteng, on the operations and budgets of his department. I joined a Teams call with the North East Space Leadership Group. We are working to ensure that the North East gets at least its fair share of focus in this developing sector. Our constituency has many specialist companies working particularly in the connectivity of space to earth for data.
I then sat in the Environmental audit committee where the Secretary of State for DEFRA was giving evidence, before later meeting with Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Secretary of State for International Trade, as I am vice chair of the back bench policy committee looking at International Trade. I then had a call with Graeme Morris, MP for Easington, Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham and Mary Kelly Foy, MP for City of Durham. We were discussing the changes to the structure of Health Care Clinical commissioning groups and making sure we collectively represent the public of County Durham.
Wednesday, as usual, was Prime Ministers Questions, interesting to see different faces at the despatch box. Boris was away on NATO and G7 business, so Dominic Raab stood in and therefore the deputy Labour leader also took part. The Business of the House was the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill. This is an extremely difficult and sensitive piece of legislation and I have tried to listen to voices from different sides to understand as best I can. This Bill carries over into next week for further consideration.
Back in the constituency I had a series of engagements that show the fantastic variety of the job I do. They included meeting a business we had already helped, to discuss next steps; calling at a new Sainsbury’s Local store in Middleton St George; talking to Durham County Council about the Levelling Up bid; attending a residents’ meeting re a Garden Village development. I also met the Female Hormone Deficiency support group in Sedgefield who gave me a very powerful message that I will take to ministers.
It was a pleasure to call at St Clare’s Court Care Home, in Newton Aycliffe, as part of Care Homes Week, the team and facilities were exceptional. Meeting the team at Aycliffe Job Centre again reminded me of the outstanding work they do in matching people and opportunities. They have some of the best results in the region and are so passionate about what they do.
It is always a privilege to meet the Ferryhill ambassadors at Dean Bank school in Ferryhill, the questions from these young people are great fun but sometimes incredibly challenging!
If you have questions for me then, as always, please get in touch. You can contact me by email at paul.howell.mp@parliament.uk or call on 01325 790580.
Paul Howell
Member of Parliament for Sedgefield