Last week saw the Chancellor’s Autumn statement as its highlight on Wednesday and, as a Treasury Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS), I had one of the best seats in the House, directly behind the Chancellor as he spoke. The week started on Monday and Tuesday with time in the Constituency office and a pop up to Trimdon to call at the Co-Op to discuss ASB (Anti-Social Behaviour) issues.
Wednesday started with an early train to get me to London in time for a 9.45am meeting with the Treasury team. This was in No 11 where I met with all the Treasury Ministers where the Chancellor gave us an insight into the speech to come. I then had a meeting with a number of MPs before heading to the Chamber for Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs). I normally sit on the back row of the Chamber but, because there is no real opportunity to move between PMQs and the Chancellor’s Statement, I sat on the second row. It is traditional that the Treasury PPSs sit behind the Chancellor and the Treasury Ministers sit alongside him. This is one of the most important speeches the Chancellor makes and it is a real privilege to get such an up-close opportunity.
The PPS team support the Chancellor through the ongoing debates on the Statement, there will always be at least one of us sitting on the row behind whichever Treasury Minister is taking the debate. We had changes in the PPS team as part of the reshuffle that the PM had of his ministerial team. There are normally three of us, but one got promoted and one left, leaving me on my own at one point. I have moved within the team and now support the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott MP.
We have a change in the Chancellor’s support, but he was not available Thursday and my replacement for the other Ministers was not appointed until Friday. This meant that I spent a long time on the 2nd Bench on Thursday. Thursday started with Questions to the Cabinet Office, so I took the opportunity for a Question. We had been submitting a request for an Honour for Bill Cooksey after his phenomenal efforts but, as you will be aware, Bill sadly passed away. The problem with the Honours system is that you cannot apply for them posthumously, I therefore asked whether there was any way around this for someone like Bill but, unfortunately, there isn’t.
Cabinet Office Questions were followed by Business Questions and then it was continuation of the Autumn statement debate. As the only Treasury PPS available on Thursday, I spent quite a lot of time in the Chamber before heading north in time to arrive for an Economic Conference being held in Darlington. Friday was a proper Constituency Day, starting with a visit to Cummins in Darlington. Cummins is right on the boundary between the Sedgefield Constituency and the Darlington one, the dividing line goes through their site. I then went back to the office to meet a constituent from Ferryhill before heading to ROF59. I went there to go to 5 Acres as they were designing my Christmas card for this year. Then it was off to NETPark to meet another of the amazing businesses there. This one, Graphene Composites, create materials including those that are used to stop bullets. They showed me material that could protect you from something like a Magnum 44 at a range of 10 yards! Then it was to Sedgefield Primary School for their Christmas Market, which was lovely, so many stalls and always good to meet the Sedgefield Mayor and his consort. Then it was off to Ferryhill for their Christmas Tree event at the Methodist Church. This was fabulous on its own but, to top it for me, they had found the Cradle Roll from when I was baptised back in 1960. I left there and called at The Dean and Chapter pub (I always think of it as the Black Bull which was its original name), to catch up with some constituents I have met before. Saturday and Sunday were all about the Conservative Party choosing their candidate for the North East Mayor elections next year. I had hoped to be the candidate, as I thought it would have complemented the MP roll and given me even more opportunity to support our region, but it wasn’t to be.
Monday has me back to Westminster ready for the last day of the Autumn Statement debate and then later, on Thursday, the Business of the House has changed to deliver the reductions to National Insurance rates that was announced in the Statement. Week commencing 4th December I should be in the Constituency all week, if you want to catch up let me know. It’s the usual number 01325 790580 or email:
paul.howell.mp@parliament.uk