The first full week in Westminster in 2024 was certainly a busy one. As I said last week, the week commencing Monday 8th January, started with a delegated legislation on money laundering, then later I spoke in the adjournment debate on rural transport. I supported the Financial Secretary to the Treasury as he held an open meeting for any Member with questions on the Finance Bill in the Chamber on Wednesday. I also had my usual Treasury Ministerial meeting and a Transport select Committee meeting on Tuesday as well as sessions with both the Northern Research Group and the One Nation Conservatives.
Wednesday, I helped the Chancellor in some meetings with Members before going to the Chamber for Prime Minister’s Questions and then performing my duties as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) for the Finance Bill Committee stage held in the Main Chamber and which will continue with sessions in the Committee Rooms. Later, on Wednesday, I met with the Road Haulage Association and was briefed on some of their priorities, not least of which was the need for better rest services for their members.
To finish the day, I went to a dinner with the Social Justice Caucus where we heard about an imminent report on ‘Two Nations’ which highlights the different experiences of different communities in recent years. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) published an interim report at the end of last year which states that, following two decades of research, there is still a deeply divided society of the “haves and the have nots” which they refer to in their report as ‘Two Nations’. Their research indicates that increasing welfare spending is not the answer to poverty and indicated that what does matter is meaningful work; access to healthcare and education; a stable family life and addressing crime issues that devastate our communities. The CSJ will publish their manifesto of solutions this spring.
Thursday was a day where I was trying to be in many places at the same time. One of the problems with scheduling a day in Westminster is that each day there is the probability that there will be either Statements or Urgent Questions (UQs) and, depending on their subject, they can be dramatically different in their time in the Chamber. Indeed, on Monday, because of the substantive nature of the UQs and Statements, the scheduled Business of the House, the Offshore Petroleum Bill, had to be postponed. On that occasion we had a UQ on the situation in Palestine followed by 3 statements on the NHS winter update, Storm Henk and the Horizon compensation and convictions update. Whilst UQs and Statements are always significant they are not normally as substantive as those, and we would not usually see 4 on the same day.
On Thursday I had hoped to speak in the SEND debate and had a speech prepared but, because of the statement on the Civil Nuclear Road Map, the SEND debate was delayed to a time when I could not attend the full debate and unless you can attend the full debate you can’t speak. You are, however, allowed to intervene on other colleagues, so I at least got a mention for my constituents. My conflict ironically was because of a meeting with Simon Hoare MP, the Minister for Local Government finance. The purpose of this meeting was for me to convey some of the challenges counties like Durham face due to the funding formulae impacts like rurality and a low tax base but also that the impacts on funding, caused by the demands of SEND, costs. So, in effect I left a debate on SEND to talk to a minister about SEND.
Later, on Thursday, I went to a Westminster Hall Debate discussing vapes. The focus was that these are good for helping smokers have an alternative that is less harmful, but they are not good for children due to addiction risks. Late Thursday I was back home ready for time in the office on Friday and meeting some constituents, with subjects including prisons, knife crime and social care. I also popped into Digital Edge on the Industrial Estate for a catch up. Part of my time in the office was planning surgeries. We are always available if you want to meet me privately, but we are also scheduling our latest series of drop-in surgeries. These are where I turn up somewhere and people can just come for a chat on whatever you want to talk about, whether that’s local or national issues. On Friday 19th January, I am at Mordon and Ferryhill, but we have around 20 places on our list so far.
It is very likely that 2024 will be an election year so, as politicians, we will no doubt put out even more communications than normal. To this end, on Saturday, I was delivering leaflets and surveys in Heighington and Chilton. After delivering in Heighington we called in to the Village Hall as they had food on. They do this to raise funds for the Village Hall on the 2nd Saturday lunchtime of each month. We were served by Elizabeth who was one of the many volunteers and I must say the food and service were excellent and I would encourage any of you to take a trip there on 10th February and enjoy their hospitality.
As always if you want to catch up with me, please email Paul.Howell.MP@Parliament.uk or call Aycliffe 01325 790580.