After a very busy weekend celebrating the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, I had a relaxed bank holiday Monday recuperating and spending time catching up with friends and family.
Tuesday morning, I hopped on the early train to London and straight into a meeting in the palace with a pharmaceutical company to discuss the potential of job creation in Blyth Valley. I then had a constituent surgery to speak with a gentleman who has moved abroad and is struggling with the process of returning back to the UK. It can sometimes be difficult to navigate the system and I was pleased to help. In the afternoon I attended an event organised by the Dogs Trust to raise awareness of puppy smuggling and the laws that have been put in place to reduce pregnant animals being brought over from other countries. The event also highlighted the issues of dog theft in Britain. I have had constituents raise concerns about both topics in the past and it was interesting to hear the most up to date laws around animal welfare.
The following morning, I worked in the Westminster office on casework and then attended an event to promote the initiative ‘Gratitude Games’ which is focussed on the mental health of key workers with links to sport. I am very supportive of this program to bring sport in to work environments such as hospitals, police stations and the fire service. In the afternoon I headed to PMQ’s. It’s great to hear about our government’s big priorities and see the huge improvements including patient waiting lists which have reduced from a peak of almost 125,000 thanks to hardworking staff. Ambulance response times are the lowest in almost two years and the government's commitment to help with the cost of living has been substantiated by the record increase of the National Living Wage. My final meeting of the day was regarding offshore renewable energy, looking at the future economy of Blyth Valley. Wind energy was the biggest source of electricity for the first time in the first quarter of 2023. This is important to the UK for climate change but is doubly important to the North East because it reinforces the value of the offshore renewables sector for which Blyth Valley and the rest of the area is becoming a world class economic cluster. Later, I had the pleasure to touch base with our office Senior Parliamentary Advisor who works remotely. We were joined by a member of staff who has just completed his degree in International Relations and Politics and is now a full-time employee in our constituency office.
Thursday morning, I was in Westminster bright and early for a briefing and then headed to the chamber to ask a question to the cabinet office regarding the gigaplant in the Blyth Estuary. While I am confident we will see meaningful progress now that the business that been successfully acquired; what is now crystal clear is that the government decision to withhold the grant until the business was able to meet important milestones was an important, common sense step to protect your taxpayers money. Across the constituency we are seeing more and more businesses invest in Blyth, Cramlington and Seaton Valley and I will always be a fierce champion for bringing more high quality, local jobs to the area. I then sat behind Ben Wallace as PPS for support and to help with interventions. Once back in the office, I had a follow up constituency surgery call regarding housing and am working closely with the council to resolve the matter. After a very busy day, I jumped on the late train back to Northumberland.
Friday morning had an excellent start with a visit from Dame Andrea Leadsom who is the government’s Early Years Health Advisor. Andrea came to visit the family hub in Sure Start Blyth. The family hub offers services to anyone who needs support for a child. I was delighted to see the fantastic facilities we have for families in Blyth Valley and Andrea fully enjoyed her time in the constituency. I then drove to Cramlington to Transmission Dynamics to see it’s new multi-million pound research and manufacturing facility. I met with senior management and senior representatives of the Railway Industry Association, we heard about the incredible work that the business is doing in railway and other sectors. This is a great example of another Cramlington success story. The RIA updated us on what they were doing to promote what the rail industry supply chain to improve the UK railways. and my final visit of the week was to Tempest Martial Arts in Cowpen. I met with the owner Ricky Stafford and marvelled at how confident the students were. Mr Stafford was clearly very passionate about his students building character, developing life skills, anti-bullying and embracing innovations whilst still respecting the traditions of martial arts.
At the weekend I had a catch up with Deputy Leader of Northumberland County Richard Wearmouth to discuss ongoing projects in Blyth Valley. On Saturday my wife and I walked to the Three Horse Shoes pub and then headed to Asmara for tea. It was delicious as always with lovely service. Sunday, we enjoyed with the family, then prepared for another busy week. As always, if you have any concerns or issues, please contact me at [email protected] or call the office on 01670 338435.
