Parliament returned last week, so we’ve finally had the chance to focus on key domestic issues; issues neglected for too long, as Westminster and Whitehall have focussed their resources almost solely on Brexit in recent months. The extension to the Brexit deadline...

While Westminster is gridlocked, life goes on in our local communities, where concerns over public services, crime, climate change, housing, health and business are growing. Sick to the back teeth of the B word, they feel increasingly alienated from our politics. So,...

On Monday I led a debate on behalf of Mr Andrew Ramanandi, the Head Teacher of St Joseph’s Primary School in Blaydon and over 104,000 teachers, support staff, heads, parents and governors from around the country who signed a petition calling for fair funding for...

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Suicide and Self-Harm, meetings and campaigns around mental health play a large part in my Parliamentary diary. I recently met with Action for Children at the launch of...

So, here we stand at the start of a new year. For me, the run up to Christmas was a time for getting out and meeting constituents making their Christmas preparations and taking the time to thank and celebrate their local communities. It was a privilege – and a huge...

In politics words matter a lot. Less than a month ago Theresa May delivered her leaders’ address to Tory party conference, in which she proclaimed, “A decade after the financial crash, people need to know that the austerity it led to is over and that their hard work...

This weekend marks 70 years since the founding of the National Health Service by the post-war Labour government. The consensus, after six years of war, was that health care as a basic right, free at the point of need would ensure that Britain could flourish in the new...