For a first week back, it certainly wasn't boring in the House! On Monday we were voting on The EU Referendum bill and there is no time limit for debate or voting on these. Those of us in Conservatives for Britain were pleased that the purdah regulations have now been re-instated into the bill. The SNP decided that with Labour being distracted by their impending leadership election, they would try to push a series of amendments (all of which they lost) in order to keep everyone voting until 12.30am!
The PM gave a statement about the plans for the UK to take more Syrian refugees along with our continuing commitment, now over £1 billion, to the humanitarian efforts on the ground in Syria, Turkey & Lebanon. He also announced the drone strike which had taken out two UK citizens who were threatening attacks on our soil. This has generated NO postbag, compared to the hundreds on refugees & endless offers from kind-hearted constituents to help financially at a local level or even take people into their own homes.
I am keeping a database of these and will be liaising with County Hall on this as soon as they have allocated the person in charge of the refugee work now coming our way.
On Tuesday we were voting on the Finance Bill amendments. I met with the Breast Cancer Now campaigners, and dressed up in pink as part of their Wear It Pink campaign launched this week. The Chancellor held a Northern Powerhouse reception at No11 to which I took two entrepreneurs from our patch- one builds civilian drones (Quest UAV based in Amble), the other is developing a new & alternative form of electric transport.
I got a latest briefing about the impending and very controversial Highthorn application for a new opencast mine near Druridge Bay. Whilst I was pleased to see a much improved restoration programme after a good deal of local consultation, I am still struggling (especially with present coal prices) with whether this should ever be an opencast site.
On Friday most of the MPs from all sides gave up their constituency day to stay in London to debate & vote on the Assisted Dying Bill. You can read my speech at
http://trevelyantalks.blogspot.com/2015/09/my-speech-for-assisted-dying…
It was an extraordinary and empassioned debate from both sides, but in the end the House votes overwhelmingly to reject it.
My weekend proved very challenging as the poor behaviour of one of my staff had to be dealt with, and in the end she decided to resign with immediate effect, with full apology to the Rothbury community whom she had offended.
And now we have Jeremy Corbyn as the newly elected Leader of the Opposition, so watch this space- Labour colleagues seem bemused and shell-shocked.
If you would like to catch upon the next stages of my Summer Tour, please go to www.teamtrevelyan.co.uk/news for details of where we will be over the next three weeks.
If you want to catch up on earlier Weeks In Westminster, you can find them at www.teamtrevelyan.co.uk
If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me anytime on 0207 219 4437 or by email to [email protected]