I feel very honoured and privileged to have been elected as the first ever Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham at the general election on 4th July.I’d like to thank everyone who placed their trust in me and assure those who didn’t vote for me that I will work tirelessly on their behalf.
I’d also like to thank my opponents for the energetic campaigns that they fought in the election.
Much of the first two weeks in parliament was taken up with training on the ways that Parliament works and the procedures that you need to follow. This included code of conduct, behaviour and the correct ways to address other members.
This was a pretty extensive training and one to one meetings. We were also given IT support and told how to begin setting up our offices. This is not done for the new MPs by Parliament; the MP has to do it themselves. With the deaths of two MPs in recent Parliaments there is also a huge concentration on MP’s personal security and the security of their staff.
We selected a speaker, and I was pleased that Sir Lindsay Hoyle continued in that role. We have also selected a panel of three Deputy speakers, one from Labour and two Conservatives.
The King’s speech debate lasted for five days and the topics for discussion were decided by the Conservatives as they are now the official opposition, even though they have their lowest number of MPs ever.
I was disappointed that they didn’t include a debate on social care. During the election many people told me that the government really has to fix social care and do it quickly. Recent governments have promised to reform social care but have failed to deliver on this promise.
On Monday of this week the new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rt Hon Rachel Reeves revealed that the Conservative government had not been honest about the extent of the financial problems that they were leaving behind them. She told a staggered House of Commons that they have already found a ‘black hole’ in the country’s finances of £22 billion. The worst inheritance of any government since the second world war.
The new hospital building programme that promised a new Royal Berkshire hospital in 2019 was a false promise with nowhere near enough funding for the programme.
This cruel deception by the Conservatives gave false hope to both patients and staff. There will now be a complete review of the New Hospital programme with a thorough, realistic and properly costed timetable for delivery.
I have been promised a meeting with the new Secretary of State for Health to get an update on the situation with the Royal Berks, which I know is of the utmost importance to many people in Wokingham.
