A packed week in Westminster this week as we worked to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine whilst carrying on with important legislation.
On Monday the business of the day was dominated by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which has come back from the Lords with a series of amendments. As I had taken the Bill through Committee Stage as a PPS in the Ministry of Justice and then through the Lords as PPS to the Lord Privy Seal, I offered to support the Home Office Team who were managing the Bill through this stage. After 6 hours of vigorous debate and some robust arguments from both sides we passed the amended Bill and sent it to the Lords for their approval.
On Tuesday I had meetings with the Secretary of State for Health and the Chair of the International Legal Forum in the Morning, covering local NHS services and Human Rights Abuses respectively - later in the day I met representatives of Stand Up to Cancer and in the evening attended a reception hosted by the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce.
On Wednesday the Science and Technology Select Committee questioned the scientists behind the Government’s COVID-19 modelling to understand how they formulated the advice they gave to Government on lockdown and other pandemic measures.
After this it was Prime Minister's Questions which was attended by the Ukrainian Ambassador who received an unprecedented standing ovation in the Chamber. The people of Ukrainian have been remarkable in their determined fight against Putin's aggression.
Later on I attended a meeting with the Ambassador where he briefed parliamentarians on the situation in his country. I also met with the Qatari Ambassador to discuss Afghan Resettlement as a follow-up to my visit there last year.
Back in the Constituency I caught up with important case work and got back out on the doorstep with local Councillors speaking to people about their priorities.
I also had the opportunity to speak to BBC Radio Manchester about the Clean Air Zone, Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Council's attempts to blame me for their botched handling of the Levelling Up Fund bid for Heywood and Middleton.
As it stands I am still waiting to hear from the Leader of the Council about when he is willing to meet me. This is the third request for such a discussion I have made and I have yet to see any proposals for projects in either Heywood or Middleton.
The coming week will focus on emergency legislation to support Ukraine and I'm planning to speak in support of this following strong representations from local people.
