This week marked the return of parliament after the Summer recess. Escaping the daily round of parliamentary votes, debates and questions enables MPs to spend concentrated time in their constituencies and Ministers to focus on longer term issues, including away from Westminster, without being “summoned” to the House.
For example as a Minister my National Resilience responsibilities took me to GCHQ and in my procurement role I visited an excellent Smaller Company to celebrate Government SME purchasing hitting £21bn annually and further improvements we are making to support smaller businesses. Locally constituency surgeries continued and I enjoyed events including seeing Horsham FC in their first game of the season.
I am occasionally approached by constituents who are keen to understand how they can become an MP. I am always encouraging: it’s often tough and hugely demanding but it’s an enormously rewarding role where you can make a huge difference to individuals and to the country more widely. Whatever an individuals’ party politics I encourage them to pursue their interest (while also pointing out the civil service, local government and many other roles can also be a means to help change the world for the better).
For those put off by the theatre of Prime Minister’s Questions I do point out that it does fulfil a vital principle and this spectacle is completely atypical of parliamentary life! It rarely reflects parliamentary relationships (at MOD Questions I was often loudly harangued by a senior Labour MP only for him to smile broadly as the cameras turned to me to reply!)
Although this becomes more strained as we head towards elections I would like to think that most of the time MPs do their utmost to find points of common agreement. For example in my first year I worked closely with the excellent opposition then MP Frank Field bringing our different skills to bear on the BHS pension debacle – helping deliver a better deal for the pensioners and long term reform.
As Parliament returns I have no doubt we will be in for an intense political year as the Government, focussed on delivering on the priorities of the country, takes through its substantial legislative agenda. Even through this Parliament will, I hope and I am sure, remember the common values that unite us.
