Conference recess ends a week early and we return to Parliament to make up for time lost in September. I attended the Conservative conference in Birmingham. Having been there, it appears there are two party conferences. One is where MPs and party members tour the halls, the exhibition stands, the drinks evenings and media tents to give their latest take on our party’s fortunes. The other is more business-like where the focus is on policy and making the case for reform.
I only started attending my party conference when I started chairing the Transport Committee. I now have a body of policy recommendations which have either been accepted by Government or have yet to be – hence this is a good place to push for more. I arrived on Sunday afternoon and left on Tuesday evening. During that time, I spoke at twelve events which tend to then lead to question and answer sessions. The audience tends to comprise transport journalists, those running transport and those starting up new transport ventures or pushing the boundaries of science and innovation. I also packed in numerous meetings with the Chief Executives who run our transport companies and Government agencies.
Despite declining every microphone and opportunity to comment on U-turns and Government standing, I was informed that my views still ended up on the BBC. Wondering how this could be, given I had spoken only about transport, I remembered my newsletter had gone to constituents and responses to emails go out daily. The words ‘Tory MP apologises to constituents for the turmoil caused by mini-budget’ were therefore used when the change occurred. Despite the frustration of this being lifted out in the media, and having written this before the conference began, I will continue to be direct with constituents. If you want to get the full context, email me and I will add you to the newsletter so you can read about what I do, say and vote for whilst at Westminster and also in the constituency. You’ll get more than a media summary!
Next week, I am looking forward to getting back to Westminster and leading my debate on ‘Sewage Discharges’. This has been rescheduled following the period of mourning. It’s not just MPs who can apply for debates. Residents can do it as well. Parliament has a Petitions Committee. Anyone can start a petition. If 10,000 others sign the petition, it will get a Government response. If 100,000 sign it, it is likely to get debated by Parliament with an MP from the Petitions Committee leading the debate. The debate title I picked was also the subject of a petition which got more than 100,000 petitioners. As a result, I agreed with the Petitions Committee that I would tag the public petition to my own debate. It’s bound to be well-attended given this is an issue around the country, as the petition demonstrates, and not just for MPs with coastal constituencies. I hope that we can debate the ideas and solutions which will remove sewage discharges. These are complicated and involve more organisations than just Southern Water and fellow sewage companies.
The sewage discharge debate is on Wednesday afternoon. In the morning, and also rescheduled, I’m chairing the Transport Committee’s evidence session on ‘Summer Travel Disruption’. First up are Avanti and Network Rail, covering train cancellations and strike action. Our second evidence session will be from the Ports of Dover and Felixstowe. We will cover the delays at Dover in July and a new EU entry/exit scheme which could make this a permanent feature. Felixstowe have been hit with industrial action so the RMT and Unite unions make up our third panel where they will explain their industrial action at our railways and ports. Our final evidence session will be on flight cancellations and will feature British Airways, easyJet and Gatwick.
