Parliament                                                              

While Parliament is sitting, I spend a good proportion of my working week in the House of Commons - usually Monday to Thursday.

The image a lot of people have of how MP’s spend their time in the Commons is probably based on TV pictures of us sitting on green benches in the Chamber heckling each other!  Obviously we do sit in the chamber to part in debates and to vote on legislation but in fact this only represents a small part of the work that goes on in the House of Commons.

Elected as your representative, my role in Parliament is to raise and push forward issues which are of concern to people in the Elmet constituency.  There are various ways I do this: 

Lobbying Ministers

There are 354 Labour MPs and its impossible for us all to get the opportunity to speak in debates on a regular basis, so lobbying Government Ministers is an effective way for a backbench MP to get their voice heard.  I regularly meet with ministers on an informal basis to put forward my views both on behalf of the constituency and on important national and international issues.

   Debates, Questions  to  Ministers & Voting    

Debates and questions to Ministers sessions take place in the chamber every day and evening and cover a huge range of topics.  People might not realize that there is a queuing system when it comes to putting questions to Ministers - obviously many MPs want to have their say so in the interest of fairness, names are entered into a computerised ‘shuffle’.  Contributing to debates is an important way of making sure that proposed legislation has a positive impact on the constituency and reflects people’s concerns.  Voting takes place most days and in many respects this is the most important part of my job.  When people vote for me it’s because most of them want me to implement and support the government’s programme, as set out at election time.

Visits from constituents

I regularly meet groups of constituents at the House of Commons - usually giving them the ‘grand tour’ and a photo opportunity on the Terrace!  Receiving lobby groups, which I do quite often, is a good chance to get an insight into a whole manner of issues.

Working in the House of Commons

If you want to find out more about the workings of Parliament, click on the links below

The official site for the UK Parliament         

www.parliament.uk/index.cfm 

Parliament website for young people                 

www.explore.parliament.uk

The official site for The Prime Minister and No 10 Downing Street

www.pm.gov.uk

The P.M. and No.10 Downing Street for young people
www.youngpeople.pm.gov.uk