Back in Westminster for a week rightly dominated by the events in Ukraine. The business in Westminster is scheduled with the legislation the Government wants to progress but there are then other opportunities for other debates or actions if they are considered urgent enough. Two of these are what are called ‘Urgent Questions’ (UQ) and ‘Ministerial Statements’ (Statement).
Last week we saw Statements on Ukraine, when Ben Wallace MP, Secretary of State for Defence, gave a statement on the military situation in Ukraine. On Tuesday 22nd February, the Prime Minister made a Statement on economic sanctions against Russia, after it sent troops into eastern Ukraine. Later that week on Thursday 24th February, following the PM’s meeting with G7 leaders, joined by Secretary- General Stoltenberg of NATO, the House received updates on the UK’s response to President Putin’s onslaught against a free and sovereign European nation.
Friday 25th February saw James Heappey MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, make a statement to the House about Russia launching the largest combined arms offensive operations seen in the European theatre since 1945. As leaders around the free world have said, this is an outrage against international law that violates Ukrainian sovereignty. I am sure we will see more about the UK’s response to the crisis in Ukraine in the coming days.
It has been good to see cross party alignment on the actions taken with any debate being around nuances of initiatives rather than the thrust of the actions. These statements facilitate questions to ministers from colleagues across the House and
on issues like Ukraine it is particularly educational to hear from colleagues who are particularly knowledgeable on either the region and its history or the practicalities of military and diplomatic engagements. We also receive cross party briefings on Teams calls that enable a greater understanding of what is happening and any proposed reactions.
As a result of the statements, the diary for this week was massively disrupted with a number of meetings frustrated by the revised timings of the business of the house and required votes. In particular, a meeting with the policy advisors in No 10 had to be postponed. An evening reception afforded me the opportunity to engage with Michael Gove around the importance of the Levelling Up agenda making real progress. Wednesday included meeting one of the NETPark businesses before PMQs, a Northern Research Group (NRG) meeting and a further briefing on Russia/ Ukraine sanctions. I then went to the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) for Infrastructure where the Chancellor was the keynote speaker.
Back north on Thursday and Friday which allowed time with my Aycliffe based team and a visit to the Cree at Trimdon Station Community Centre. These are fantastic facilities that enable mutual help and also have bases at Wingate and Newton Aycliffe, they are particularly welcoming to all comers. The Aycliffe one is based at Greenfield School, and I visited as a Councillor, pre Covid, and hope to get back there soon.
There are some brilliant initiatives happening in Newton Aycliffe this year. Rotary Newton Aycliffe is seeking applicants for the Youth Leadership Award scheme which will run as two separate courses each of 5 days, commencing on 1st and 8th August 2022. The scheme is based at an outdoor training centre in Teesdale and is aimed at developing leadership skills.
All costs are covered by Rotary Newton Aycliffe. Candidates must be aged 16 to
18 on 31 July 2022. For further details and application forms contact John Burrows on 07870 210269 or email: jandeburrows@ gmail.com
Application forms must be completed and returned by 16th March 2022.
Back to Westminster on Monday and I returned to the Chamber to listen to the latest Statements from the Foreign and Business Secretaries before attending the debate for the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill. UQs and Statements will impact and extend the sitting of a day when they are followed by parliamentary business with protected time, as they were on Monday 28th February. The House would normally rise at around 10.00pm on a Monday but this time we left at about 0.45 on Tuesday morning and later I will returned to the north to engage in the North East Space Conference on Wednesday.
I will tell you more about this and the growth of the space sector in our constituency next week.
If you want to catch up with me on anything, please get in touch at paul.howell.mp@ parliament.uk
