My Week 23/05/18

Nick Herbert MP (Arundel & South Downs) and GIllian Keegan MP (Chichester) join Di Levantine, founder and unpaid CEO of the Snowdrop Trust for 25 years, and volunteers for the charity’s annual walk in Arundel Park.

It’s been a busy fortnight in and out of Parliament.  Last Sunday I joined the annual walk in Arundel Park for the Snowdrop Trust, a wonderful local charity of which I’m honoured to be a Patron.

Then on Wednesday I met constituents who had come up to Westminster to raise their concerns about the effect of welfare policy on people with Motor Neurone Disease.

On global issues, I spoke about tuberculosis at a meeting on pandemics, and in a parliamentary debate on LGBT rights.  Brexit also came up in meetings with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary.

Then on Friday I was back in the constituency, for my regular advice ‘surgeries’, as well as meetings with Sussex Police and the Environment Agency.

In the afternoon I went down to Worthing Pier to present an award to my constituent, Findon resident Phil Silver, for his work to promote responsibility in gambling.

On Saturday my diary was cleared, of course, to watch the wonderful Royal Wedding, and as usual on Sunday I tried to catch up with a mountain of paperwork.

On Monday, together with other West Sussex MPs, I met Deborah Myers, Director of Education at West Sussex County Council, and Dominic Herrington, the Regional Schools Commissioner for the South East, to discuss education standards in the county.

On Tuesday I chaired an evidence session on the Government’s strategy to end TB in England, and later I successfully applied for a backbench debate on TB which will be held on Thursday 7 June.  

I then met representatives of the Sussex NFU to discuss agricultural policy post-Brexit, and after that I met the Rail Minister, Jo Johnson, to raise my concerns about some timetable changes as they affect Hassocks.

On Wednesday, I met the International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, to discuss TB, and then local developers who want to build a new settlement at Adversane.

On Thursday, I will be chairing a roundtable discussion on the future of the magistracy, as part of a project run by the think tank I chair, The Project for Modern Democracy.

In the evening I will join a reception at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for our Ambassadors and High Commissioners