Blog - Week Commencing Monday 28th February 2011

It was the first week back after the half term recess.

After an exhausting weekend, which eventually stretched into Monday, we finally moved into our new home in Eastchurch. There are still lots of jobs to do before we can really settle in, including a major extension to provide better accommodation for my Mother-In-Law.

During the week I had a number of meetings and engagements including:

- Jamie Brandon who was responsible for producing a couple of videos for me when I was a parliamentary candidate visited Westminster and we met up for coffee and a chat. Jamie was studying film making, but decided to drop out of the course and join the RAF. Despite the current cut back in the Armed Forces I suspect that this was a good career move! Ironically, on the day that Jamie visited Parliament, Jess McMahon came up from the constituency for the day. Jess achieved a BA (Hons) degree in film making and is responsible for all my current videos.

- Jess and Jamie accompanied me to a briefing in Portcullis House where we signed up to a new website which will be promoting E-democracy. I am happy to support anything that helps engage with the public, particularly younger voters who are more inclined to look to the internet for their information.

- I attended a lunch organised by the All Party Parliamentary Minerals Group where we discussed the difficulty of balancing the need to extract minerals with protecting the environment.

- I attended a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Micro Businesses to discuss ways in which we could lobby the Government to improve help to micro businesses (those employing 5 or less people and with a turnover less that £250,000 per annum).

- I attended a briefing meeting with the Fair Fuel UK campaign group, of which I am a supporter.

The main Parliamentary business this week consisted of:

- Second Reading of the Protection of Freedoms Bill, which despite a lengthy debate was eventually passed without a division.

- Supplementary estimated day debates on Sure Start Children’s Centres and HM Revenue and Customs, both of which were concluded without a division.

- A debate on Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism which replaces control orders with a less intrusive but more focussed system of prevention and investigation. Despite one or two Opposition noises off, there was again no division.

- There was an Opposition Day debate put forward by the Democratic Unionist Party which offered support for UK Armed Forces and Veterans. Unsurprisingly, there was no opposition to the motion, nor any division. I cannot remember a week in Parliament where there was not a single vote on Government or Opposition business. It won’t last!

Remarkably my Friday constituency day was relatively quiet with only a meeting with Sioux Peto, Colin Barnard and Jess McMahon to discuss the future of the Litter Angels project and the Annual General Meeting of the Sittingbourne and Sheppey Conservative Association.

The weekend was busy, Saturday mainly in the house and Sunday almost exclusively in the garden. There is so much to do!