News from the MP for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire

The election was obviously terrible for my party but it is a real privilege to represent the people of Kingswinford and South Staffordshire and – as the new Opposition – we have a responsibility to hold the new Government to account and speak up when we think they’ve got things wrong.

The King’s Speech was a mixture of the good, the bad, and things that we will want to scrutinise in more detail. I was pleased that the new Government is reintroducing a Football Governance Bill, which I helped to take through the House of Commons before the election.

But I’m really worried by the Government’s planning reforms, which are a huge threat to our Green Belt and local environment. The changes would mean Dudley’s housing target increasing by 142.6 per cent and South Staffordshire’s by a massive 203.1 per cent, and instead of the targets being a guide for local councils to set their own policies these new targets would be mandatory whatever the views of local people.

These changes will put precious green spaces like at Holbeache, the Kingswinford Triangle, Ridgehill Wood and Corbett Meadow back at risk, after the community had fought so hard to save them from development. We know that once these spaces are gone, we will never get them back.

The Government is also making a mistake in removing Winter Fuel Payments for most pensioners, and breaking its promise to cap social care costs. I don’t think that anybody seriously buys the Chancellor’s claims to have discovered a massive black hole in the finances, when every major organisation says that the economy is doing much better than predicted at the start of the year and Labour have spent an extra £25billion in their first month in Government.

It’s clear that these were changes they had always planned, but didn’t have the courage to tell voters before the election.

Locally, I have been spending the month working across the constituency – both the parts of Dudley South that I continue to represent, and the areas of South Staffordshire that come into the new constituency. The best part of being an MP is having the opportunity to meet with some amazing people and organisations, and see so many brilliant businesses – from engineering and construction to cafes, kennels and florists – that create the jobs and prosperity our community needs.

This week, I have been taking my pop-up banner around the constituency on a “summer tour” of mobile surgeries. I do this every year, but this year’s is bigger than ever with a record 14 stops. Thank you to everybody who has stopped to chat.

A year ago we lost the Crooked House in a fire that destroyed this treasured part of our industrial heritage.

Since the fire, a huge amount of work has been done by the community and South Staffordshire Council to get the pub rebuilt. It was a pleasure to join the campaign at Himley Hall on Sunday for a festival to mark a year since the fire, and to repeat our determination to get the Crooked House rebuilt, brick-by-brick on its original site for future generations to enjoy.