Monday

I spent the morning in my constituency office catching up on casework and local issues. By evening I was in Westminster reading my select committee papers for tomorrow.

Tuesday

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee sat in private and discussed our pending report on transforming the UKs evidence base.

Good legislation requires accurate evidence to help form it. The committee argues “it is time for government to do what it promised to do seven years ago, and to join up the UK's evidence base.”

There was a second statement in two days on the blood borne virus scandal. As the dust settles it appears that the compensation announcements are not as welcome as they should be and the UK Government still has work to do if they really want to do the right thing. I was disappointed when I picked up a copy of the government statement when I saw that it actually had instructions in the script for the minister to “look at public gallery”. This smacks of faux sincerity.

Unusually, a statutory instrument was debated in the chamber. Normally such things are taken care of in a meeting room by a delegated legislation committee which is commonly composed of seventeen MPs. Today’s break from normality was not an indication of how serious the UK Government takes the matter of Scotland’s funding arrangement, it was another example of the government failing to bring forward business to the House of Commons. A zombie government if ever there was one. I pressed the Labour spokesperson to commit to reinstating the cuts to Scotland’s block grant once they form the U.K. government, but he didn’t.

Wednesday

I started the day at a drop-in to support the campaign to ban vape sponsorship in sports. The campaign faces a lot of the same issues as the gambling related harm campaign to ban gambling adverts from the sporting arena. I wish it well.

I sat in the audience along with the WASPI women to hear Mel Stride, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, give evidence to the DWP select committee. Mel Stride can waffle for England. He generates meaningless phrases that don’t address the issue or provide a hint of a solution. Then he repeats the same thing over again with a different choice of words that say exactly the same thing. It’s almost impenetrable. Speaking for two hours and not saying anything that he can be held to account for was his aim, and he nearly achieved that.

David Linden MP demolished the witnesses over their lack of action and lack of commitment to a good outcome for the WASPI campaign.

There was a rare moment of altruism in the House of Commons when all members joined to applaud the courage and fortitude of Craig Mackinley MP and acknowledge his battle against sepsis which has resulted in the amputation of both his feet and hands.

I opposed a ten-minute rule bill that sought to redefine the definition of refugee as described by the UN Refugee Agency.

I met with women that provide an outreach service and early engagement to other women that are using drugs. It’s often harder for a woman to seek help as it can result in her having her children taken into care or she can be subjected to abuse from her male partner.

The rumour mill has been in full swing all day and eventually the Prime Minister, against all sensible advice, stood outside number ten to announce a General Election on the fourth of July. He looked like a broken man standing in the rain watching his career being washed away in front of him.

Thursday

I met with River Clyde Homes to catch up with their house renovations project and was delighted to hear about their innovative use of hemp as an insulation material. It is being sourced from my old friends in Jedburgh which makes me doubly happy.

Hemp growth and the industrial uses should be a massive industry in Scotland.

I had street surgeries in Port Glasgow and Greenock. Not surprisingly people wanted to talk about the general election. As always, the conversations on the doorsteps are always more congenial than the rabid discourse that inhabits much of social media.

Friday

Today was a day for planning the office during the election campaign. Officially, I stop being the MP at midnight on the 30th of May and there are a lot of administrative chores that require to be done.

It is my intention to get re-elected, but I am not arrogant enough to think it will be easy.

It has been an enormous privilege to serve the people of Inverclyde for the past nine years and the people that have come through my office have often shone a light on the need for that service.

I shall be seeking the support of the people of Inverclyde to continue to represent them for the betterment of this community and of Scotland.