MP: 'It's been a busy week but I'm putting people first'

I wanted to get surgeries up and running as soon as possible, even before we have a constituency office open.

I want to be as accessible as possible to constituents and in the next few months, I’m going to try and hold ‘pop up’ surgeries at different locations across the constituency, to see what works best and what format suits people.

Holding surgeries in offices and community halls are important, but going to people in places where they don’t always need to make a special trip (like a supermarket or the local library) will hopefully make it easier for people to meet with me.

Last weekend’s surgeries provided a real mix of casework to take forward: from people dealing with problem housing issues to others facing long waits to access NHS treatment.

I was clear during the election that whatever issue people bring to me, I’ll do my best to get a response and a resolution.

Even if you can’t make it along to a surgery you can still email any problems to martin.mccluskey.mp@parliament.uk. And once we have a new office we’ll also have a fully staffed phone number you can call.

THE KING’S SPEECH

The State Opening of Parliament gets lots of attention as a ceremonial occasion with lots of pomp, but at its root it is the formal announcement of the Government’s programme for the next year, announced by the King.

During the election, Labour stood on a manifesto promising change, so it’s no surprise that this was one of the most packed King’s speeches we’ve seen in years, with many bills significantly impacting Scotland.

Despite the terrible economy we’ve inherited from the Tory Government, we’re determined to push ahead with measures that will make people’s lives better.

Twenty-four of the 39 Bills in the Kings Speech this year apply to Scotland and are going to address a wide range of issues facing our communities and the country.

A key plank of the programme is establishing GB Energy, a publicly owned energy generation company, based in Scotland, which will help to reduce the cost of people’s energy bills and provide a new generation of clean energy jobs.

The speech also confirmed that there will be a new Employment Rights Bill to enhance rights at work.

Too many people in our community are struggling in low paid work with few rights.

Labour’s Bill will start to rebalance the relationship between workers and employees by banning exploitative zero hours contracts, ending fire and rehire, strengthening rights for new mothers and making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one on the job for all workers.

FIRST SPEECH IN THE COMMONS

Last Thursday, I gave my first speech in the House of Commons. It’s a tradition that the first speech you give is largely a tribute to your constituency, and I had absolutely no problem with that. But instead of talking about how beautiful our area is, I spent most of my speech talking about our greatest asset: our people.

I wanted to highlight some of the great organisations that work across the constituency and get the work they do on to the Parliamentary record.

So Gourock’s Bowl and a Blether group at St. John’s Church, Parklea Branching Out and the Inverclyde Shed are all recorded for history in Hansard.

As I said in my speech, I get to see the best of what people can achieve by working together for the community, and it was great to be able to highlight some of that great work in Parliament.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LOCAL ARTISTS

The Beacon’s Summer Exhibition is now well underway, showcasing some amazing artistic talent from across our area.

It runs until late August, and I’d encourage you to pop in and see it. We’ve always punched above our weight when it comes to art and culture, and this exhibition is no exception.