10th April 2023: A Week in Parliament

Easter

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter weekend. Whatever you were up to, be it; attending church services, rolling your eggs down hills, spending some time with loved ones or doing some spring cleaning, I hope it was restful and enjoyable. It usually signals the start of better weather for us, so fingers crossed that this is the case! I appreciate that not everyone is lucky enough to have some time off so I would like to pay tribute to staff members in our public service who have been working during this time.

Street Surgeries

Last week it was great to be out and about in the constituency carrying out my Street Surgery initiative. On Wednesday morning I went to Cronberry and then in the afternoon to ‘The Courts’ in New Farm. Both were very positive experiences and great to talk to constituents on their doorstep about issues that are important to them, generally local matters. It was great that councillors Graham Barton and Neal Ingram joined me and my staff. The only downside was the torrential rain that occurred whilst out in the afternoon! It was fair to say we were drenched in the end, but a warm reception was received on the doorsteps.

Case Success

In last week’s column, I wrote about raising the cases of one of my constituents in parliament, mentioning that she had been awarded £3,500 in back payments from the Department of Work Pensions. However, there was an admin error from the DWP, and it has been recalculated…my constituent will now receive more than £23,800 in back payments! Truly fantastic news, but it’s frustrating that could not be remedied earlier.

Political Turmoil

 Yet another Tory MP is now under investigation for offering his services to a paid employer – offering to leak reports and ask questions in parliament. This is completely illegal and he is lucky it was only at the discussions stage rather than following through. I do not understand the absolute greed of these people and this follows another sting of MPs offering paid advisory services at £10k a day.

Of course, the SNP is dealing with the fact that Police Scotland raided the home of the former chief executive of the SNP. I hope this case is resolved one way or another - as soon as possible. I completely understand why the public gets fed up with politics but rest assured I will continue to work my hardest to serve my constituents.

 Grange Amateurs

Congratulations to Grange Amateurs from Kilmarnock who booked their place in the Semi-Final of the West of Scotland District Cup after beating Glasgow Caledonian 4-2 away from home. An excellent achievement and the only Ayrshire side left in the competition. They will play Budhill (Glasgow) in the Semi-Finals on Sunday 14th May, venue TBC. Both sides played each other in the Last 16 of the Scottish Cup earlier in the year and Grange ran out 3-0 winners – a similar result would be great! Best of luck lads.