PARLIAMENT is currently paralysed by the Conservative Party leadership contest determining the next prime minister. It is not an edifying spectacle nor is it helping us address pressing challenges. The candidates appear to be engaged in a race to the bottom on who will implement the hardest Brexit or the biggest tax cuts for the wealthy. The frontrunner seems unwilling to stand up to scrutiny from his own party, where on earth would that leave us as a country?
There has been little debate on the urgent issues of our time such as housing or climate change. I continue to raise these in parliament. Last Thursday, I held a debate in the House of Commons chamber on a motion calling for government to set a target to build 155,000 social rented homes a year. Unfortunately, social rented house building has dropped to all-time lows with little over 6,000 social rented homes built in England last year. Our council have only built eight social rented council homes in four years. I was pleased to pass the motion expressing the view of the commons that we need a mass social house building programme to fix our housing crisis.
I also recently held a debate on my proposals to limit the driving hours of local bus drivers, known as Rowan’s Law after seven-year-old Rowan Fitzgerald who lost his life in the 2015 Coventry bus crash. The government is reluctant to legislate to restrict drivers’ hours, but I will continue to push for these changes alongside Rowan’s family.
Away from parliament, I opened the station improvements at Warwick Parkway and Leamington train stations. I’m grateful to Chiltern for their significant investment across the area. I always receive very positive feedback on their customer service from passengers and use their trains to travel between Leamington and London myself. I also had the pleasure of attending the Leamington Peace Festival. This is always a fantastic event and it’s great to see it getting bigger and better each year.
Matt Western
