START THE WEEK blog: Monday 18th June

Welcoming student leaders to Westminster, opposing gerrymandering, visiting Nether Edge school and talking about why politics matters - all in my week this week.

Monday 18th June - This morning I'm welcoming the newly elected Officers of the University of Sheffield Students' Union to Westminster. Their new President, Abdi Suleiman, is a local student, from Broomhall, who I've known for a few years, and I'm really looking forward to working with him and his team over the coming year. Both of our great universities are in my constituency and, at last count, 31,800 of their students live here, so I make sure that I keep in touch with their concerns. I meet regularly with both the leaders of our universities, and with their elected student officers.

I'll be raising one of their concerns in Parliament today; the way new Government rules on voting will reduce the number of students who are registered and able to vote. But it's not just students. The Electoral Commission estimated that the Government's proposals for Individual Voter Registration may reduce the number of people able to vote by as much as 30%, and the impact will be in our big urban areas. Linked to the Government's new law for 5-yearly boundary reviews, it will have the effect of reducing the number of MPs elected by urban areas and giving the Tories an inbuilt electoral advantage. I've already spoken twice in Parliament on the issue and accused the Government of gerrymandering and reducing the voice of our cities. See my latest speech here.

Tomorrow the Business Select Committee is reviewing our draft report on the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and meeting the National Audit Office as part of our major inquiry into apprenticeships. The rest of my week at Westminster includes supporting an event organised as part of Carers Week (I'm a 'champion' for Sheffield Carers Centre), meeting with the London Apprenticeship Company to see what lessons their work offers on youth unemployment, supporting the Cancer Campaigning Group's summer event,  meeting to discuss opposition to the new loans and higher fees that will deny access to FE Colleges to many people, and attending a meeting organised by the Council for European Palestinian Relations on the continuing expansion of homes and businesses in the occupied territories in direct contravention of international law. On Wednesday, I'll be welcoming some constituents to Westminster, which I'm always pleased to do. If you're interested in visiting, do get in touch.

Back in Sheffield on Friday I'm looking forward to my visit to Nether Edge Primary School, where I'll be talking to children as part of the 'World of Work' project, meeting their School Council and joining parents at a garden party. I've also one of my regular 'open surgeries' for constituents (look here for more details) and I'm meeting with local Councillors. On Saturday I'll be speaking at the annual meeting of my local Labour Party, along with writer and commentator Owen Jones and my Parliamentary colleague Hilary Benn.  We always welcome supporters who are not members, so if you'd like to come along contact Jim Smith at jim1982smith(at)gmail.com or tweet @sheff_cen_clp. In the afternoon I'm speaking at the Broomhill Festival on why politics matters - it should be a lively discussion; do join me (details are here).