After months of pressing the issue, I’ve secured a Parliamentary debate on Wednesday to make sure that South Yorkshire doesn’t lose out in the  replacement of EU Structural Funding. We would have been due to receive £605m of EU funding  as one of Europe’s poorest regions and, backed by MPs from the four other regions due to benefit, I’m pressing the Government to guarantee that we will receive equivalent funding (see coverage in The Star here).

My week starts with a meeting of the Shadow Brexit Team, and then I’ll be challenging the Education Secretary about the schools funding crisis and how pupils with special educational needs and disabilities are being let down. After that I’ll be on the front bench for the Prime Minister’s Statement on last week’s EU Council, meeting Sheffield charities Ashiana and City Hearts at an event about support for victims of human trafficking, joining a debate on unsustainable packaging, and attending an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Palestine to discuss Donald Trump’s s proposed ‘deal of the century’.

Tomorrow I hope to join a debate on dementia and I’ll be meeting a pharmaceutical company to talk about their concerns on Brexit as well as attending with a Council meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Universities, of which I’m Secretary, following which we’ll be discussing post-18 education funding with Philip Augar, who has recently completed a review for the Government

As well as my debate on regional funding on Wednesday, I’ll be meeting with a group of constituents to discuss the climate emergency at the ‘Time is Now’ lobby and joining an event organised by the Brexit Civil Society Alliance. On Thursday I’ll be challenging the Government at Brexit Oral Questions, and then heading back to Sheffield where, on Friday, along with other Sheffield MPs, I’m meeting the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group to discuss the action plan following the independent report on their work, being interviewed for a Sheffield Climate Alliance documentary, catching up with my team and holding one of my regular advice surgeries – more information here.