Paul Blomfield Former MP for Sheffield Central
Parliament returns today after the conference recess and the appalling murder of our colleague David Amess on Friday. Today’s business has been largely suspended for tributes to David and memorial service – as all our thoughts are with his family and friends at this awful time.
The Nationality and Borders Bill will dominate my week, and the next two weeks, as I’m one of Labour’s team opposing the proposals on the Public Bill Committee which meets on Tuesday and Thursday. I’ve set out my views on the Bill previously, but the Committee provides the opportunity to challenge the Bill ‘line-by-line’. Tomorrow I’ll also be joining a panel discussion organised by Student Action for Refugees on the Bill.
Today I’m circulating a new report from Dignity in Dying to all MPs and Peers ahead of the House of Lords consideration of Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill on Friday. The report, to which I’ve contributed my own experience of my father’s death, sets out how the absence of an option for assisted dying drives many terminally ill people to desperate measures.
I’m looking forward to catching up with leaseholders affected by the building safety scandal on Wednesday after a well-attended rally that took place in Parliament Square a few weeks ago. If you are a Sheffield Central constituent caught up in the crisis, you can get in touch to be added to my mailing list to find out about this and future meetings.
My annual community consultation, the Big Conversation continues this week online, following several great ‘in person’ meetings last week – find out more here. I also hope to join the launch of an industrial policy paper produced by the UK’s five major manufacturing trade associations on Wednesday, as well as catch up with Best for Britain.
Unusually on Friday, I’ll be in Parliament for my colleague Barry Gardiner’s Private Members’ Bill aiming to stop fire and rehire and put an end to the way that thousands of workers in Britain have been threatened with being fired and then rehired to do the same job for worse conditions and pay. I’ll then be meeting online with the local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group before returning to Sheffield, where on Saturday I’ll be out promoting the Big Conversation in Kelham Island.