It was during my shift in the Speaker’s Chair on Tuesday that we had both Sir Keir Starmer’s final speech to the House as PM and Andy Burnham’s first as PM in waiting, which certainly caused some excitement. The House was absolutely packed, and at times more than a little bad tempered, but it was a poignant debate, finally getting the Hillsborough Bill to a place where it would pass. It was interesting to hear the PM to be talking about other major scandals, including Primodos and Sodium Valproate. I have worked closely with the campaign groups on both those issues over the years. We thought we had made massive strides with the Cumberlege Report, set up whilst Theresa May was still PM, but all these years on there has still been no compensation for the mothers and babies harmed by epilepsy drugs and hormone pregnancy tests. We wait to see what the new PM will do.
It was lovely to meet The Tyre Lady, Sophie Lyden, this week, who had travelled to Parliament to talk to colleagues about tyre safety. 159 people are killed or seriously injured every year in accidents where defective tyres are a contributory factor. It is not often you get women in this sector, but Sophie is the first ever female spokesperson for the Motor Ombudsman and is an award winning content creator on road safety. It was incredible to talk to her about contributory causes to vehicle accidents, how to de-mystify garage visits and hear some terrifying statistics around tyre safety.
Sophie has produced a 20p guide, as she puts it, on tyre safety, using a 20p coin to check your tread depth, and advocating monthly checks on air pressure, condition and tread depth. It takes just minutes to check your tyres but cold save lives, and current estimates suggest that as many as 1 in 4 tyres used on our roads are not in a legal condition.
Parliament heads off on recess this week, which has not been without controversy and many calls for it to be re-called before we had even left the building. There is a very clear process for that and I am reasonably sure it is not going to happen, but who knows? But just because Parliament is not sitting does not mean MPs are not working and I have a full programme of visits and events scheduled for this Summer. They start with a visit to a cruise ship in Southampton this week, albeit one that is going to remain very firmly tied up. I am very conscious of the economic impact of the cruise industry in the City, the jobs it brings to Southampton and the wider region, not least in Warehousing on the Nursling Estate with logistics experts like Meachers. I am sure it will be a fascinating visit, but I am still holding off on booking one for myself.