In January, Labour leadership candidate Keir Starmer visited Batley and Spen to speak to Labour supporters about his vision for the future of the party.
The visit began at the brilliant Foundations Nursery in Batley to hear about the great work they do for young children and their families to give them the best start in life. He then headed to Batley Food Bank, where he met trustees to hear about how demand for food parcels has gone up and up over the past ten years, as more working families have been pushed into poverty by Conservative austerity.
Keir then came to speak to us at Batley Community Centre, where a crowd of around 150 local Labour members and activists welcomed him with rapturous applause. He spoke of his vision for the next chapter of the Labour Party, to address the divisions which have affected us, to personally stamp out Antisemitism and all forms of discrimination from the party, and to hold the Tories to account and make Labour the party for all once again.
I have backed Keir for leader and so has the constituency Labour party, along with my brilliant friend Angela Rayner as deputy.
A huge thank you to everyone who came to the event.
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Channel 4 has been up and running for a few months now, and a couple of weeks ago I visited the offices to discuss what impact the move to Leeds is going to have for wider areas such as Batley and Spen, and about how to engage more young people from our area in pursuing careers in TV.
The broadcaster has big plans to make its workforce more inclusive and reflective of society, and to boost social mobility. It is already offering apprenticeships and is looking at traineeships and paid opportunities for young people with a passion for the creative industry.
It wants to boost skills and training so the right people with the right skills are on hand here in West Yorkshire.
We have the talent here, in Batley and Spen especially, people just need the opportunities close to home and the confidence and belief they can do it.
I will be working closely with Channel 4 to try and bring these opportunities to young people in Batley and Spen; to show them they don't have to go to London for work and to instil the confidence they have what it takes.
This is an exciting time, and anyone who thinks they'd like to work in creative industries needs to take the bull by the horns and go for every opportunity.
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A couple of weeks ago, after attending an event at UK Music to hear about the issues and concerns facing the industry, I had an unexpected urgent question in the House of Commons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson barred certain journalists from attending No. 10 briefings. What happened next was completely unexpected and absolutely barmy! My choice of outfit - an off the shoulder black dress - caused quite the furore among Twitter trolls and made national headlines. This led to numerous TV and radio appearances and it even being raised on Question Time in debates about what is appropriate for female MPs to wear. This exposed the everyday sexism that is still prominent in society, with my clothes seemingly more important that what I was saying. I've taken this opportunity to auction the dress off in aid of Girlguiding UK, which empowers girls to become confident, strong women. So far the top bid is more than £17,000, a mindblowing amount.
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As everyone knows, at 11pm on Friday, January 31, the United Kingdom officially left the European Union after 47 years of membership.
This was a historic moment for our country and I know there will have been celebration and commiseration when the clocks struck eleven.
Over the past three years I scrutinised the Withdrawal Agreement to ensure it protects jobs and our future relationship with Europe.
The rest of this year will be crucial to our future prosperity, and we will be keeping a close eye on negotiations to ensure the outcomes are in the best interest of our country.
In the mean time there is so much more to be done in Batley and Spen to improve people's lives, such as taking action on improving rail infrastructure, bus services and tackling housing issues, crime and unemployment.
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