Cambridge MP joins the Government – which will mean a few things to be aware of for local residents, and a higher profile for the Liberal Democrat MPs in the three constituencies surrounding our city.
It has been half a century since an MP for Cambridge has been a government minister – Sir David Lane (Cons 1967-76) being a junior minister in the Home Office 1972-74 in Sir Edward Heath’s Government. The most senior minister that a serving Cambridge MP has ever held at the same time was Thomas Spring Rice for the Whigs/Liberals when he became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Above – The new Minister for State at the Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, Daniel Zeichner MP (Labour – Cambridge) who will take on the policy portfolio of food, farming, and fisheries.
“Zeichner has been described by the Labour party as a “life-long environmentalist”, with an “enduring interest in agriculture and food issues”. He said he is a lifelong pro-European, voting at every opportunity to keep Britain in the EU and Single Market, and campaigning for ‘Remain’ during the Brexit referendum in 2016.”
Mr Zeichner’s appointment was confirmed by The King this morning – from whom he’d have had to have collected his ministerial seal of office – and which he’ll have to present to the Permanent Secretary at Defra before taking up ministerial office.
The role of the Lib Dem MPs surrounding Cambridge
Unless Labour makes some major changes to the rules of the House of Commons, as things stand Daniel Zeichner can no longer ask oral parliamentary questions on the floor of the House. An archaic rule that prevents MPs holding ministerial office ask questions on behalf of their constituents to fellow ministers, it means we won’t be seeing Mr Zeicher making statements or speeches in Parliament *except* in his role as a Minister of the Crown. Note many of the limitations of asking PQs that Lord Norton of Louth identified way back in 2002 still apply today.
That means the three new Liberal Democrat MPs will have a much more high profile role on the future of our city – in particular Pippa Heylings who represents two city council wards in her constituency, Cherry Hinton & Queen Edith’s.
- Pippa Heylings MP (LibDems – South Cambs)
- Dr Ian Sollom MP (LibDems – St Neots & South Cambs)
- Charlotte Cane MP (LibDems – Ely & East Cambs)
You can find out who your local MP is via https://www.writetothem.com/ but remember you can only contact your constituency MP when raising constituency issues or personal issues such as those that need a ministerial response. For example I cannot ask Ms Heylings to take up a constituency case on my behalf because Daniel Zeichner is the MP responsible for residents in the part of Cambridge where I live. Remember also that MPs are responsible for ***everyone in their constituency*** irrespective of status, nationality, or which way they voted. The same goes for local councillors in their wards and divisions that elected them.
Crash courses and workshops on the new Parliament (and what it means for our city and county)
If you’d like me to run some more of these, please shout – either in the Comments box or on social media (Twitter at https://x.com/ACarpenDigital or on FB via https://www.facebook.com/CambridgeTownOwl). Only the number of new policy announcements being made are coming through at pace – and Northstowe in Dr Sollom’s constituency has already been name-checked by The Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her speech earlier today.
“The government is taking swift action to identify and unblock key ‘stalled sites’ to get large housing schemes moving forward, starting with four sites across England to unlock over 14,000 homes: Liverpool Central Docks, Northstowe, Worcester Parkway and Langley Sutton Coldfield.”
Statement – Gov UK 08 July 2024
Given that Northstowe was the site for one of Gordon Brown’s original Ecotowns back in the late 2000s (which were taken out by the Banking Crisis) it will be interesting to see what changes the Chancellor, the Energy Secretary (Ed Miliband) and the Deputy Prime Minister (Angela Rayner – who takes over the Housing & Local Government portfolios) impose on builders wanting to build there – mindful of the crisis in the construction industry exposed by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Because there is already an outstanding list of issues that Daniel Zeichner raised in a speech to Parliament back in 2021 that still need addressing by the construction industry.
Food for thought?
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