ATTENDING PARTY CONFERENCE

I’m on my way back from a packed few days at the The Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

I don’t pretend that we’ve got everything right in this first year of Government, but we’ve done a lot and it’s been great to share and celebrate that. I’m always heartened when I’m out and about in Aylesbury and people tell me things are changing, whether that’s their appointments at the hospital coming through more quickly (we’ve delivered an extra 5 million appointments nationally!) or their kids now able to benefit from school breakfast clubs (we’ve got two pilots in Aylesbury).

It’s also been an important opportunity to look ahead. There is so much more that we want to deliver, so that people can really feel the changes that they hear us talking about. The PM made very clear how determined he is to build a better, stronger, kinder, more cohesive country - and equally made clear what’s at stake if Reform end up in power. It was hugely energizing being in the conference hall for his speech along with other MPs.

As Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, it's been great to join Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP as he set out his ambitious agenda. Whether that’s making home ownership affordable again, reforming our electoral system to expand democratic rights, or helping communities across the country to be more empowered, safe and supportive, this is such vital work.

I’ve also been doing various fringe events and 1:1s on my two main areas of interest personally - our foreign policy, and maternal mental health.

It was a real pleasure to join IPPR's Laura Chappell, LabourList & fab fellow panellists for a fascinating discussion on how Britain navigates threats to global stability and the relationship with the US. I joined Coalition for Global Prosperity and MAG (Mines Advisory Group) for a really important deep dive into the stabilizing role of international development and what our future approach should look like. Thank you also to Fabian Society for hosting a roundtable on the future of international development and humanitarian policy. And thanks to many, many others for great convos including on the Middle East and on the UK's role in the world.

I was also delighted to participate in a roundtable, hosted by Prospect Magazine and Biogen on the mental health of pregnant and new mums – something that I campaign on very actively. We discussed how to improve mental health provision within the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan and I will continue to engage with The Rt. Hon. Wes Streeting MP and his fab Ministerial team on this. I also participated in a great discussion hosted by Policy Connect on mental health more broadly, including for young people who continue to face such big challenges.

Thanks to our brilliant Aylesbury Constituency Labour party delegates, Usman Ali and Lily Crawford, for coming too!

A fascinating and fulfilling few days, and important work ahead.