It’s been a slightly unusual week in Parliament, as the main business for much of the week was so-called ‘Money’ motions. These are debates on funding across different areas of Government and are often brought forward by Select Committee Chairs. There were several debates last week and this – along with the fact that the Government are still studiously avoiding the tabling of potentially contentious business – meant a fairly quiet week in terms of voting.

There was a division on Monday night, as the Tories brought forward their Economic Activity of Public Bodies Bill. This relates to the right of local authorities and other public organisations to take localised decisions on procurement, specifically their ability to make political decisions to boycott, divest or sanction certain countries. It strikes me that locally accountable leaders and councillors should be able to take decisions as they see fit and I’m concerned about what this will mean in practice.

We sought to amend the Bill (which the Tories voted down) and will continue to do so as it makes its way through the Committee process. But if the Government does choose to press on with the Bill unedited, I think it’s clear they will face opposition from right across the House, including their own side.

Monday’s have become quite settled for me in diary terms. I travelled down in the morning and before the vote I had my weekly Select Committee meeting as usual. It was a lovely change, however, to be able to attend a reception for England’s Lionesses, to wish them well as they prepare for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. There was a really positive feel to the event and I’ve got my fingers crossed for a summer of success!

The rest of my time in London last week was taken up by a number of meetings and events. I was pleased to meet with my brilliant predecessor Kate Green in Parliament on Tuesday, to catch up on her work as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester. Among other events I attended, it was really interesting to speak to Fuel Poverty Action, who were launching their manifesto. They have a number of proposals for making fuel bills fairer and more manageable, including providing a basic level of fuel to all households for free. At the moment I’m not clear how this would be funded, but I’ll be keeping an eye on their work over the coming months.

Wednesday saw another Deputy PMQs session. Far be it for me to accuse the PM of not enjoying PMQs very much, but he does now have the worst attendance record of any Prime Minister. It was pleasing for me to see Angela Rayner lead on housing and support for renters, a key policy interest of mine. Indeed, later on Wednesday I met with the Secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Housing Market and Housing Delivery, which I have now joined. I also had a meeting with a Built Environment specialist in which we discussed the importance of getting the infrastructure right with large new developments.

I was very fortunate last week to meet the children’s author Michael Rosen who is supporting an initiative called Great School Libraries. Speaking to the policy specialists at the meeting, it became clear that there is huge variance in terms of the quality of school libraries, meaning that many children have less opportunity to develop a love of reading or enhance their research skills. I’ve asked for information about Stretford and Urmston’s school libraries to be shared with me as soon as they have it available.

Another really important meeting last week was with Hong Kong Watch, to discuss the experience of people from Hong Kong who have left the country and made their home in the UK over the past few years. Trafford has a very large Hong Kong population and I have agreed to pick up some issues around access to visas for those born between 1979 and 1997, and access to home student fees for university students.

I came back to the constituency slightly earlier this week (Thursday morning), as I had several events in the diary that I didn’t want to miss. In particular, I was very proud to be invited by Kellogg’s to speak to staff as they signed the Armed Forces Covenant Pledge committing to supporting members of staff with links to the armed forces. It’s really important that employers understand the issues facing service men and women, veterans, reservists and their families so I was delighted to see Kellogg’s sign the pledge.

There was a very moving event at Manchester Cathedral to mark the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. I was honoured to light a candle in memory of the 8000 Muslim men and boys slaughtered at Srebrenica and to have the opportunity to remember them at such a special service.

I also want to mention a visit to Seymour Park Primary School in Old Trafford where they were holding a festival to celebrate the school’s huge diversity. It was great to see different cultural experiences being shared by pupils and their families. Seymour Park is an excellent school – as so many are locally – and I was reminded yet again of what a wonderful sense of community we have in Stretford and Urmston and just how lucky I am to be the local MP!