Last week was yet another reminder that the Conservative Party are not fit to govern. After initially failing to condemn the racism of one of their biggest donors, Frank Hester, the Tories then refused to return the £10 million he has given their Party. The fact they are willing to accept money from a man who said Diane Abbott “should be shot” shows just how low the Tories have sunk.

After such a disastrous week, it was unsurprising that rumours of a leadership challenge to the Prime Minister ramped up yet again. Like many people, I’m sick of this constant Tory drama. It’s time for a General Election, so people can choose between a Labour Party that’s focused on the needs of the country and a Conservative Party that’s only focused on its own never-ending chaos.

As for me, I started last week by speaking in the Budget Debate. The focus of my speech was the housing crisis. The Budget did next to nothing to tackle this crisis with no measures to build the homes we need, support struggling renters, or address the scandal of 142,000 children growing up in temporary accommodation. You can see a clip of my speech here or read it here.

Later in the week, I spoke in a Delegated Legislation Committee (DLC) on Minimum Service Levels for Fire and Rescue Services. DLCs are a chance for MPs to scrutinise certain aspects of legislation and grill the relevant Minister on what the Government are proposing.

You may know that I have a longstanding interesting in the Fire and Rescue Service, so I was pleased to be involved in debate on this legislation which would, in a nutshell, make it almost impossible for firefighters to go on strike, regardless of the conditions they face. Instead of working with our firefighters to negotiate fair pay and conditions, the Tories are threatening to sack them.

During the DLC, the Minister tried to whip up fear about strike action leading to fires not being attended but was unable to provide any evidence to back up his claims.

The truth is there is a longstanding practice of firefighters breaking strikes voluntarily to save lives and the legislation the Government are proposing simply isn’t needed. You can see my contributions to the DLC here.

I also attended a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Housing Delivery. The only solution to our housing crisis is to build, build, build and it’s great to be part of an APPG that is focused on delivering this. I’m looking forward to doing more work with this group in the run up to the next election.

Before heading back to the constituency, I attended a parliamentary drop in event, organised by Oxfam, which was focused on the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Gaza. I’ve raised my serious concerns about these conditions repeatedly in recent months and I will continue to press Ministers to hold the Israeli Government to account and ensure the actions demanded by the ICJ’s interim ruling are upheld.

Labour supports an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an urgent escalation in the amount of aid reaching civilians. Our Government must use all the diplomatic powers at its disposal to help achieve this.

Back in Stretford and Urmston, I really enjoyed visiting The Old Trafford Creative Space to see their ‘Back Gallery’ project in the alleyways behind their building on Ayres Road.

In the past, these alleyways have suffered from anti-social behaviour and fly tipping, but the ‘Back Gallery’ project has transformed the area with incredible artwork and planting. The team at The OT Creative Space also run monthly art clubs for local residents and neighbourhood get togethers. They’ve recently received some new funding and I can’t wait to see what they do next!

I ended the week by visiting Greenfield Church Market Café and meeting the Reverend Stephen Smith. It was good to hear about the important work the Church does in the community and to have a chance to talk about my next coffee morning that Greenfield Church have kindly agreed to host. I’ve done multiple coffee mornings over the last year and they’re a great way to chat with residents about the issues that are concerning them. I’m really looking forward to the next one!

That’s the latest from me. Thank you for reading.