Stroud MP's column: David Drew on becoming an MP again

The only difference from 1997 is that I feel rather more like a prefect. 

Then I was a complete newbie and it took me weeks to acclimatise.
To be fair the house authorities have learned a great deal from the experiences of newly elected members and have done much more to support and brief MPs than I ever got in 1997. 

This includes advice in setting up an office, hiring staff, installing security and making sure that MPs have sufficiently robust access to IT (except when there is a cyberattack as I explained last week).

The basic job of MP has theoretically changed little over the ages. 

It is your responsibility to play an active role in Parliament either in government or opposition, to take up the cases of individual constituents, and be a community champion. 

What has changed is the pressures. 

It is not uncommon nowadays to receive many hundreds of emails in a day especially if there is a 38 degrees or similar campaigning organisation email lobby underway.

Likewise the house itself now tends to be much more active with greater opportunities for MP participation through the operation of the second, parallel chamber, alongside additional conduits for questions of, and lobbying of, ministers.

All MPs from the Prime Minister downwards have constituency responsibilities but ministers do get extra secretarial assistance because of the additional burdens on their time. 

To me this remains a vital element of the job, not only out of altruistic intent but also because this is where you derive a proper understanding of the Stroud constituency and form where you can seek to make policy and legislative change.
Many issues that come before an MP and their staff relate to housing and this is certainly the case in Stroud where their remains a dearth of social and affordable accommodation, despite the best efforts of Stroud District Council.

Clearly providing enough housing of the right type including tenure remains not only my main concern but also that of most politicians in the district. 

However more homes cannot be divorced from the jobs issue because Stroud district suffers from a shortage of good quality employment despite the valiant efforts of business large and small to plug this gap.

Looking forward to the next 20 years it is vital for Stroud district that it retains its manufacturing edge - people from outside are frequently surprised that Stroud has twice the national average for manufacturing jobs, something that makes us different from traditional rural areas.

To do this we must continue to market the sector, to seek to end the skills gap, and encourage more young people to pursue a career in manufacturing and engineering specifically. 

For this we need more good sites for employment and better infrastructure to help employees to access work other than by the car.

There are now plenty of opportunities on offer but to fulfil them we need a planning system that is sensitive to local needs and an understanding that you cannot keep industry robust unless it is given incentives and support to deliver on their side of the equation.