And they’re off! The official election campaign starts. I am now spending most of my time out knocking on people’s doors, listening to their concerns. In the evenings I hold village hall events for people to come and quiz me.
I had a very well-attended village hall meeting in Bedale and a house meeting in Kirklington. Immigration, the NHS, Europe, small business, local bus services all were topical. With it being the Easter holidays we also had lots of students back home so tuition fees, jobs and apprenticeships came up a lot.
One of the best discussions was about zero hours contracts. A small business woman told everybody else how she used them to give extra work on an ad hoc basis to 2 people. Those employees wanted the flexibility to say "No" to extra hours and were happy with their contracts. If these contracts were banned, the workers would lose out on valuable income, and the businesswoman would be able to help fewer customers. She was very convincing! Of course exploitative zero hours contracts should be (and have been) banned. However, decent zero hours contracts can be very beneficial for students, people who do not want to commit to many hours, and small businesses with unpredictable amounts of work.
I also enjoyed having several work experience students in the office this week from all over the constituency (Richmond, Northallerton and Bedale). They helped design some literature specifically targeted at young people and got their first taste of a political campaign. Although I think we learned as much from them as they did from us.Thanks to all of you for your help!
By the time Thursday came around I was looking forward to my sister’s wedding over Easter Weekend. Thankfully no more speeches for me, just a reading in church!