Simon Danczuk - Letter from Parliament

Simon Danczuk MP

This weekend I will be heading down to Brighton for the annual Labour Party Conference.

These are interesting times for Labour and I am looking forward to some lively debates on what direction the party should take under our new leader Jeremy Corbyn.

I will be calling on the party to break out of its North London comfort zone and focus on the issues that matter here in Rochdale.

We need a credible plan to win in 2020 so we can help the vulnerable people and disadvantaged families who are being neglected by this Government.

Next week, the Conservatives will hold their annual conference just down the road in Manchester.

The Tories seem to have developed a fascination with the city as the driving force behind the “Northern Powerhouse”.

While devolution for Greater Manchester is welcome, I will be paying close attention to make sure that Rochdale is not marginalised in the rush to deliver more regional autonomy.

Parliament took a break this week so that the eight Liberal Democrat MPs could attend their party’s annual conference.

I would argue that parliamentary business could have carried on as usual while Tim Farron and his team decamped to Bournemouth to discuss banning diesel powered ice cream vans.

Would it really make a difference if there were no Lib Dems in the House of Commons? The way things are going, we may only have to wait until 2020 to find out.