A No Commons sense
While the clock ticks down to Brexit at the end of October, Westminster has been closed for five weeks on the order of Boris Johnson and his secretive advisers.
MPs had no say on this. You had no say on this. At the stroke of the Queen’s pen, on a piece of paper delivered to Balmoral by Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Prime Minister’s flunkies, the House of Commons that you and 2.65 million other Scottish voters cast your ballot for was shut down.
Boris Johnson has been Prime Minister for exactly 50 days.
In that time, he’s lost every single vote in Parliament, only had one — disastrous —Prime Minister’s Questions, kicked out over 20 members of his own party and watched his brother and his close friend both resign from the government.
So, on Monday, I, and
649 other MPs, travelled to Westminster knowing that this would be the last day of Parliament until mid-October.
The scenes in the Commons Chamber will live with me for a long time.
We had the incredible sight of a Tory MP begging the Speaker for longer sittings and more late night sessions to maximise debate time — hours before his government shut down Parliament precisely to stop debate — while others tried to stop the Speaker from leaving his chair in a last-ditch attempt to keep Parliament open.
It reminded me of footage from the parliament of a failed state. El Presidente already being bundled out of the country by his armed guards via a helicopter on the roof.
Instead, it was at the heart of the supposed mother of Parliaments.
But, while Parliament might be suspended, I am still your MP and am here to help with the issues you have.
My surgeries continue as normal and my constituency office is open and ready to assist.
I’ll be spending the next five weeks getting around the constituency as much as I can, listening to your concerns and acting on them.
Boris Johnson won’t stop me fighting your corner and standing up for Scotland. This Sunday, I’ll be alongside my good friend David Linden, MP for Glasgow East, taking part in the Edinburgh Kiltwalk.
I do a fair bit of bobbing up and down to catch the Speaker’s eye in Parliament, but I’m not sure it’s all the training I’ll need for a 24-mile walk.
David and I are raising money for Bliss, the charity supporting families with babies born premature or sick. Both of us have been through the experience of our children being born early and requiring the treatment and support of our NHS.
It was only through the tremendous care and support of the Southern General Hospital for a fortnight after the birth that my wife and daughter were able to come home safely.
It’s a great cause and, if you’re able, you can donate at: https:// edinburghkiltwalk2019. everydayhero.com/uk/gavin-2 I was delighted to see that Renfrew-based organisation Our Place, Our Families was awarded nearly £120,000 by the National Lottery recently.
It’s organisations like this that play a vital role in our communities, and I’m glad the lottery recognised this again with its funding.