Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes says a priority will be to get NHS dentists back to the city as “the first down payment towards getting the NHS back on its feet”. Mr Pakes, in an interview with CambsNews, said that tackling anti-social behaviour and fly tipping were also priorities.
It was vital that people “feel safe and secure when they go out on the streets”.
Beginning to get jobs and investment into Peterborough were also important “so we can bring more money and put more money into people’s pockets and help people bring income and investment in our city centre and our neighbourhood centres.
“The big opportunity for Peterborough over these coming years is that we have a Labour council, a Labour Combined Authority mayor, and a Labour government all working together.
“I hope that over the next the few years that we can really begin to get the investment and end this Punch and Judy show politics where different parts of government end up knocking six bells out of another part. It’s time to work together.
“I think people expect politics which is about partnership and compromise and together I think the Labour team can help deliver that for us.”
Mr Pakes also spoke of his first few days as an MP.
“It’s been a huge privilege to be elected but they don’t tell you as soon as you become an MP that it’s like starting a small business. So, I am still waiting for an office to be set up.
“I am still recruiting a staff team – the emails are already coming in. The important job for me is to get through those emails and start responding to people and setting out some of the agenda that I talked about during the election.
Andrew Pakes spent a morning with campaigners and Fergal Sharkey on the banks of the river Nene. Monday 01 July 2024.Picture by Terry Harris.
“I am really excited about starting as our new MP and one of the most important things to me last week on my first week in office was being able to meet with representatives from the National Farmers Union. Food and farming are really important to us in Peterborough, and I said I would put jobs and investment in the city as one of my top priorities going forward.
“In week one already meeting some of these really important businesses like British Sugar and NFU it’s how I want to go on bringing businesses together and seeing how we get investment into Peterborough.”
He said being given the privilege of serving as the city’s MP in Parliament is “both an amazing and scary place at the same time”. There was a lot of bureaucracy involved in waiting for an office and recruiting a team, but he will never forget the moment he queued up before the Speaker to pledge his allegiance and take an oath to the King “to serve faithfully as our MP for the city. That was a moment I won’t forget”.
Reflecting on the election campaign, he said “No one knows the result of any election beforehand. There has been ups and downs these last few years let alone in the last six weeks of the general election.
“But I remain true to the faith that this was a change election. People have become fed up with the way the country has been run for much of the last 14 years.
“About the lack of doctors surgeries or dentists, the rise in child poverty, in food banks; people want to get the NHS back on its feet and get more affordable and social housing.
“These are all huge challenges that we need to face. I am really hopeful that the stars are aligned for Peterborough’s success in the next few years.
“I am really hoping we can demonstrate the benefits of partnership working alongside business, alongside community groups and others to ensure that Peterborough is on the national stage and that we get the investment we need from this government.
Election count results in as Andrew Pakes becomes new MP for Peterborough Kingsgate Centre, PeterboroughFriday 05 July 2024. Picture by Terry Harris.
“I think the government has had a terrific start setting out an agenda for change and meeting the expectations people voted for.
“One of the biggest things I hope for is that the new government can bring to this country is stability. We have seen so much economic and political chaos over the last few years.
“With Liz Truss’s budget, mortgages going up, the cost-of-living crisis, the partying in Downing Street and the law breaking by politicians, bringing some basic decency back to government is going be one of the core themes.
“Wes Streeting, the new health minister, has already met with the junior doctors and we are going to resolve that strike so we can getting waiting lists down.”
Apart from health, Mr Pakes said there were big issues around education and young people and “the big signature policy I talked about during the election is getting more decent apprenticeships so that young people have real choices about their future in Peterborough”.
You can watch the full interview in our exclusive video: these were the questions we put to Mr Pakes
1: First – and important question. Have you got an office at the House of Commons yet? Up and running?
2: Tell us one thing that has made you happy or pleased with your first full week as MP for Peterborough?
3: Now perhaps let us ask if anything has disappointed you in your first full week?
4: You campaigned long and hard to persuade the voters of Peterborough to elect you – did you harbour doubts it might not happen given the polls but also the popularity of your Conservative opponent?
5: You have, of course, a Labour controlled city council, but they remain a minority administration. How is that working out?
6: The Government has hit the ground running with a stream of announcements and policy decisions. What do you think are the stand out issues which Labour has changed or has begun to change?
7: Obviously, you will, at some stage shortly, give your maiden speech in the Commons. Anything you might care to share with us about the theme or themes of that first speech?
Andrew Pakes at St Johns Church, Peterborough, for election hustings. Wednesday 26 June 2024. Picture by Terry Harris.8: If you were asked to itemize priorities how many would there be and what would you hope to concentrate on in your first year?
9: What differences can we expect from you as a Labour MP as opposed to say a Conservative or Liberal Democrat MP?
10: Much was made of you being the ‘man from Milton Keynes’ but as we know you have lived here for a while. How are you finding it? What changes do you think are important to make life just that little bit easier for residents of Peterborough?
11: Big ticket items such as education, transport, health (and we include finding an NHS dentist) figured large in the election campaign. Of those three big issues which do you hanker to improve first?
12: Just out of curiosity have you counted the number of emails you received in your first week? And are you ploughing them? Is there one issue constituents are raising that stands out or are they a mixed bunch of topics and concerns?
13: Finally, how do you relax? Have you found a favourite pub/ coffee shop or restaurant yet? Peterborough is blessed with a sizable number of them, so it has probably been difficult to choose.
