Bleary-eyed in the sports hall of my old 6th form college in Truro in the early hours of Friday, July 5, I was given the honour of my life: To represent St Austell & Newquay in Parliament.
There’s been little time to catch up on sleep after a hard-fought campaign in which we brought home four of our Cornish seats for Labour, giving us the strong voice in Government we’ve so seldom had.
And this is a government which is already making the change we need, having taken the first steps needed to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas, ended the use of neonicotinoid pesticides and lifting the ban on onshore wind.
But, in Cornwall, it’s offshore wind, critical minerals and the wider supply chain for each I’m most excited about – to help create the jobs and prosperity we need to create thriving communities once more. I’ll lose no time in addressing the Cornish housing crisis and taking the first steps towards revitalising our towns.
I’m glad to have been given a strong mandate to work towards those three pledges I campaigned on locally, and ensure that this part of Cornwall sees the benefit of Labour’s plans for national renewal.
But my immediate priority is to establish the office I need to best-serve my constituents. I am grateful for the messages of congratulations, offers of support, and flurry of ideas and inspiration from constituents, as well as your patience as I set things up.
If you’d like to get in touch, you can email me on [email protected] or write to me at my office address below, although it looks as if I’ll be working out of a pigeonhole for a couple of weeks longer.
It’s been a whirlwind first week in Westminster – being sworn in in Cornish, electing the speaker, spending my 30th birthday scouring through a rapidly filling up inbox to pick up on urgent queries. I cannot wait to get started, get a great team behind me, and serve you all in the constituency.
Noah Law
Labour MP for St Austell & Newquay