Ruth Cadbury MP reached a milestone this week, almost exactly three years since her election to Parliament in 2015 when a constituent asked her to tackle Government action on the Windrush scandal.
In announcing this milestone Ruth said "Given the issues people contact me about, I'm not sure this is a cause for celebration or despair. Too many constituents contact me in crisis because of the impact of Government changes or cuts. What's more, so many people need detailed specialist help which is no longer available from advice and support services either because they no longer exist or are too overstretched."
Approaches to Ruth by email, letter and phone vary from calls for her to support a particular issue in Parliament, to a request for help in dealing with local services.
"Some people are facing eviction from their home, or domestic violence, or are having problems with Universal Credit. Others want to raise concerns about local issues in the area such as rubbish, crime and potholes. On national policy, the main issues constituents contact Ruth to support have been: Brexit, the Refugee Crisis, School Funding, Animal Welfare, Social Care, Pesticides, Abortion, Assisted Dying, Palestine, the Housing Crisis, NHS Funding, Heathrow, and Disabilities.
Ruth added "I would like to pay tribute to my wonderful staff team past and present who work long hours to support me to ensure all approaches from constituents are properly logged and addressed. Parliament only permits MPs to have five (full-time equivalent) staff, but in busy offices like mine, we could keep several more fully occupied providing a responsive service to constituents!"