7/29/2019 Collins Interview 04.08.10

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CORRIDORS OF POWER: Folkestone and Hythes new MP,Damian Collins, poses in front of the Houses of Parliament

CONSTITUENCY

MATTERS: MP

Damian Collins

discusses the daysbusiness with his

researcher, James

Davenport, and hissecretary Lorraine

Pitcher in the

atrium of PortcullisHouse

Walking in MPs footstepsALMOST three months havepassed since the general electionsent the country into unchartered

political territory and a new MPtook the helm for Shepway.

Now is my chance to catch up with DamianCollins, the first fresh face to representFolkestone and Hythe in 27 years, to see howhe is adapting to the role just beforeParliament rose for the summer break.

Stepping inside the daunting PortcullisHouse, the metal-and-glass office buildingacross the road from the Palace ofWestminster, is much like going throughsecurity at Heathrow albeit much quicker.All belongings have to pass through a scan-

ner before you walk through a metal detectorand then have your picture taken, which isthen handed to you in the form of a visitorspass to be worn at all times.

Im met by Lorraine,Mr Collinss secretary,who walks me towards the caf and explainsshe has been coming to work here for morethan 20 years,most of which has been underMr Collinss predecessor Michael Howard.

Procession

We are then met by Mr Collins himself,who gives a rundown of his diary for the day,including two Commons debates and a meet-ing with Southern Water.

He said: As an MP, you quickly realisethere are huge kinds of demands on your

time when Parliament is sitting.When its not, you have to work very hardto see as many people as you can, to give con-stituents the support and advice they need.A visit to his office in the adjoining Norman

Shaw building reveals a small room at theend of a corridor, overlooking the Thames.

The walk back to the Commons chamber isvia an underground walkway and can bedone in about five minutes at a pace.However, we are slowed by the ceremonialSpeakers Procession, which takes placebefore every debates sitting.As Mr Collins takes his seat inside, I make

my way up to the public gallery above.Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt faces

questions on subjects such as broadband forrural areas and the BBC licence fee.

During a discussion on Government pro-gramme Creative Partnerships, Mr Collinsrises from his seat to indicate he wants to becalled by the Speaker.

His question expresses concern about thetiers of managementinvolved with the bodydespite its excellentwork and delivery on theground, and cites Folkestones CreativeFoundation as an example of what could bedone by private-sector organisations.

In response, minister Ed Vaizey says hispoint was well-made and that such initia-tives could be joined up to be made as effec-tive as possible.

It is not to be Mr Collinss only appearancein the Commons today, as later on the

Governments flagship academies bills are tobe debated late into the night and passed by317 votes to 225.After the first debate,he tells me:Theres a

feeling that attendance in the chamber is upsince the election. New members are keen toget used to the environment and to speaking.

People have spent a long time working ontheir campaigns and now theyre here andhave got the chance to use the opportunity toraise points they couldnt do before.Asked how he would like to be judged by

the end of this Parliament, he says: I feelstrongly that we should have a new powerstation at Dungeness and Id like to feel thatwed have done everything we can to makethat happen and it would be terrific news ifwe were successful.

During the questions in the debate, one ofthe issues that came up was broadbandaccess and thats a big issue for people onRomney Marsh and part of the North Downs.

We want to see more creative businesses,smaller businesses that are dependent onthe internet, people working from home.

That, for me, is increasingly important.In his first few weeks in Parliament, MrCollins was elected to the culture, media andsport select committee, which will overseethe Olympic Games in 2012.

He said: It gives you a chance to get to theheart of issues that reflect that sector,and forthe constituency to demonstrate that wevegot a great story to tell with some of the workof the Creative Foundation.

The Secretary of State will come in to bequestioned by us, as will the Director-General of the BBC and the leading figuresin the arts and creative industries.

How does he think the coalition govern-ment has fared so far and will it last until the

next planned election in May 2015?I think the coalition has made a good start

and has been well received. People see thatwe put aside political differences to providethe stable government the country needed.

We are going to have a very difficult timepaying off the debts left behind by GordonBrown and that requires some pretty diffi-cult decisions, but it looks as though thatstability is there and theres no reason itshouldnt continue to the next election.

Its a very exciting time to be a Member ofParliament. I think weve got terrific enter-prise and creativity in Shepway and I think weneed the Government to get behind local peo-ple,to create the right environment for peoples

businesses to thrive and provide the servicesthey need,to trust people a little bit more.

Reporter JAMES ALEXANDRE

spent the day with Shepways new

Member of Parliament DamianCollins to find out how hes been

getting on in the job three months on.

Telephone editorial: 01303 817200 Email the editor, dave.mairs@kosmedia.co.uk 5(SH)