I am so proud to represent the Staffordshire Moorlands in Parliament and do my very best to make sure that Ministers are aware of your concerns but as a backbench MP, it is also a huge honour to be selected to represent the UK Parliament on Parliamentary delegations to other countries.
I was recently chosen to join fellow MPs from different political parties in an Inter Parliamentary Union delegation to Greece, to visit the Hellenic Parliament and to discuss the ongoing situation they have with migration.
As Co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking, I was especially interested to learn more about the situation in Greece as migrants and asylum seekers are especially vulnerable to trafficking for forced labour or sexual exploitation.
It was a busy couple of days with really useful meetings with the Secretary General for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, the General Director of Médecins Sans Frontières, the representative from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and the Chief of the Greece Mission of the International Organisation for Migration as well as many Hellenic Parliamentary groups.
Back in the UK, I was also proud to be asked to chair a roundtable discussion in Parliament on ‘Multi-stakeholders’ Approach to Tackle Sport Trafficking’.
The Roundtable was organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association with the idea of bringing people together to discuss this important issue ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
There were many attendees present including MPs, non-Governmental organisations, lawyers, sporting organisations, agents, academics and businesses. We heard from experts from varying sectors, about their experiences with sports trafficking and the discussion was a fantastic opportunity to both raise awareness of the issue of sport trafficking and encourage people from different sectors to implement new policies and actions ahead of future sporting events.
