Trip To Parliament With Mayday Trust

9^Th September 2013

On the 9^th September I went to the Houses of Parliament with a group of people from Mayday Trust. We had a tour round to in the morning and out tour guide was brilliant, she explained to us all in detail what each bit was about and I found it very interesting. I learnt a lot of new things there for instance;

Did you know that the Queen has an entrance that only she can use and she can’t use any other entrance? It’s called the sovereign entrance.

Did you know that it is against the law for the queen to enter the House of Commons? That’s because it is believed that if a royal leader should enter then they may sway the debate.

Did you know that there are 19 floors underneath the Houses of Parliament? It’s a bit like an iceberg.

After the tour we had the opportunity to meet the MP of Rugby Mark Pawsey. The group gathered a list of questions for him to answer.

Mark Pawsey offers an Open surgery for members of the public in Rugby to visit and see him about any issues they have on Friday afternoons. He enjoys ensuring that people’s voices are heard in Parliament. We asked Mark Pawsey what his proudest moment is, he told us how he enjoys standing up in the House of Commons and he takes a lot of pride in his role as MP of Rugby as this was his birth place and he has resided there for most of his life.

Another question we put to Mark Pawsey was, how do you feel the welfare reform will benefit young people in supported accommodation like Mayday Trust? Mark explained that he believes that the welfare reform will encourage people into work as they will be better off working than on benefits.

One member of the group asked, what is your opinion of Mayday Trust accommodation and would you consider living in a Mayday scheme for a week or so on the benefit that a lot of clients of Mayday receive JSA £56 P/W. Marks response was very interesting, he said that he likes the layout of the schemes he has visited and said that he thinks it allows people to have the privacy they need but also a place to socialise and engage with others. He said that to stay in mayday accommodation for a week would be a great opportunity to see how decisions in Parliament affect the public first hand. He would appreciate the understanding the challenges that are faced by people in supported accommodation.

We asked Mark, if you could change one thing in today’s society what would it be? Marks response was plain and simply for people to have more regard for one another and to be more open minded.


Written By Fiona McCance
Mayday Reporter