I was delighted to be elected as the new Chair of The House of Commons Petitions Committee this week: https://www.parliament.uk/petitions-committee  

Since 2015 the Committee has helped millions of people engage directly with Parliament and Government and led to real change, like on brain tumour research funding. I’m looking forward to continuing that work and ensuring a wide range of voices are heard. 

At a time when many people can feel disconnected from the decision-making process, the Committee’s power to call Westminster Hall debates, publish reports and hold Ministers to account in response to petitioning can play an important role in ensuring the public’s voice is heard. 

The petitions website has been unavailable for almost three months now since Parliament was dissolved for the general election and I know people want to see it back up and running as soon as possible. Now that a chair has been elected the remaining Committee members will be nominated by the political parties over the next few weeks and once that is complete, the petitions website will re-open. I’ll be pushing for the process to be completed as soon as possible.