EXCLUSIVE: Question and answer session with new Macclesfield MP Tim Roca
By Wendi Kromash
4th Nov 2024 8:30 am | Opinion
It has been over 100 days since the Labour Party won the UK general election, and Macclesfield elected a Labour member of parliament for the first time.
Tim Roca MP, won the vote in the Macclesfield constituency, with 46.7% of the votes (24,672).
Since July 4, Tim has assembled a modest crew of staff, and settled in parliament.
Macclesfield Nub News reached out to Tim Roca, and offered a meeting either in Macclesfield, or Westminster, with Tim and his team picking the latter.
The meeting was to find out how his time as Macclesfield's first non-Conservative MP in over 100 years has been going so far, and what things may look like in the future.
We have presented this article in a question and answer (Q&A) format.
Macclesfield Nub News is attributed as 'MNN', Tim Roca MP is attributed as 'TR'.
MNN: Tim, what has it been like for you settling in as an MP so far?
TR: It has been manic! Absolutely manic! It is a privilege, a huge privilege, of course it is to represent the community where I grew up, but I guess what I did not quite anticipate is how full on it would me straight away. So we had the declaration at 5am on the Friday morning, and by Sunday I was on the train down. There were people emailing from the Friday, straight off. So one of the key priorities when I got down here was to learn the ropes, and how parliament works, and to also start recruiting a team. And I was already getting a couple hundred emails a day. And thankfully, here we are three months on, mostly a team in place, working through the backlog of the emails and case work has been done. I've been triaging all through the summer to make sure if somebody had something urgent, we have been helping them out. And, I feel like starting to get to grips with how it all works, and delivering for people in Macc.
MNN: You hinted at it there, with the start of your answer. Is there anything surprised you, or the public might not know about becoming an MP?
TR: I think most people would have a fair idea of firstly how many people are going to be in contact with you. But even know the Palace of Westminster is a strange and wonderful place. Of course, it has its traditions, its procedures, some are perfectly commonsensical, others are a little bit stranger, I have in the member's cloakroom, a little piece of thread to hang my sword, as well as my coat. I don't have a sword, but that is a bit of quirky history the building has. I could hang up two coats!
It is a bit like Howard's. I had been a little shocked about the state of the building [Houses of Parliament], and I say that because it has been a long-running story in the national press that major repairs to the Palace of Westminster have been put off for a number of years. And this is a piece of our national heritage and we need to look after it, but it is also a working place, where there is scrutiny of government and important laws are being passed. That has definitely been interesting as well.
MNN: What does a week in Tim Roca the MP look like?
TR: Well we are starting to get into the rhythm of it. We had four weeks after the election, summer recess, then another two weeks, and then another recess where you are in your constituency doing meetings. I've been lucky enough to do three surgeries. And have two in October. [Since passed]. The constituency bits happens a lot during the weekends, or the end of the week, or in the recess. Because practically speaking, I come down down on a Monday morning, and I'm back up on a Thursday evening. In July, we had quite a lot of new legislation the new government wanted to pass. The King's Speech had more bills in than any Speech in many, many years. The government has clearly decided there is a lot of work to do to turn the country around. So we sat Monday to Friday in July, and they have hinted we might be sitting on Fridays again before Christmas. Today, I'm staying a little later, as I want to attend an adjournment debate about railways, and I want to pitch in about Avanti, Northern, and how unreliable real services are in Poynton and Macc. I'll be talking about the expense of rail travel and the unreliability of it. And that's the thing. You are the voice of people, down here, but there are 650 MPs. So it is not just stating up and being able to speak in every debate, I've been lucky enough since giving my maiden speech to ask a couple of questions about mental health services, and education. I asked Bridget Phillipson [Secretary of State for Education] if she would meet with me to discuss the low level of funding we get for schools in Macclesfield, and the wider Cheshire East area. I will also be meeting ministers about school funding in the coming weeks, and that will be part of a larger piece of work.
So yeah, this run from now until Christmas will give me a good sense of what the rhythms like. It is still new, it has only been three months.
MNN: How would you grade yourself over the past few months?
TR: I'm not going to grade myself. That is for other people to do, but I am very, very happy that we have got a constituency team in place, we are helping people, getting on with casework. We are down here, and I am able to start asking questions, contributing debates on behalf of people in Macc.
It is clear as well that this term will have a bill on assisted dying, which is going to be a big thing, there will be a pre-vote on that. We have got employment rights, Great British energy, the national wealth fund. There is so much happening, and you have got to learn really, really quickly. I am lucky to be part of an intake of lots of really great MPs, we have got quite a talented bunch on the Labour benches, I'm sure there are talented people on the other pennies as well.
MNN: You gave a talk about East Cheshire Hospice at Labour Party conference?
TR: Yes, East Cheshire Hospice are absolutely fantastic. I met them before the election to understand the important work that they do, and I think I am going to play a sort of honorary role as David Rutley did before I was elected. It is really important that we have excellent end of life care. And whatever people's views are on assisted dying, palliative care is not good enough in this country. And that has to improve.
We are really lucky to have East Cheshire Hospice in Macclesfield, they are fantastic.
MNN: Are there any issues within the constituency that you have come to realise are maybe a bigger issue than you first thought, when campaigning?
TR: One of my first surgeries in the summer, SEND (special educational needs) issues came up a lot. And in July, I had quite a lot of emails from parents about difficulties they were facing in getting adequate provision for their kids. It basically formed one whole surgery.
So I will be working with Cheshire East Council, I will be working with local SENCos (co-ordinators), teachers, to discuss what we can do to improve services. So that is a pretty quick issue.
MNN: Bridget Phillipson recently said the whole SEND system needs 'reforming'. Do you have any ideas of what reforms are needed?
TR: The system is going to need more money. There are a lot of calls for new money across the public sector, because of years and years of Tory austerity. There is clearly good evidence to show that early years intervention is better for kids, but can also reduce costs in the long-run. And one of the tragedies is the system is so backlogged, and there isn't enough support, because we have not actually tackled those issues earlier, giving kids support earlier. It's going to need reform, and money.
MNN: Is there anything you think the Prime Minister could be doing better?
TR: He has got off to a phenomenal start. If you look at the number of bills he has put through, the way he is resetting our relationship with our European partners, the way he has been welcomed by President Biden. And then also, on a really mature note, despite the change of government there is a continuation of our policy on Ukraine.
I went to Ukraine earlier in the year, they are really grateful for all the support the UK is giving them. They are really grateful the Labour Party's approach to Ukraine has stayed steadfast and continued from what the previous government was doing.
But also, we have a really good Ukrainian community in Macclesfield. And in lots of other parts of the countries now, because of the various schemes that have happened and refugees fleeing war. They are a phenomenal community. We have also got in Macc, several charities that do a lot to help Ukraine and have been doing that since the [full scale] invasion began, delivering supplies, helping. And we should be really proud of that as well. Macc is quite an international place, we have got quite outward looking people. We care. We are compassionate. So going back to your original question, the prime minister is taking on a lot, he has been very deliberate, very methodical, and the proof of the pudding will be what are the results. He is talking about turning the country around in the long-term, and people will be able to judge us for that as the next election.
MNN: Keir Starmer has come under flak for taking concert and football tickets. So with your trip to Ukraine, I must ask, did you fund it yourself? How did the funding work?
TR: It was an all-party parliamentary group trip. The invitation came to attend a conference there. The all-party parliamentary group provided some elements of it, and other elements of it, it is party of my parliamentary duties.
MNN: Why has Ukraine become such a passionate topic for you?
TR: All MPs have a responsibility to the security of the country [UK]. And what is happening in Ukraine is brute aggression, by Putin's Russia, against a fellow democracy, and it is on our doorstep. It is a couple hours flying time from the UK. It is absolutely in our interest, and the right thing to do to support them. That is why the Conservative government supported them before us, and the Labour government are doing it now.
I had an email in my inbox asking me about the opportunity to do. And I did. I am really glad I did. The places the visited, the conversations we had was really enlightening. We are send a lot of money and supplies to Ukraine. We have got a responsibility to make sure it is being well-used, for the right purposes. And they are defending themselves from a country trying to extinguish their independence. Whatever we can do to support them, we need to.
MMN: You called for a 'sense of urgency' in stepping up support for Ukraine, following your trip. Tell us more about the trip
TR: You can't fly to Ukraine. You fly to Warsaw, driven down to the border and take a train. There was a conference going on in Kyiv that President Zelenskyy attended, various Ukrainian ministers and foreign leaders from some of the Baltic countries, leading academics as well. The conference had various parts to it, the ongoing war, the economic aspects, partnership with other countries.
And then separate to that, the Friends of Ukraine Group, kindly arrange a visit to a children's hospital in Kyiv that had recently been bombed. This is a children's hospital, attacked by Russian missiles. Clearly, a breach of international law. But for people who have been Russian aggression in Syria, its par for the course. Them bombing civilian targets, them trying to terrorise people and kill innocents.
We had the opportunity to leave Kyiv and go to Chernihiv, which is north east of Kyiv, and visit the site of one of the war crimes there, in a basement where Russians herded hundreds of people at the start of an invasion into a basement and left them there. With no food or water, aside from an occasional ration pack they used to throw in, when they were dragging somebody out to execute them. So we saw the site of a war crime, and it was explained by somebody who had been there, what had happened. And we met with what was effectively the Mayor. He was a guy who became Mayor before the invasion, and was talking about all the things we talk about here, improving healthcare, education, creating job opportunities. And here he was now leading a city in war. So that was pretty eye-opening.
And then before we left, we visited Lviv in the west of Ukraine, and met one of the local MPs there. So a fellow parliamentarian. I am talking about the important issues in Macclesfield such as SEN, she is talking about a missile attack on a block of flats early one morning. So that kind of puts into perspective some of the responsibilities they have out there, as parliamentarians.
We were there from a Monday to Friday. I would go back if there was a reason to go. I feel I've done a fact-finding bit and heard perspectives. I will be meeting European MPs here. I probably will go back to Ukraine if there is a reason for it. I am not going to go to places without good reason.
There is something quite strange about downloading an app on your phone, because of the potential of air raids. It is a part of everyday life there. Actually, the sirens went off while we went there. At 2am in the morning, all of us MPs trooped down to shelter with all the other people in the hotel. And that is just life for them. Crazy.
MMN: If you've had any, what have you been doing with your spacetime / downtime?
TR: I love running. It distresses you, declutters the mind, sometimes you listen to music, sometimes a podcast.
MNN: Your surgeries have toured the constituency so far, tell me more about the near future?
TR: We done surgeries in Macc and Poynton so far. Half the constituency does not life in Macc, in effect. That is not quite true but we need to make sure we are going around the constituency as much as we possibly can. It has been a real mix of cases.
The slightly depressing element to it is, you need parliamentary security.
We now have to have somebody join us at surgeries. The speaker has been really strict to help members.
He was asking us yesterday if we are using our fobs when were are out and about in the constituency, and our homes have been assessed for security. That is a depressing element of what modern politics is like.
But the surgeries themselves, a really electric mix of issues have come up. But it is just good to be able to go out and help people as much as I possible can. As a parliamentarian, you do have a voice that is going to be listened to by government departments. You may not always have the answer you want, but they can make progress.
I expect we will hold surgeries in Disley and Bollington, potentially Prestbury.
MNN: Your campaign office shut down on Mill Street. I hear you have a new office in Macc, now that you are an MP. Will you be making that address public?
TR: We've secured new office space in Macclesfield town centre, as the costs for the Mill Street location exceeded what could be accommodated within the Parliamentary budget. This highlights the ongoing need for business rate reform to support high streets and local businesses. Office details will follow once Parliamentary security have completed the necessary assessments.
MNN: On the note of Mill Street, its decline has continued. Since your election we've seen closures announced for Lloyds and Superdrug. Beyond Mill Street, we've had Poundland closing down this year as well. There's fears that more closures could happen. What is your message to those people ringing the death bells to Macclesfield town centre and who believe we have failing high streets?
TR: This was a big election issue for people, because the town centre has been in decline for many, many years. There was talk for all sorts of ways were were going to fix the problem. I agree the Barracks Mill site development has been detrimental to the town centre.
TR: The truth is the town centre was suffering before that. There is also a change happening in the town centre. In terms of the moves towards hospitality, but people also still need retail in their town centre. So I will work with Macc Town Council, who have done a good job in promoting the town centre with events, they have also got a Town Centre Recovery Plan.I will also work with Cheshire East Council, it is all about working in partnership.
One of the things I can do here, is advocate for business rates to be reformed, because I think it is business rates that are really taking the life out of high streets up and down, the country, and not just in Macclesfield.
If you get the right ingredients, you can make a high street work. I think we all look towards Knutsford or Leek, and see high streets that are perhaps thriving in ways that ours is not, and ours used to. There are obviously conservations about whether a BID [business improvement distrct] should be created, so I will be meeting local businesses in the coming months setting up meetings, finding out their aspirations and what they'd like to see. But it is not going to happen overnight.
MNN: What businesses have you supported in Macc since you became MP?
TR: Well, I got my hair cut on Chestergate on Friday. I live in Macc, so I use the high street a lot. I got to The Button Warehouse a lot. I use the high street quite a lot, and Greggs is very dangerous!
MNN: Let's talk about education. Your specialist subject. You have said the student loan system is 'broken'. What can government do about it?
TR: The whole system is in crisis. Students are facing a cost of living crisis, like everybody else. and then they are graduating with these levels of debt. There will be arguments people make about the levels of debt, the lengths of repayment, how loans are written off. I think it is a really live issue for people. It is something that families care about, because they make plans as families as well, and it is a broken system.
What can we do in the short to medium term? I like what I am hearing about the potential for maintenance grants being reintroduced for the poorest students. I think that is a really positive move and I hope that happens.
We need to see greater funding of our education system in general. Not just in higher education, but elsewhere. We've got amazing universities in the north west. I went to Lancaster University, north west universities are engines of sociability. So how we have ended up in a position where 14 years on, a third of universities are now in deficit. We need to get a grip of the system, and I think we will. Jacqui Smith [Baroness Malvern, Minsiter of State for Skills and Government] is clearly working hard on. She wants universities to play their part, she wants to work with students to make sure they ge the support they need, but it is a big task.
MNN: On a similar note, lots young people move away from the Macclesfield area. You did that yourself. How might we go about improving life for young people in Macclesfield? Creating opportunities for them, and keeping them in our constituency?
TR: In terms of the economy, there is a national job that Labour is doing to turn the economy round. It has been flatlining. We've not been paying people property, the country needs a pay rise. And Keir and Rachel will be doing that work, attracting investment. One of the things we suffer from in Poynton, Macclesfield and Bollington, you see that devolution has really worked for Manchester. Andy Burnham has put Manchester on the map, using devolved powers, attract investment and improve the transport network. We do not have that. So one of the things that myself, and other Labour MPs in Cheshire are advocating for, is for devolution for Cheshire. We have had some good conversations with ministers in recent months. I want to see Cheshire with more powers, with more money, and that will be an important part in lifting the economy in the area.
We are very lucky with the economy that we have already. AstraZeneca is a phenomenal asset to the local economy, a good employer, provides decent jobs. We have got to make sure that they continue to be there, and we are supporting them in what they do.
I want to see a Mayor, alongside the Andy Burnham's fighting for Cheshire, for our slice of the national cake.
MNN: There is a recent opinion article in the Macclesfield Express titled 'OUR MP IS SO SILENT', stating 'Our new MP seems determined to maintain a low profile, not replying to emails, silent on winter fuel allowance, in fact silent full stop. [sic] Macclesfield need's an MP that is a champion for the constituency.' What would you response to that be?
TR: I'm focused on delivering results for the people of Macclesfield, not engaging in personal attacks. People can see from my social media what I have been up to and judge for themselves.
MNN: Public service cuts are a hot topic at Cheshire East Council at the moment, we've had cuts to library hours last year, lost two tips in the constituency this year. What was your reaction and how do we stop further cuts?
TR: The decision on the tips was really, really disappointing. I argued against it. I was meeting with officers of the Council as soon as I was elected to understand the decision a bit more. I found it bizarre that a substantive decision was being made, with such a short trial period of the mobile tips. I had a number of questions, as did the 'SAVE BOLLINGTON TIP' group. I did not really get full answers to those questions. I wrote to Cheshire East Council a few weeks ago and said 'Everybody understands that Council's across the country are facing a funding crises, but if you are going to make big decisions, you have to make sure the processes you may do them is clear, transparent and actually engages with people. So people understand why you are doing it, and have your questions answered. There were people rightly saying, hang on, if I am in Disley or Poynton I am going to be traveling 'how long, to Macc?' [Outside Danes Moss tip] What is going to be the impact on Congleton Road, on pollution? It is really important that any Council going through difficult positions, goes through the process properly. Because otherwise, you just undermine confidence in future desicions you have to make. With that being said, my job down here will be to fight for funding for Cheshire, to try and fund the damage caused by the Tory cuts to local government. I will be working with my Labour colleagues to do that. But I'll also be encouraging the Council and its officers to engage properly with the public.
MNN: Finally Tim, if you could please recap your main priorities to achieve for the constituency from now until 2029?
TR: I have talked about education a lot, we are severely underfunded in Cheshire East. Our schools receive less per pupil than many of our neighbouring local authorities. The big job will work local headteachers, which I have already started with ministers here, is fighting for fairer funding.
The second, our high streets, not just in Macc town centre but across the constituency supporting businesses. And then third will be our local services, making sure we are reversing the decade of austerity, protecting local services as much as we can and finally devolution. We need a strong voice for Cheshire.
It has been an incredible three months, it is only the start, I am getting to grips with it. It has been really rewarding helping people through casework, but also down here speaking on behalf of our communities. I pinch myself when I come down here for work on a Monday. It is an enormous privilege, and it is not a feeling I think would ever go away. And I am really grateful to the people of Macclesfield for electing me.
Macclesfield Nub News visited Tim Roca MP, last month, Thursday October 10.
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