Last week, Connor welcomed three students from Wellington – Luca, Joe and Oscar – to undertake a week of work experience in his constituency office.
Here’s their report of what they got up to:
We are three students from Wellington School, and we had the pleasure of completing work experience with Connor Rand MP from the 9th to the 13th of June. We sought this type of work experience as we all take Politics A-level and have an interest in local government, and one of us wishes to pursue politics at university and perhaps as a career. Additionally, a greater understanding of how government operates would be valuable for a vast portion of the public, so we were highly privileged in being offered the opportunity to see the workings of government in person.
On our first day, we were each entrusted with 15 emails from constituents, which we answered using their software, which they taught us to use. This allowed us to learn more about the way a constituency office operates and gave us experience in creating nuanced responses to real-world concerns.
There were a wide range of issues queried in the emails, ranging from animal rights to rare cancer treatment. This gave us an appreciation for the diversity in the issues an MP has to address.
After this, we created some short articles for Connor’s website, outlining his work in the local area and his interactions with the community. For instance, we wrote an article about his campaign to preserve the minor injuries unit at Altrincham Hospital, and his more recent push to establish a much-needed diagnostics centre in the now-unused space.
This activity was engaging, since it was a pleasant surprise to see the extent to which Connor has influenced the area during his short time in office, from pushing for improved SEND provision to stamping out antisocial behaviour. This helped us to understand the impact Connor has had on the local area and the issues afflicting our region.
We then moved onto researching emerging issues to inform our responses to constituents and better understand the actions of the government. These topics ranged from streaming taxes in the creative industry and the use of AI by corporations like Uber in relation to employment practices, to Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s funding for their aging in place scheme and what that means for residents.
Using some of this research, we tackled complex emails from constituents, such as those pertaining to the intricacies of Labour’s new renter’s rights bill. This activity allowed Connor to provide better-informed responses to constituents’ issues whilst showcasing his work.
The following day, we watched Rachel Reeves’ summer spending review (with popcorn). Together, we wrote a detailed briefing of the spending review. For this we used the press, Parliamentary Labour Party briefing, and the published spending document to inform ourselves before outlining each of the key policies discussed and their effects on Greater Manchester and the constituency of Altrincham and Sale West.
After this, as part of the briefing, we noted headlines from each of the major newspapers and responses from influential groups and opposition parties. This provided Connor an insight into the consensus on the spending review and what opposition the review was facing, which helped him when appearing in front of media like BBC Radio 4.
We also had the chance to speak to Connor about the start of his political career and the choices that led him there, alongside our views on current affairs. He also sought our thoughts and feedback on Labour’s performance, in addition to discussing aspects of politics that interested us like defence spending and education.
This work experience has been very helpful for all of us, and we are very grateful to Connor Rand MP for this opportunity.