Dr Alexandra Meakin

No longer posting or checking here. Find me on Blue Sky - ameakin - for all your Restoration and Renewal updates/general parli geekery #WestminsterRR

@aliceolilly Many many congratulations Alice! I hope you're both doing well and getting some sleep!

The Budget is usually a big day in the office. But today I’m watching from elsewhere thanks to my beautiful new arrival. Have been trying to explain to her why it’s the Chair of Ways and Means presiding rather than the Speaker, though oddly she didn’t seem that interested.

In response, @CommonsLeader agrees that the Palace is in desperate need of restoration, says that the 3 options for R&R will be coming to the House "early next year", and commits to playing "my full part in making sure we restore and renew this fantastic building" #WestminsterRR

Great to see Geoffrey Clifton Brown, the new Chair of @CommonsPAC, raising Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster at Business Questions, noting that £2m of taxpayers' money is spent each week on maintenance, and pushes for an urgent decision on R&R #WestminsterRR

I'm terrified & excited that our #oralhistory podcast, Tales From the Green Benches, is out Monday. Hosted by me & the wonderful @bl_magnacarta, written with the amazing @priscilamp, with archive highlights and lots of wittering! Get it wherever you get your podcasts, etc, etc...

Looks like @northernassist are having a bad day on this side of the Pennines today...

Feels appropriate to be travelling back to Sheffield on a two carriage diesel service, that takes 80 mins to travel 30 miles 🤦

Thanks @BBCLookNorth for inviting me to chat about #Budget2024 tonight!

We are pleased to announce that the petitions website will open today at 3pm. Start or sign a petition today: petition.parliament.uk

Interviewer: “How do you explain this gap in your resume?” Me: “I was trying to connect with eduroam”

That Northern Rail fax machine exchange in full

📢Today we are holding the first evidence session for our new inquiry into executive oversight and responsibility for the UK constitution. We are hearing from @AlexGAThomas from @instituteforgov 📺Watch live from 10:15am: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/58…

Mayor Andy Burnham tells Rail North Committee that Northern has cancelled 155 trains this morning and says operator doesn’t “appear to have a plan”. Cites no ticket acceptance with other operators and no bus replacements.

The Treasury has just released this picture of Chancellor Rachel Reeves signing off the first Labour Budget in 14 years. The picture on the wall is of Ellen Wilkinson, education minister in Clement Attlee’s government. 👇

ON OUR BLOG: Where next for the Restoration & Renewal programme? @A_Meakin outlines how the 2019-24 parliament approached R&R, the lessons new MPs should draw from the experience of the past 5 years, and the dilemma of what they should do next. constitution-unit.com/2024/10/24/a-n…

It still blows me away how #parkrun has transformed our parks on a saturday morning. People of all ages, sizes, cultures…. mutually supportive and encouraging. It’s the spirit every country needs to flourish.

Absolutely no one: Northern trains: just fyi every train you ever dreamed of taking is either cancelled or delayed

Don't forget it's Light Night again tonight - across the Uni, the city and down at Leeds Dock, Leeds is lit. 🔥lightnightleeds.co.uk

We have to do more to protect football clubs like #ReadingFC from absent owners. After my question in Parliament last week, I’m looking forward to my meeting with Sports Minister @Steph_Peacock and local fans & stakeholders to discuss how we can properly safeguard the club.