I’m very fortunate that, in spite of our occasional political differences, I get on very well with my fellow Cumbrian MPs and, more often than not, we find common cause on issues that matter to our constituents. That perhaps shouldn’t be surprising, but I know of counties where unfortunately that isn’t the case.

But this week has been a masterclass of Cumbrian MPs working together on issues that matter you, the people we are fortunate enough to represent.

On Monday I hosted a roundtable discussion for Cumbrian MPs with Lord Callanan, the Energy Minister, making the case for the Morecambe Bay Carbon Capture and Storage project (Morecambe Bay Net Zero) which would create huge numbers of local jobs, could hold up to 1 gigaton of carbon under the sea bed, and will help heavy industries transition as we deal with climate change. I’m very grateful to my colleagues Tim and Mark for lending their support to this cause.

Later in the week, I was fortunate enough to meet campaigners and activists at the Park Protector Awards, especially those from the Lake District National Park, which extends over part of Barrow & Furness. It was very good to see my constituency neighbour Trudy Harrison, the Forestry Minister, speaking with such passion about the amazing place that we are so fortunate to live in.

And then at the end of the week, dodging torrential rail, I joined the Furness Motorcycle Action Group in Dalton to hear about their activities and concerns, and was very glad to be joined by Mark again who takes a close interest given his own constituents’ involvement.

But the week hasn’t just been focussed on Cumbria. On Wednesday morning I launched the All Party Parliamentary Group on AUKUS, bringing together MPs and Peers from across the political divide to better understand the opportunities, and challenges, that we will face in delivering the new submarine programme (SSN-AUKUS), and also the other tracks of work on AI, quantum computing, and information sharing, to name but a few.

This is a huge programme of work, crucial to Barrow’s future, and it is essential that Parliament is up to speed on it. There are similar groups in the US Senate and in Australia too and I look forward to working closely with them to build alliances and share knowledge across the Atlantic and Pacific.

I’m delighted to be the first Chair of this group, recognising Furness’ unique role in delivering AUKUS, and look forward to working with Ministers, civil servants, the MOD, Navy, and the governments and representatives of the US and Australia in the coming months.

Later, I attended a briefing with campaigners on behalf of families who have faced the most terrible consequences from having been prescribed a drug, Primodos, which caused their babies to be born with deformities. This affects a good number of my constituents so I am very keen to add my voice to theirs in trying to seek answers and justice.

This week I also met with the Rail Minister, Huw Merriman, to raise my concerns over Northern’s ridiculous plans to reduce staffing hours at Ulverston station, effectively making it impossible for those who require accessible access to cross platforms there. There’s still time to register your views here: www.simonfell.org/ticket-offices