What does the Rutland and Melton Member for Parliament do in a typical day at Westminster?

Alicia Kearns MP has been the Conservative representative for Rutland and Melton since being elected at the 2019 general election.

Parliament opens as it does on most days at 09:30am with prayers, and Mrs Kearns was present in the House of Commons Chamber on Thursday, 2 March 2023, when the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle opened the session at 09:33am with questions addressed to the Secretary of State for Transport.

Some of the questions were being answered by Richard Holden MP (North West Durham, Conservative), who has served the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Roads and Local Transport since October 2022.

Ms Kearns speaking in Parliament. Image credit: LDRS.

Mrs Kearns was twenty-second on a list of twenty-four members asking questions of the Minister. It was therefore 10:27am before she was called by the Speaker, and rose to ask her question:

"Thank you Mr Speaker. The Minister and I have spoken almost daily about the Melton bypass. Can he update me on conversations he's had with the Treasury about it, and can I also thank the government for the five upgrades to the A1 that they delivered, because the work has now started."

Richard Holden MP replied: "I'm delighted my honourable friend is pleased with the work that we are doing, she has been a real champion of this and has never failed to bend my ear at every opportunity about it; and I hope to make a further announcement shortly on this matter."

With the session of questions for the Secretary of State for Transport concluded, Mrs Kearns left the House of Commons Chamber at 10:37am for a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Select Committee at 11:00am.

The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. On 12 October 2022, Mrs Kearns was elected as the first female Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. It was the second time in a row that an up and coming, but relatively junior MP had seized the chair of the committee, one of the most prestigious berths on the Commons committee corridor, replacing Tom Tugendhat MP.

Having reconvened her meeting after lunch for another couple of hours, Mrs Kearns met up at 15:05pm with her parliamentary staff, Amelia Leeming and Harry Warren, taking a short tea break in the atrium at Portcullis House for afternoon tea.

Asked about her day, she replied: "It has been a busy day, I had my question to the Transport Minister this morning, which is something I shall keep pressing him about, and our morning and post-lunch meeting went well.

"I love being Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and I appreciate what an honour it is for me, as the first female to sit.

"Having a background in communications at the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is a definite advantage. Being lead press officer for MOD's contribution to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign, and the government's communication campaigns in Syria and Iraq for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as well as the Victims' Minister's press secretary at the Ministry of Justice has also helped."

Rutland and Melton MP Alicia Kearns with Lee Rowley, middle, and Lucy Stephenson, Leader of RCC, second from the right at Rutland Museum's Levelling Up Fund announcement. Image credit: Nub News.

Joined briefly by the Conservative member for Bolsover, Mark Fletcher MP, he was quick to point out how hardworking his colleague is: "I just don't know how she fits it all into a day's work."

It is difficult to grasp the sheer size of the Palace of Westminster. Offices for meetings are often considerable distances apart, so that as well as the constituency work they carry out, most members walk several miles in any given working day.

Mrs Kearns said: "I have another meeting to go this afternoon which I am already running a bit late for. That will take me up to around 18:00pm when, if there are no late items for me to look at in my parliamentary office, I shall start to make the journey home, back to Rutland."

Usually spent in her Constituency office on Friday, Mrs Kearns spends the weekend at home, before leaving for London and Westminster again, early Monday morning.

Thanks to Alicia Kearns MP and her staff, Amelia Leeming and Harry Warren.