Week in politics: Rail strikes fallout and dentistry concerns

After Conservative defeats in Thursday's by-elections in Devon and West Yorkshire, pressure on the Prime Minister has ramped up again. There is much coverage of that elsewhere.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also had an awkward week, trying not to alienate either the trade unions or passengers affected by the rail strikes, but coming into conflict with some of his own side along the way.

At least half a dozen of our local Labour MPs have joined picket lines over the last few days, including Jarrow's Kate Osborne.

She posted this video from a picket line in London on Tuesday morning, saying: "I will always stand on the side of workers. Solidarity to the RMT."

According to reports, party bosses had sent out a message on Monday saying: "frontbenchers including [parliamentary private secretaries] should not be on picket lines."

Ms Osborne is a parliamentary private secretary to the shadow Northern Ireland team, and among a handful of frontbenchers who seemingly defied orders.

She was on the list for Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, and attacked the government as "out of touch" and "planning to boost city bosses’ pay while demanding wage restraint for everyone else."

There were loud cheers from the Tory benches as Boris Johnson responded: "can I suggest she gets off the picket line, has a word with her leader, and supports the travelling public."

The Jarrow MP also attended a picket line in Newcastle on Saturday.

There have been suggestions that she and other frontbench colleagues who took similar action were going to be removed from those positions but, as I write on Sunday lunchtime, there's been no announcement of that yet.

What has been confirmed is that Sir Keir Starmer won't be attending the Durham Miners' Gala, a huge trade union event returning on 9 July after two years off due to the pandemic.

Labour have said he has a longstanding family commitment that day.

Durham is also an awkward location, after his beer and takeaway in the city last year that has led to a police investigation.

We are expecting Durham Police to announce their decision on whether the Labour leader broke covid rules within the next week or two.

Several of the region's MPs raised concerns about constituents being unable to access dental treatment, in parliamentary debates on consecutive days.

In the Commons on Tuesday, City of Durham Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy said: "NHS dentistry is on the brink of collapse. In real terms, the government’s net spend on general dental practice in England was slashed by over a quarter between 2010 and 2020."

In Westminster Hall on Wednesday, York Central Labour MP Rachael Maskell said: "Fewer than half my constituents have seen a dentist in the last year. Of course, dentists have offered them private dental plans but my constituents simply cannot afford that, not least because of the cost of living crisis."

Darlington Conservative MP Peter Gibson blamed Labour for introducing the dental contracts system in 2006, which he said means dentists "effectively end up being paid less money for more work, with it not being financially viable to provide NHS dental services."

Health Minister Maria Caulfield, responding on both days, said that contract is being reformed, and argued that there are "exactly the same problems" with dentistry in the other UK nations, run by governments of other parties.

Finally, Easington Labour MP Grahame Morris led a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday, and described how, in his constituency, "a relatively small number of prolific offenders cause havoc and cause the majority of crime and antisocial behaviour."

He argued: "the government have put the public at serious risk from reoffending by trying to run prisons and probation on the cheap" and urged: "it is important that we address rehabilitation and proper prison education."

Justice Minister James Cartlidge responded by saying that the proportion of those released from custody who reoffended within 12 months "fell significantly" between April 2019 and March 2020.

He acknowledged "reoffending rates are still too high" and said the government "are committed to action", with plans including better drug treatment services and prisoner education.