Social mobility starts by not being constrained by what you see in your immediate environment

By Paul Howell, Member of Parliament for Sedgefield

I have been extremely fortunate that my choices in life delivered me to where I am and I have travelled from the mining village of Ferryhill to be a Member of Parliament. I explain below a little of the route but the important thing is the use of the opportunity I have been given. My objective for at least the next 4 years is to improve the lot of people in Sedgefield in particular. Whether this is by improving infrastructure, investing in “left behind” communities or just stimulating aspiration I don’t yet know but these are the start points of my new world and the problems that will result from Coronavirus will only make this more difficult but it has to be our ambition.

So how did I get here?

I don’t recall ever being concerned about what I was going to do or how I was going to do it. I never had any great dreams of what my life was to be or not be. I have always been looking at where I was and what I could do in a relatively short time horizon, say around 5 years. The important thing is that I also don’t recall people around me saying “you cant do that”. I was lucky to have parents who encouraged me to study without ever telling me what to study. The first house I lived in in Ferryhill had an outside toilet but I don’t recall seeing anything wrong with that it was just as it was. I went on from there to go to a comprehensive school in Newton Aycliffe the year after it converted from a “secondary modern” so missed Grammar school by a year. School was ok, I wasn’t brilliant but got by and came out with decent O levels but poor A levels. I had the option to go to University but chose to get a job and had “Day Release” which allowed me one day off each week to go to college and study, after 4 years I lost day release and moved to night classes and 2 years later I qualified as an Accountant. A few years later and I was Financial Director. Then in 2016 the company had changed ownership and I was made redundant which kick started a change of direction and after being elected as a local councillor twice which really opened my eyes to the local world around me, I then stood for parliament and I am now the MP for Sedgefield.

I arrived where I am as a result of some key factors starting with a supportive family and role models who believed in hard work but importantly left me to choose my own direction. I saw it natural to study and apply myself at work and was lucky enough to work for decent companies.

I recognise that although I have benefited from my own application and hard work I was given a platform from which this could generate results without which the same application might not have produced the same results. In my new world I can see clearly that there are many who could work harder than me and not get results but also many that don’t have the role models that would show them the way.

I said in campaigning that I would listen to the people of Sedgefield and that is what I intend to do. One thing I hear loud and clear is that of the need to improve opportunities. I am learning as to how to do that but however it is achieved the result has to be an increase in social mobility and will almost certainly require investment in economic and social infrastructure to stimulate aspiration from which opportunities can then be grasped.