Lizzi Collinge on Tim Farron partnership and Cumbria work

The Labour representative for Morecambe and Lunesdale has been reflecting on her first 50 days in office, which has been more about getting to grips with the job rather than working with the public as much as she might have liked.

The new MP meeting with Westmorland and Furness Council last week (Image: Lizzi Collinge)

But, whilst setting up her office has been the main task at hand, that has not stopped Lizzi from venturing into south Cumbria, including work in Kirkby Lonsdale, Dent, and Burton-in-Kendal.

Read more: General Election: New MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale | The Westmorland Gazette

Speaking exclusively to the Westmorland Gazette, she said: "It's been a fantastic start to my time as an MP, if a little tiring!

"I had four weeks in Westminster to begin with, and it felt really special to be a part of the process as this new Labour government established itself."

Lizzi met with United Utilities representatives in Burton to discuss recurring water outages (Image: Lizzi Collinge)

Closer to home, one of Lizzi's main points of focus has been working with other MPs in the area, particularly Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat representative for Westmorland and Lonsdale.

Last month, the two politicians signed a joint letter to highlight the 'accident blackspot' at Junction 37 on the M6, which has claimed two lives in the past 13 months.

"It obviously covers a large part of Tim's constituency, but the issue has affected the likes of Sedbergh, which is why I got involved," Lizzi explained.

"We both believe that the signage needs to be reviewed because people aren't realising that they need to stop at the junction, which has caused all these incidents."

Read more: Morecambe and Lunesdale MP presents plans for constituency | The Westmorland Gazette

One of the joys for Lizzi in her first 50 days as an MP has been exploring new parts of her constituency, inviting a new colleague to visit Cumbria, who was 'ultimately blown away by the beauty of the area'.

One of Lizzi's 'great days' as an MP was voting to nationalise railways in Britain (Image: Lizzi Collinge)

It has been the art of building her team, however, that has presented the most arduous challenge to her fledgling time in office.

"People don't realise this, but MPs are solely responsible for hiring their own team - I even had 137 applications for one job that I had to personally go through.

"It's a lot like setting up a small business in my view, and it means I haven't been able to carry out as many surgeries as I might have liked.

"But once that work is fully completed, I'm going to be better positioned to help the people relying on me, so these first 50 days have set me up really well."