Read Sharon's latest Sunderland Echo column below or find the published column on the Sunderland Echo's website.

Since Parliament’s return, much of our time has been dominated by consideration of the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill.

This Bill has been forced through Parliament in order that the Government can continue their short-sighted strategy on housing which will only lead to a spiralling housing crisis.

On our first day back, MPs found the Government had shoe-horned in a vast number of amendments to the Bill, which saw MPs voting on amendments as late as 2am. These new amendments totalled over 60 pages – the largest number of amendments tabled that we have seen on a piece of legislation in recent Parliamentary history.

Despite these many amendments, they have yet to improve the Bill and help provide any affordable and adequate housing. Some of our main concerns with this Bill, included: the lack of support for families and young people aspiring to get on to the property ladder; the forced selling off of council and social housing stock, and; the failure to address the need for landlords to maintain their rental properties at a liveable standard for tenants.

Housing is an important part of any future infrastructure plans in the UK, and that is why it is vital that this Bill must be used to addresses the lack of affordable housing in the UK and so it doesn’t mean we only come back to these issues in later years finding more and more people are living in squalid, over-priced housing.

That is why it was deeply concerning when an amendment to the Bill was put forward that proposes to increase the threshold to be eligible for discount on starter homes to £450,000 in London and £250,000 outside of London.

As a former top civil servant at the Department for Communities and Local Government has said, this new definition of starter homes stretches the definition of affordable housing to breaking point.

Though Labour supports more home ownership, as was seen under the last Labour Government, it is concerning, as Shelter has found, that families on the Government’s new national living wage in 98% of local authorities would not be able to own a starter home, including many areas of the North-East. The Government’s new starter homes scheme will only help those on high-earning salaries and not those on low or middle incomes.

Again and again, the Government has shown that they do not understand the housing crisis we currently face and instead have pushed ahead with their ideological agenda which will not fix the situation, only make it worse.

Read Sharon's latest Sunderland Echo column below or find the published column on the Sunderland Echo's website.

With Christmas around the corner, we are all getting into the full swing of the festivities this holiday season has to offer by visiting extended family we don’t get to see during the rest of the year, celebrating the end of the year with neighbours and work colleagues or just simply cosying up with a classic festive movie with our nearest and dearest on a cold winter’s night.

In the battle of the Christmas adverts, John Lewis, this year in partnership with Age UK, may not have been the tear-jerker of previous years but it did pack a punch in highlighting an issue that many of us forget when surrounded by our loved ones during the festive season: loneliness. 

Loneliness can affect us all. This is more pertinent as we get older, with over one million older people saying they go without speaking to a friend, family member or neighbour for a month.

During the Christmas holidays, loneliness can be even harder to bear for older people who may have no loved ones around them with little, or no, festive celebrations to enjoy.

That is why it was so heart-warming to see one of the most high-profile and highly-anticipated adverts of the season highlight this important issue.

There is something we can all do this Christmas to support ending loneliness and end the perception that it is a normal part of ageing.

This includes putting pressure on the Government to consider loneliness as a public health problem that can be prevented and tackled.

If you support this, then you can sign Age UK’s petition on their website www.ageuk.org.uk/no-one

Tackling loneliness shouldn’t be just down to Government alone.

As individuals, we can do our own little bit to tackle loneliness, from a simple smile and a season’s greeting to an elderly neighbour you see walking down the street, to getting in touch with older relatives through a phone-call or a visit, or supporting our local Age UK here in Sunderland that works to help older people to enjoy the festive period.

That’s why when tucking into our dinner on Christmas Day or opening the next bottle of wine at the Christmas party, we must never forget those who will go lonely this Christmas and should pledge to do whatever we can, big or small, to make loneliness a thing of the past in 2016.

Read Sharon's latest Sunderland Echo column below or find the published column on the Sunderland Echo's website.

Cancer will sadly affect us all at one point in our life, may it be ourselves directly or a family member or friend.

That is why it is important that addressing cancer and improving services should always be at the top of any government’s agenda, as well as that of local NHS commissioners.

During my time as a Member of Parliament, I have campaigned for better access to treatment, screening and awareness of different cancers through my work as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ovarian Cancer and Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Breast Cancer.

That is why I was concerned when news reached me that Sunderland Royal Hospital had ceased all breast cancer treatment services in the City.

This has meant women from Sunderland battling breast cancer now must travel further afield to places like Gateshead, Newcastle or Durham to receive their on-going treatment.

The reason given for the closure of this vital service by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Hospital was down to patient safety concerns after they were left with no consultants to lead the service and two breast cancer nurses left for new jobs at other hospitals.

I know that this is an issue that women in Sunderland who are battling breast cancer, or have won their fight, feel strongly about after the ‘Save Our Service’ group was created to put pressure on Sunderland’s CCG and Hospital to reinstate this important service.

As Sunderland is the largest urban authority in the North-East, I feel it is only right that women in Sunderland should have a local breast cancer service that they can rely upon.

I wrote to both the head of Sunderland’s Clinical Commissioning Group and chief executive of Sunderland Royal Hospital’s Board, and also met with the Minister for Cancer, to highlight my concerns for the future of this service.

It is now clear after pressure was put on the CCG and the Hospital, that the service will now be reinstated by April 2016.

I will work closely with the Save Our Service Group, my fellow Sunderland MPs, the Clinical Commissioning Group and Sunderland Royal Hospital, to make sure this service is reinstated when promised, so women here in Sunderland receive the best service possible when it comes to treating breast cancer.