Labour will sort out backlog and put patients at core of NHS.



When my constituent Adam (his name has been changed to protect his privacy) asked for an appointment with a doctor, he was made to wait three months. At the consultation he was told he needed a full hip replacement and that he would have to wait another nine months for a surgery date. Six months later, he called the hospital to ask when that date might be. The hospital told him that he would have to wait a further twelve months.

The announcement that Go North East will scale back bus services across the North East is utterly predictable.  When central government fails to provide proper funding for bus services, companies are forced to cut back on vital bus routes because they are unviable to run.  It makes a mockery of levelling up and leaves behind the communities that need public transport the most.

Echo Column: Office closure makes it clear levelling-up rhetoric is hollow.

A child’s access to healthy food should not be quibbled over.



I wish to express my utter and complete condemnation for Vladimir Putin and his administration as it wages an invasion in Ukraine, killing innocent civilians and wounding many more. I have been working closely with colleagues to ensure that the Government offers the best route to asylum for Ukrainian refugees fleeing their homes as their brave soldiers repel the Russian invaders.

But, closer to home, this week I raised the issue of regional food inequality in Parliament.

You can read Sharon's latest Echo column below, or on the Sunderland Echo Website



Inflation is at the highest level that it has been in three decades, food costs are soaring, and fuel bills could increase by another 50% in the next few months. We are in a cost of living crisis.

You can read Sharon's latest Echo column below, or on the Sunderland Echo Website




One hundred and fifty thousand Britons have died of coronavirus,
and this could be as high as 175,000 if the 28-day marker is not used.

You can read Sharon's latest Echo column below or on the Sunderland Echo Website

We must work internationally to stop the spread of Covid-19.

I would like to take the time to express my thanks for the hard work and dedication of our country’s NHS staff, like those working hard at the Nightingale vaccination hub, and the wider scientific community for the vaccination efforts that are saving lives this winter. It is because of these heroes that life has been allowed to return to some sense of normality.

You can read Sharon's latest Echo column below or on the Sunderland Echo Website.

This has been Tory sleaze and they will never learn.

It has been 31 years since John Major assumed control of the Conservative party but once again an old word has returned to haunt British politics, ‘Sleaze’.

You can read Sharon's latest Echo column below or on the Sunderland Echo Website

On climate change, we need Britain to lead by example.

The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, will take place this month in Scotland.

It will be the largest summit ever hosted by the United Kingdom, with over 30,000 delegates. After the 2015 Paris Agreement established that we must limit climate change to an increase of 1.5°C, COP26 attendees in Glasgow will look to establish ‘how’ we achieve that limit, perhaps over haggis, neeps and tatties.

They will have a lot to consider.

You can read Sharon's latest Echo Column below or on the Sunderland Echo website.

Britain’s social care system is on its knees

A decade of Conservative and Lib-Dem rule has seen a generation of older people struggle to access the care they both need and deserve.  Years of neglect have brought about high employee turnover, low pay and chronic funding shortages which plague the sector.  It is no exaggeration to say that the Conservatives are the party of levelling down.