Suffolk Coastal MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter opens office in Felixstowe

An MP has opened a physical office in the heart of a town to show she is proud to represent residents.

Exactly a year since being elected as Labour MP for Suffolk Coastal, the first in the constituency’s history, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter announced the opening of her new office in the heart of Felixstowe, in 137 Hamilton Road.

She said the office, opened alongside Cllr Corrine Franklin, the Mayor of Felixstowe, was a way for residents to know she is there to represent them.

Ms Riddell-Carpenter said: “I never wanted to shy away from being a constituency-dedicated MP, and I want people to know they can access me.

“This visible office is another part of people being able to see how they can get support and reach out.

“I’m here and I’m proud of it.”

Reflecting on her time as MP, Ms Riddell-Carpenter said it had been a busy year, both locally and in Parliament.

In May, she released her own report into the crisis facing children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in her constituency, a topic she promised ‘never to stop harping on about’.

She will be pushing for primary schools with increasing capacity, as a result of dwindling pupil numbers, to be able to set up separately-funded SEND units to accommodate demand.

She said she felt lucky to be within a community which supported her work regardless of their political opinion.

“It’s not about politics,” she added, “it’s about representation.”

“For me, this feels like such a personal mission – I grew up here and, to come back and represent it, as the first Labour MP, is always a pinch-me moment.”

The opening of the office will not impact Ms Riddell-Carpenter’s roaming surgeries and village coffee mornings, as she promised to reach every corner of her constituency.