As MPs return to parliament, let’s make sure Rishi Sunak’s expensive recovery schemes help those most in need

The top three things on the political agenda are a second wave of Covid-19, paying for the first wave of Covid-19 and Brexit

When lockdown first happened, the internet was full of images of nature taking back the Earth where people had vacated. We saw images of mountain goats in Welsh villages and deer on the lawns of southern English counties. This week as I shouted orders up the stairs to my children about school bags, PE kits and house keys, then headed to the office – sitting in the first traffic jam I have been in for months – it felt like we, the people, were the wildlife taking back the streets.

It felt giddy and hopeful in Birmingham as children rode their bikes to school in their (one time only) perfect uniforms. In Westminster, however, it feels pretty much business as usual.

As the new term of parliament starts, there are three main things that sit on the political agenda – a second wave of Covid-19, paying for the first wave of Covid-19 and the end of the rainbow that can never seem to be reached, Brexit. A year ago I would never have predicted that the latter would be playing second fiddle to pretty much everything else, but here we are.

Parliament is not back to normal. Still very few people are allowed on to the estate. The normal cross-party programme of discussions about all the issues under the sun and the meetings with charities, businesses and campaigners has not resumed. The rota of backbench debates about non-government business will not start up again and so the government, more so than normal, controls what happens there. With the three big-ticket items, there is a real risk that really important issues in people’s lives won’t get the attention they need.

After the summer’s exam debacle – which even now Gavin Williamson seems to have entirely dodged any responsibility for – surely parliament should be stretching every muscle to ensure that the kids in the new Year 11 and 13 have a fair system in place for when they sit their GCSEs and A-levels next year. Instead of him posing for pictures with a whip on his desk, someone should be whipping the Department for Education to be working cross party with teachers, unions and parents across the country to come up with a reasonable solution. I imagine what will actually happen is Williamson will spend all his time trying to keep his own job and we will have the exact same problem next summer.

Then there is the proper scrutiny of all of the Covid-19 recovery schemes. While everyone, myself included, has enjoyed a half-price dinner, there has been a huge amount of fanfare about the announcement of other schemes that must be combed over. The government seems to think that announcing things is the same as implementing them and that equals success. It does not.

The Kickstart Scheme which is intended to create job placements for young people through the economic downturn, for example, launched this week and is stating that employers have to take on a minimum of 30 placements to access it. Without attention to detail (something the government has failed at throughout the crisis) of how small businesses can access the scheme, or without scrutiny of how many genuine new jobs will be created with proper training support, there is a risk it will end up about as successful as the apprenticeship levy – not very.

So much has changed, so much has been announced, and it is without question the role of all working in Westminster for the next weeks and months is to ensure that what has been used to polish Rishi Sunak’s very expensive halo actually helps all those who need it, in every region of the UK.

Real nitty gritty governance is not a PR game, although done well it can be. Between now and Christmas, parliament must ramp back up to its full scrutiny role to make sure that the government realises that saying things and doing things are not the same and that we expect the best, not just the best looking.

Jess Phillips is the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding and Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley