This week I met with my local MP and Attorney General Victoria Prentis. My intention was to ask her a variety of questions on local and national issues.

Victoria regards herself as firstly a lawyer and secondly a politician, holding the core values of truth and honesty in her work. She can’t shy away from difficult questions and strongly believes in the power of healthy debate and discussion, voicing that this isn’t encouraged enough in schools. As Attorney General she learns from the history of her predecessors and describes the role as “brilliant”. I asked her about balancing life with being a mum and a MP and she said that it has got easier since her children have got older. She feels for MPs with younger children and said they often have to base themselves in London and not in their constituencies. Victoria feels it’s important to live in her constituency, near her dad, sisters and where she grew up.

We discussed local issues, and I asked her about the decline of Banbury town centre. Because of online shopping Victoria says that town centres purposes have changed and in the future Banbury should include “more leisure activities and less shopping”. She also mentioned the fact that we should utilise the spaces above shops for accommodation and that “retail is not the only offer”. When asked about the 20 mph speed limits that have appeared around Oxfordshire, she stated that “broadly I cannot believe it’s necessary” although she does believe that they have their use around schools and residential homes.

Our discussion moved on to social media where I learnt that Victoria doesn’t manage her own social media and that “life is too short to look at comments”. She in fact didn’t allow her daughters to have smartphones until they were 15, taking a “hard lined” approach and “bribed them with the ability to have pets instead”. She wonders in 10 years’ time if we will think we must have been mad to give children a computer in their pocket at 11 which is effectively unsupervised. Victoria said that the Prime Minister is “acutely aware” of the issue as he has children of his own. Victoria also mentioned The Online Safety Bill stating that its still going through parliament and that there’s still a lot to do.

On the forthcoming general election Victoria says she’s hoping for a more stable period following a difficult time with Brexit, Covid and a lot of general elections. When asked about the future of the NHS, she is hopeful that in 50 years’ time we will still have healthcare available for everyone albeit it may look different or have a different name, her optimistic hope is that it will be able to do loads of things we haven’t dreamt of yet.

Overall, my interview with Victoria was fascinating and I learnt a lot about politics and how it affects people, and I was grateful for the time she spared to chat to me.