New MP says RAF Scampton is foremost on his agenda

Hamish Falconer won the seat for Labour by 8,793 votes

The new Labour MP for Lincoln, Hamish Falconer has said the issue of RAF Scampton being used to house asylum seekers will be one of the first things on his agenda.

The new MP said he will head down to parliament for the first time on Sunday.

Mr Falconer said people had told him “almost everything” had got worse over the last 14 years and he was going to “try to turn things around for Lincoln”.

Mr Falconer won the seat by 8,793 votes, pushing Conservative Karl McCartney into second place.

Ballot boxes arriving at the Lincoln count on Thursday night

On social media, he thanked people who had already been in touch with him, and said he was “in the process of setting up my office”, while waiting for an official email address.

The new MP is the son of Charlie Falconer; the Lord Chancellor in Tony Blair’s government. Hamish Falconer has previously worked in the UK’s government Department for International Development, and in the Foreign Office.

When the BBC asked him if he was hoping to get a junior role in government, he replied “I am here to serve Lincoln”.

He said the prime minister had put together an “absolutely brilliant cabinet” but added “I have not even got a lanyard in the post, let alone thinking about ministerial jobs or anything like that".

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