What's next for Shrewsbury's first female MP? Julia Buckley tells us about her plans after she swept into power at the General Election

Julia Buckley stormed to victory in the county town unseating long time Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski and was soon receiving messages to add to her councillor casework from her new constituents.

A miner's daughter from Selby, north Yorkshire, Dr Buckley said: "I was receiving lots of messages and started to get casework within the hour. One person needs help with a special needs child and another has a no-fault eviction.

"Working for the people of Shrewsbury is my top priority."

The town's first female MP has a bundle of issues at the top of her in-tray but she believes there will be very swift action to get to grips with appointments for doctors and dentists. Her own title of doctor is in politics from the University of Wolverhampton.

In the election she received 22,932 votes, putting her out of sight from Conservative Mr Kawczynski, with 11,577 votes.

She said Sir Keir Starmer's Government will get things moving as early as next week on releasing money to organise evening and weekend appointments at surgeries.

"I am sure we will be asking people to join us from the private sector to help us," she said. "Keir will be shortening the parliamentary summer holidays so we can sit and pass legislation.

"We will be delivering things that save lives in the first 100 days."

Mrs Buckley, who is married to John with two children, a teenager and an 11 year old, went to a thank you gathering for helpers at the Buttermarket on Saturday before attending an event for one of her children.

She is keen to maintain a level of privacy for her family but says her younger child has autism and has memorised the election results.

"He is very talented," she said. "He learned the periodic table when he was six."

Tomorrow she is off to Westminster to start the process of becoming an MP, including getting a parliamentary email address.

But she revealed while she has already resigned as leader of Shropshire Council's Labour group she will be staying on as councillor for Bridgnorth West and Tasley until the family moves to Shrewsbury.

"I will carry on supporting Bridgnorth residents when I am back in the town," she said.

Labour's new offices in Shrewsbury's Wyle Cop are set to be staffed in the autumn and expanded to help the new MP with her constituency work.

Mrs Buckley's roots are in the mining communities of North Yorkshire.

She said: "My dad was made redundant in 1987 at the age of 63. My mum was a physics teacher and when she went to work my dad had to do the ironing.

"John will be doing the ironing now!"

She vowed never to take a second job and has essentially been a full time politician since becoming a county councillor in 2021.

"I spent the last year campaigning every day in Shrewsbury," she said.

During her election speech in the early hours of Friday Mrs Buckley said: "There is no magic wand, but the Labour party has a laser focus on what it will take to get Britain's future back. Keir Starmer is realistic about the scale of the challenge we face and the practical common sense steps we will take to fix them.

"We are focused on the priorities of working people, we will fight for economic security, cheaper bills, safer streets, our long-standing NHS, secure borders, and better opportunities for our young people.

"I believe that politicians and politics should serve people. I promise I will serve with hard work, determination and a single minded focus on what is best for Shrewsbury."

Dr Buckley has also highlighted making the river Severn "safe and clean" working to increase public transport making "safer streets in our town centre and local villages."

From 1997 she was a policy advisor in regional development funding at te European Parliament where she worked for two years from 1997 and has a qualification in French.

Before becoming a councillor she worked for 17 years as an external funding officer at the City of Wolverhampton Council from 2004 to 2021.