Burnley's new Labour MP Oliver Ryan talks about his first 50 days in parliament

Mr Ryan, who defeated sitting Conservative MP Antony Higginbotham at the general election in July, became one of the youngest new MPs aged just 29.

Speaking from his campaigning office in Manchester Road before a move to a permanent new office around the corner in Hargreaves Street, Mr Ryan didn’t mince his words when he said his number one priority would be to break the “generational cycle of worklessness” that had gripped some Burnley families.

Indeed, it will be the central tenet of his maiden speech in parliament, which the new MP is expecting to make later this month.

He said: “Sadly in Burnley we have a real problem of generational poverty, families who are trapped in a cycle of worklessness. These can be young bright people who just can’t access the world in a way others can.

“This is also linked to youth unemployment, which in Burnley is higher than the national average. I want to break this cycle.

“The first substantive contribution you make in the House is your maiden speech, typically it’s uninterrupted and lets you speak about a particular issue. I want to raise generational economic inactivity, which too often means local people aren’t interacting with the economy. Their kids go on to experience the same thing and I think it locks people out socially as well as economically.

“It may not be front page news but it’s the stuff that changes people’s lives over the long-term. I want to convince the government to do more to get people back into work and training.”

The new MP also gave us a glimpse of the inside workings in Westminster, with its system of bells for votes and how it was all a bit like going back to school.

“Starting as a first-time MP has been a bit like your first time in school,” he said.

“You get given a backpack with a huge bunch of procedures and rules, you’re sworn in and then sent back out to your constituency. It’s all quite daunting but exciting at the same time.”

Describing the Houses of Parliament as being very grand on the outside, but in need of some TLC on the inside, Mr Ryan revealed that his London office is based in Richmond House, the old Department of Health building, with bells in all the rooms to notify MPs when they need to get to the Commons in time for a vote.

“It’s quite an old-fashioned system really,” he added. “My office is about seven minutes away from the chamber, or a light jog! You can sometimes be at Westminster from 9am til 10pm Monday to Thursday depending on what’s going on.

“I’ve been inundated with correspondence and some 1,500 pieces of casework. Parliament looks like a big palace on the Thames, but essentially it’s an old fancy office block, not too dissimilar from Burnley Town Hall.

"The real work you do is based on conversations with ministers and civil servants about how we’re going to get things achieved for people in Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield.”