Mr Atkinson was chosen to contest the seat for Labour after predecessor Julie Elliott decided to stand down at the General Election.
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00:00Lewis Atkinson is the new elected MP for Sunderland Central, congratulations, first week, how's it gone?
00:06Yeah it's gone well, it's been really busy but it's an honour doing the job and being able to get my head around
00:12exactly how I'm going to get a grip to things and deliver for the people of Sunderland Central.
00:16So what's your background, what's your hinterland?
00:19My background, well I grew up here or hereabouts in East Bolton and long family background in Sunderland.
00:28I think during the election campaign, actually one of the unseen things about campaigning is you hear from so many people knocking on doors
00:35it's a real reminder about what matters to local residents and what they want you to be working on if you do get elected.
00:41There's a sense that the Labour Party, the Labour government is very keen to hit the ground running, what do you think the priority is going to be?
00:46Well I think for the government overall, economic stability and growth is absolutely number one.
00:51I think we all were hit by a few years ago when Liz Trust crashed the economy.
00:55We can't have interest rates bouncing up and down all over the place anymore for household finances
01:01but also for the private sector investment that you can see starting to come into Sunderland.
01:05The way we can continue that and accelerate it is by keeping national economic conditions really positive.
01:12So that's what we're doing, I think making really rapid progress as far as we can on NHS access.
01:18I was delighted to see West Street in open negotiations with the British Dental Association about a new dental contract.
01:24People in Sunderland know that NHS dentistry is broken here.
01:29I've written to the local NHS this week to say just that and to seek a meeting to discuss what we can do to improve that as quickly as possible.
01:37So I think we have hit the ground running nationally and that's what I've done in my first week as a local MP as well.
01:43A lot of people I know you were saying on the doorstep have the attitude that all politicians are the same.
01:48What would you say to them?
01:50Well I'd say that we're rightly judged on delivery.
01:53Labour hasn't been in government for 14 years.
01:56I think people are realistic that they don't expect miracles to be worked overnight
02:00and that they know the country's being left in a mess by the Tories.
02:04But we need to deliver.
02:06In 2010 you could get an NHS dentist in Sunderland, now you can't.
02:11In 2010 it took you about 18 weeks if you needed an operation at the Royal.
02:16Now it's more like 18 months.
02:18In 2010 you'd be seen within A&E in about four hours and now it's longer.
02:23So governments do change things but they haven't got a magic wand.
02:29But it's that hard work and I suppose just dedication and teamwork.
02:32I think one of the things I've really been struck with this week by the amount of new Labour MPs, big new intake,
02:39is what that sense of teamwork and working together is,
02:42not just constantly fighting internally against each other.
02:45I think that will allow us to do a lot more than maybe the previous government was able to.