The new MP for Gateshead Central and Wickham has paid tribute to his local Jewish community in his first-ever speech to Parliament.

Mark Ferguson, the MP for the newly created seat, said he was “proud to represent” a “thriving Jewish community.”

His constituency in the northeast of England contains most of Gateshead’s Charedi community of around 8,000 people – the third largest in the UK.

During his maiden speech, Ferguson praised local schools and educational establishments, including Gateshead Talmudical College, the oldest Yeshiva in the country founded in 1929 and he described it as “the foundation from which Gateshead gained its reputation as the Oxbridge of the Jewish world.”

The new MP, who served as a trade union officer for Unison prior to his election on July 4, said he was proud of his previous work, which he said contributed to measures unveiled in the new Employment Rights Bill – including plans to ban exploitative zero-hours contracts and end the practice of “fire and rehire” – which was part of the package of legislation announced in the King’s Speech.

He told MPs, “In places like my community where people work hard, all too often, pay isn’t what it should be,” and that the new legislation “will change lives.”

He added, “Work is key to the people of Gateshead and Wickham, we are working people, never shy of work, proud of what we do for work, but all too often in search of skilled work and better pay and too often forced to live in poverty.”