It is now just over one year since my election as the Member of Parliament for Truro and Falmouth. The 12th of December marked one year exactly since our landslide victory at the polls, giving us our greatest majority since 1987. Being one of the 109 Members of Parliament from the 2019 intake, I can assure you, this year has been nothing short of a whirlwind. A roller-coaster ride but one but I do not want to get off; I am loving every second and, despite the difficult year, life will get better.
As you will recall, we were elected with the mandate to Get
Brexit Done. We got Brexit done on 31st December 2019 and we remain committed
to getting Brexit done. Come 1st January 2021, the transition period will have
ended and the next chapter in our rich history will commence. Britain is ready
and open for business.
As if dealing with Brexit was not a big enough issue, two
months later our country, and rest of the world, was turned on its head with
the COVID-19 pandemic taking centre stage. The pandemic has caused such great
damage not just to our country, but to every other nation in the world. It has
caused heartache, financial harm, and has ultimately forced the Government to
use legislation which has been intrusive in our way of life, changing how we
act as a nation – something no Government in this country wants to do,
especially a Conservative one. For every decision that has been made, the
health and wealth of our nation has been at the forefront. The Prime Minister
continues to have my full and unequivocal support and I have nothing but
admiration for how he has dealt with this pandemic. Overall, because of the
actions of this Government, we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel,
particularly with the fantastic news about the vaccine. As we ease out of
lockdown and introduce the mass roll-out of the vaccine, other countries are
facing their biggest COVID case rises and deaths since this all began.
Individuals at the highest risk are now being contacted to
be vaccinated by the approved vaccine. If you are contacted and offered the
vaccine, I urge you to take up this offer.
Throughout the year, my team have worked alongside me to
ensure the people of Truro and Falmouth are represented. I am so proud of my
team and so grateful for all their hard work. This really is a team effort and
my team have been beside me every step of the way. To Jordan, James, Karen,
Ruth, Huw and Jack – thank you. In this year alone, my office has received over
20,000 emails and we have helped over 9,000 individual constituents with their
issues and concerns. A mammoth effort by all account and is far higher than a
normal year in Parliament.
As well as standing up for our constituency in Parliament, I
continue to be in the constituency at every given opportunity, working hard on
the ground securing investment and working with local businesses and
organisations.
In addition to the high volume of casework, in my first year
as your Member of Parliament I have successfully secured over £260 million in
Government funding for Truro and Falmouth. This includes the commitment of the
funding for a new Woman and Children’s Hospital at Treliske, a new school,
further progress on dualling of the A30, funding for the Hall for Cornwall
development, funding for active travel infrastructure, Cornish railway upgrades
and much more. I am committed to ensuring that we have the levelled-up funding
in place to ensure that we can live, work, grow up and be successful in this
part of Cornwall.
As we approach the end of what has been turbulent 2020, we
must all be optimistic for the future. There is so much to look forward to in
the year to come, not just with the roll out of the vaccine and life slowly
getting back to normal, but also for events such as the Tall Ships Festival,
which is to returning to Falmouth as hosts in the summer of 2021, an event
which really does show the best of what Cornwall has to offer.
Since day one I committed myself to being your caring,
compassionate, constituency MP. Hopefully in my first year I have stuck true to
that.
Wishing all Truro Voice readers a very Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year.
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