Tuesday, 2 January 2024

Newspaper Column 1st January 2024 - Happy New Year!

I hope everyone across Truro and Falmouth had a great New Year.

I am back at work this week and with Christmas Recess ending on Friday, will return to Parliament where it will be back to the business of delivering the Government’s legislative programme while ensuring the voices of everyone living and working in Truro and Falmouth is heard.

2023 was another challenging year, what with the continued pressures on our costs of living caused by Russia’s war with Ukraine, and the lingering affects of the virus.

The Government, which I am proud to be a part of, is making progress – inflation has fallen by more than 50%, we continue to see record levels of employment, and the numbers of illegal immigrants coming via small boats across the channel has fallen by a third.

As I outlined last week, the Government met its Manifesto commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers and we now have a record number in Devon and Cornwall Police. The Government has also delivered the additional 50,000 nurses promised in 2019 and we are working hard to continue to provide record levels of funding to our NHS.  

Looking forward to this new year, this week I want to focus on some of the measures the Government is taking to help working people

In January National Insurance will be cut for working people, while in April all full-time workers on the National Living Wage will get a pay rise of over £1,800 a year. That will end low pay in this country, delivering on another manifesto promise.

As a working mum myself, I know that childcare is one of the biggest costs facing working households, which is why we want to make it cheaper and more accessible, to reduce the barriers preventing some parents from going back to work.

Hundreds of thousands more working parents will be supported through an extension of the free childcare on offer, more than doubling the current support in place. This will help mums in particular to stay in work and keep the economy growing.

From April 2024, working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare. From September 2024, 15 hours of free childcare will be extended to all children from the age of nine months. From September 2025, working parents of children under the age of five will be entitled to 30 hours free childcare per week.

This staggered approach will give childcare providers time to prepare for the changes, ensuring there are enough providers ready to meet demand.

As your Member of Parliament I will continue to do all I can to deliver on action like this for working people, as part of this Conservative Government, as we head into 2024 and beyond.

As always, I am fully focused on the job at hand and if there is ever anything at all I can do to help, then please do not hesitate to contact me. Please get in touch with me by email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, or by telephone on 01872 229698. My regular constituency advice surgeries are held in a covid-safe environment at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me about any matters that I can be of assistance with.

 

 

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