Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Newspaper Column 28th May 2024 - The General Election

It is a privilege to have been your Member of Parliament. It gave me the ability to fight for the issues that we, as Conservatives, care about here in Cornwall.

Locally, we’ve delivered on my promise to be approachable and hard-working. My office have helped nearly 50,000 constituents and counting. There are success stories all around, from the re-opening of the Hall for Cornwall with government funding, to UK Infrastructure Bank’s investment in Cornish Lithium to revive our mining industry, the near-complete A30 dualling and many smaller issues like the saving of St Mawes Pharmacy or successfully opposing the imposition of the Gerrans Bay Seaweed Farm.

I am so proud we are building our new Women & Children’s Hospital at Treliske, due to open in 2028. It will have maternity, paediatrics, obstetrics & gynaecology and neonatal facilities. This is Levelling-Up in action and a serious step to increasing the healthcare capacity for Cornwall.

Nationally, those successes are many. Those that I am most proud of include recruiting 20,000 new police officers since we pledged to do so in 2019. 600 of those new officers are on the streets of Devon & Cornwall right now. We have been there when people needed us, most memorably with the Furlough scheme which prevented destitution for many as the economy ground to a halt with Covid. People forget, because of the freedoms of Brexit and the decisive action of the Conservative government, Britain had the world’s first Covid vaccine programme which saved lives and returned us quickly to normal life.

We have supported Ukraine to fend off Russian aggression and we have increased our defence spending to 2.5% of GDP. We are responsibly handling the economy, with inflation down towards the 2% target, which allows us to make the tax cuts we all want starting with 4% off National Insurance. Vitally, we have finally passed the Safety of Rwanda Bill, in the teeth of fierce opposition from Labour and the other minor parties. We should see flights taking off in the near future, which should play a key part in stopping the boats.

On a personal note, part of the reason I came into politics was because of the grief of losing my daughter, Lily, whilst still unborn. I feel there is still a huge taboo around discussing baby loss and there simply isn’t enough support for families who lose children in the womb.

Given my own experiences, I was incredibly proud to champion the government’s 2024 Pregnancy Loss Review, which made 73 recommendations to help families losing children before 24-weeks gestation. Importantly, this included registration and issue of a “Baby Loss Certificate” for children lost before 24-weeks pregnancy as a recognition of a life lost, to give comfort to parents at their lowest point.

But there is much more to do and I am seeking to be re-elected on 4 July to continue my positive and proactive work for the good people of Truro and Falmouth locally, as well as part of part of a Conservative Government that has delivered for Cornwall time and time again.

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