I want to wish everybody a very Happy New Year and I hope that 2024 brings you everything you are hoping for.
It’s likely that we will also have a General Election this year. My bet would be that this is in the Autumn, but we will see. Having spent four years now as the Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw I can say that it has truly been the honour of my life and whilst it an incredibly challenging role, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.
When I was first elected, it was following a wave of optimism and to ‘Get Brexit Done’. I was enthused by the pledge to Level Up this country and it was my hope that Bassetlaw, ignored for generations and suffering from years of neglect and underinvestment would turn the corner. What nobody expected was to spend the next two years fighting a pandemic and the huge damage that this did not only to the economy, but also the national mood.
A lot has happened since then, including the war in Ukraine and other global factors, but whilst we have had challenges with the cost of living and inflation, things are now finally looking up. We have halved inflation, interest rates will soon start coming down again and we can finally start giving working people the tax cuts they deserve.
Despite the changing nature of the world and what has gone on nationally, one thing that we have managed to achieve regardless is securing Bassetlaw the funding that was promised. A £17.6million A&E and Children’s Ward upgrade to our hospital, tens of millions for our town centres and the internationally significant STEP nuclear fusion project at West Burton, which will bring highly-paid and skilled jobs to our region for generations to come. I also want to see the Environment Agency spending some of the money I secured for them to use for flood defences.
Rishi Sunak himself came to Worksop to see this investment and it was great to hear him speaking to local people and taking questions at Café Neo. Bassetlaw has never had so much investment and so much attention from national politicians. In this time we have also had visits from the Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Environment Secretary. People are finally giving us the attention we deserve.
I hope in my four years as your MP so far I have demonstrated that when I ask for something I get it. I will make sure I continue to serve you this way in 2024
