Politics is full of surprises and we have a General Election campaign to fight. It has taken a couple of days to really get to grips with the announcement of a 4th July poll but I am looking forward to making the case to have the honour of representing Winchester in parliament.
On the downside, I had to cancel a lot of really interesting meetings over the next six weeks. It is also a great sadness as Meon Valley - one of the best constituencies to represent - disappears at the end of next week. It has been a privilege to represent an area I love and know so well since my family moved here in 1986. I have met and worked with many amazing people and we have managed to help hundreds of people with various issues. Thank you so much for being so kind to me. My team and I have really appreciated all the emails and letters of thanks. It has made a huge boost to morale as we work incredibly hard. It is the best job in the world for making a difference to both individuals and the country at large.
As you may know, Meon Valley now divides into four, joining new constituencies so some of you will have new MPs at the next election. As I mentioned, I am standing in the new Winchester constituency that is taking in around 25% of Meon Valley.
I have been very proud of my record in achieving my plan for Meon Valley and for helping constituents navigate the pandemic and energy crisis following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It has been a turbulent four and half years but the resilience shown by the British people has been remarkable. In Westminster, we have put forward a large amount of legislation that has been life changing in many ways. Whether it has been the Environment Act to the Domestic Abuse Act, we have not stopped trying to improve lives. Locally I have pushed for a vision for Waterlooville and that is very much underway.
I have been determined in my dealings with Openreach and mobile companies to get faster broadband and that has been successful. I have managed to do something about the noisy motorbikes on the A32 and A272 with help from East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds and our PCC Donna Jones. There is always more to do and I hope that I will still be able to continue to achieve things after 4th July.
Before this parliament is dissolved, we have been putting through legislation on giving compensation to those who have been so badly infected by contaminated blood – a huge failure of the state. We have also exonerated those people caught up in the Post Office Scandal. Sadly, my own Bill for a register of children not in school now falls as does many other pieces of legislation.
I am very proud this Government has righted the wrongs of the past, Windrush, the Post Office and contaminated blood. These have all been around for many years but we put the inquiries into place and have sorted out the consequences. I hope that we will learn from the Covid Inquiry as to how to handle a pandemic in the future and that we have learned from the other mistakes.
Oh, the irony! I moved to a fabulous new office on Monday! I was also delighted to welcome more constituents to look around Westminster. The coach tour on 17th June will go ahead but without me at the end but I am afraid that I am not able to take anyone else around during the election period. If I am fortunate to be re-elected, I will, of course, continue to keep Monday mornings available for anyone that would like to come up.
On Tuesday, I met with a woman whose sister had died because of the online abortion pill to talk about my amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill which was asking that a doctor sees a woman before she takes the pills. She and I are disappointed Bill will no longer be going ahead and I hope this will come back after the election because having an abortion is a medical procedure and we need to know that it is safe to do so. Other meetings included one with Wine GB to make sure that labels accurately reflect the origins of the wine, i.e. British grown grapes and not imported ones. I also met a British UN worker who had just returned from Gaza and they gave us an update. It was a very sobering meeting and aid is not getting through.
I am looking forward to getting out on the doorstep over the next six weeks and listening to your views. Many of you will have already had that knock on the door over the last year and it is one of the best bits of the job, meeting people.
