We have seen some wonderful local events over the bank holiday weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, bringing our community together for street parties, beacon lighting, parades, and a very uplifting service of thanksgiving at Chichester Cathedral.
I was pleased to be able to join in and to reflect on the dedication and devotion the Queen has shown to our country for so much of her life. The Queen, and her 70 years of public service, are remarkable and something we are unlikely to ever see again.
This week a number of us marked our five-year anniversary as MPs. Serving our local area over these past few years has been the greatest honour of my life. That said, it’s not always been a smooth ride as we have faced, and continue to face, some unprecedented and extremely difficult times, and we must now rebuild our country.
Arriving in June 2017, Parliament was in turmoil after an election result which made it impossible to pass legislation to leave the EU smoothly. A snap election saw our Prime Minister secure a large majority which assured the UK’s departure from the EU. A few weeks later, Covid-19 began to spread across Europe. Almost overnight my casework increased sixfold as new restrictions, rules, and regulations came in. We handled masses of correspondence and calls around access to food, medicine, and financial assistance. On top of this, there was huge amounts to do to help our local services deliver our world leading vaccination programme.
Still living with covid, we’re now confronted with war on the European continent after decades of peace. As we all know, the two combined are having far-reaching impacts at home and abroad.
No one day as a Member of Parliament is ever the same; whether securing ventilators for St Richard’s, helping a homeless family find a permanent home, or supporting hundreds of Ukrainian people with their visa applications. I couldn’t do what I do without my fantastic team so I want to say a big thank you to them - and to all of you, who elected me to represent you.
