A full year has now passed year since my election as your Member of Parliament and from a political perspective it has been a unique and eventful year to say the least. In that time the issues which have affected us here have been many and varied as have the matters brought to my attention on a daily basis by the people of Rugby.
One of the first challenges of my role as your MP was to fight for the retention of a 24 hour service at the Hospital of St Cross. If I didn’t know it before I became an MP, I was certainly reminded within weeks how proud Rugby people are of our local hospital and the depth of feeling to maintain services was apparent to me immediately. I am pleased to say that we were able to keep round the clock medical services at the hospital and that the people of the town keep the services they demand and deserve.
Indeed, health has been a dominant issue over the past year both nationally and locally. My inbox has seen a steady intake of letters and emails both about individual cases and also about broader reforms to the health serviced. It is to the Government’s credit that it has listened to the British people and that a period of reflection and consultation on the NHS proposals is currently underway.
With the realisation of the terrible state of the nation’s finances and the deficit tackling measures being put in place to get the country back on to a stable financial footing it is perhaps understandable that financial concerns have been at the forefront of people’s minds. These concerns have ranged from the need for reform to the welfare system to concerns over state pensions. On such issues the Government has listened. Reform of the welfare system is underway with the introduction of a new Universal Credit and the Government is introducing a decent State Pension for future pensioners, which is easy for people to understand, efficient to deliver and affordable.
To date I have dealt with over 2300 issues raised by constituents on a wide range of issues and I hope that the level of service my team and I have provided to all of those people who have approached me has been of the highest standard. My role as your MP is to do all I can to help should the need arise and I would ask anyone who thinks I may be able to assist with an issue to get in touch and I will, of course, do all I can to help.