As we embark on a new year, I wish you all joy, peace, and prosperity.
To say we have had an extraordinary 2020 would be an understatement. However, I don’t want to dwell on the difficulties and the losses, but actually the many blessings the pandemic showed us we have in our country.
A stable economy and public finances, which meant we could pay millions of people to stay at home and protect themselves. Strong communities which were able to look after their most vulnerable. A resilient health service with dedicated workers on the frontline and yes, our armed forces, supermarket workers, shopkeepers, post men, delivery drivers, teachers and so many others who kept food on our shelves, brought us parcels and medicine and kept the country going.
I am grateful to live in a country that has so much, and we must remind ourselves never to take these things for granted.
The Government has provided unprecedented support for local residents, businesses, charities, cultural and heritage sites in light of the difficulties we have faced, as well as increased funding for our local schools, hospitals and Essex Police, which were all part of our manifesto commitments.
We have also entered this year with a new relationship with the European Union. I am thrilled we reached this historic agreement on a trade deal. The deal achieves everything the Government promised in our manifesto, which I was elected on in 2019 as your local MP and delivers on the 2016 referendum result for our constituency.
Our local businesses now have certainty on our relationship with the EU, something I know was causing concern for them. The deal I voted for provides them with tariff and quota-free access to the EU single market, it means local farmers can continue to sell throughout the EU, we will no longer be subject to the EU Court of Justice and we regain our independence whilst maintaining a relationship with the EU on matters such as the environment and security.
The next few months will be challenging; however, I look forward to our country coming together and rebuilding as we begin to recover from the pandemic. The roll out of the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines are huge steps towards this and I am pleased they are being successfully rolled out across our constituency.
I wish you and all your families the very best for 2021.
