“It’s been a year since I had the honour and privilege of being elected as the MP for Basildon and Billericay, and what a busy year it has been.
On the ground, I have been to see and listen to as many local organisations as humanly possible – from many of our local churches to schools for all ages and businesses of all size. I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting many of our charitable and community focused groups, alongside attending their fantastic events – including going to the Summerfest in Billericay.
Since becoming the local MP, I have received 12,153 emails from constituents alone asking for help or my view on national policy, and huge thanks goes to my team for helping me keep on top of all this correspondence. Whilst my main role as the MP is to be your national representative, there’s still plenty of casework to help constituents with on a daily basis. On my Facebook page, I share a weekly Good News Story, detailing a situation where I have helped a constituent. By sharing this, I can help encourage more people to get in touch for help, particularly when they are feeling stuck in a corner and not sure where to go next.
In Westminster, I’ve been hard at work launching several key parliamentary campaigns, including efforts to ban first cousin marriage and introduce licensing for animal shelters and rehoming centres, to prevent the tragic loss of life of animals. Both have already made promising progress, with bills introduced to the House of Commons and growing cross-party support. In June, I led a Westminster Hall debate on cousin marriage, and I continue to engage with Ministers and MPs from across the political divide to build momentum for these important reforms. I’ve also been pressing for new rules requiring police to alert organisations if someone with a child sex offence applies to work or volunteer, and for tighter checks on vehicle sales to stop untraceable cars causing chaos on our roads.
One of the highlights of my year actually took place outside Parliament, at Fenchurch Street Station, where I had the pleasure of hearing the Billericay Dementia Shed Choir sing their “Happy Shed Song” to passers-by on the 80th anniversary of VE Day. A great reminder that working in Parliament, at its heart, is about serving those who have put me here and representing my constituents wherever I go. It was also fantastic to see contactless payments for c2c in action, one of my campaign pledges from the election last year.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year, and I look forward to represent constituents over what I hope to be many years to come!”
