The Honour Of My Life
It has been the honour of my life to have been the Member of Parliament for Ipswich over the past four and a half years.
We’ve been through a lot. Who would have thought that only a few months after my election we would be plunged into a global pandemic. We’ve also seen the biggest war in mainland Europe since the second world war break in in Ukraine. And of course we also saw the passing of Her Late Majesty the Queen.
Over the course of the last Parliament me and my excellent team have done our best to support the tens of thousands of Ipswich residents who have contacted us asking for support on a range of issues. All in all we’ve sent over 32,737 emails and 5,175 letters to individual Ipswich residents. In Parliament I’ve made over 250 spoken interventions and have tabled 273 written questions.
I’m pleased with some of the wins I’ve achieved. We secured £25 million from the Government for a 10 different projects across the Town. Though progress on these projects has been slower than I would have liked we have seen and continue to see delivery on the ground. From the Health and Social Care Academy at the University, the conversion of the Old Post Office Building to the Botanist and investment in our shopping parades.
We’ve education we’ve seen two new special schools. Ipswich being part of the Education Improvement Programme that brought in extra investment. A new Sustainable Construction centre and Tech Centre at Suffolk New College and changes at a national level to ensure that all newly qualified teachers have a greater understanding of all types of learning disability.
On health in only a few months time we will see the opening of a new A and E Department at Ipswich Hospital and brand new unique NHS Dental Centre on the Ipswich Waterfront that will carry out up to 18,000 hours a year of NHS Dental appointments.
On transport I led the moves for a variable speed limit to be introduced on the Orwell Bridge. This has significantly cut the number of times the bridge closes. We’ve also ensured that funding is re directed from HS2 to fund Haughley junction and Ely North rail projects.
On Policing we’ve seen over 200 extra Police officers across Suffolk and a boost to police presence in the Town via the Shared Prosperity Fund and the Safer Streets Fund.
Locally I’m pleased with some of the wins we’ve secured in supporting key local organisations and sports clubs. I was involved in helping secure funding boosts to Ipswich Wanderers Football Club, Ipswich BMX Club and the Murrayside Community Centre.
However there is so much more to do and that is why I’m asking for your vote at the forthcoming General Election. Sadly there’re significant issues with the Town centre and it’s wrong that so many Ipswich residents are shunning their own Town centre and don’t feel safe and comfortable when visiting. We need a zero tolerance approach to tackling this.
On immigration I’ve been one of the most vocal MPs in Parliament. I published a 10 point plan calling for major reductions to legal migration. The Prime Minister has adopted many of my proposals. I ensured the Novotel was one of the first hotels in the country to be returned to its regular use having been used as an asylum hotel. I’m very clear that we need to leave the European Court of Human Rights to help us deal robustly with illegal migration and also commit to a cap to keep control of legal migration.
I was very honoured to be appointed the Chair of the SEND Group in Parliament a few months ago and work on Special Educational Needs is very close to my heart and something I’d like to continue.
I hope to see you out and about across Town over the next month and I will be sending you many emails to update you with what I’ve been up to.