For my final column of the year I want to first thank everyone I’ve had the opportunity to meet over the last six months since I was elected as your MP.
I’ve crammed in as many meetings and visits to local businesses, schools, charities and community groups as possible. I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors at my street surgeries and met hundreds of people at my advice surgeries and public meetings. Thanks to all of you for taking the time to meet with me, sharing your stories, your concerns and your ideas about how we can build a better future for our community.
It has been the greatest honour of my life to wake up every day and go to work for you to try to deliver that better future we deserve. The government has faced some tough challenges – challenges that were ducked by the previous government – and I know not everyone is happy with some of the choices that have been made. But these choices were made with the aim of restoring economic stability and investing in working people, our crumbling infrastructure and our broken public services – making people better off and rebuilding our country.
Our Plan for Change, which I wrote about last week, is your way of holding me and the government to account for delivering on these priorities over the next few years and I’m determined to repay your faith in me by getting results for West Cumbria.
I want to highlight a few specific things I was very proud to see the government deliver in the final days before Christmas. Record investment in our hospices to improve end of life care; giving veterans priority for social housing so no one who served our country ends up on the streets; £1 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping; more money for councils and neighbourhood policing; and tough new laws to hold water company bosses to account for spewing filth into our waterways. Change promised and change delivered by this government.
My office has now dealt with more than 3,000 cases since the election and we’ve been able to help many people with a range of issues, from successfully securing welfare and pension credit to chasing up hospital test results and getting streetlights fixed and potholes filled. My office is now closed for the holidays but my team and I will be checking e-mails and ensuring any urgent issues are picked up. We’ll be back full time from 6th January ready to keep working for you and you can get in touch and see my programme of public events up to April next year on my website at joshmacalister.uk/meetjosh
I’m looking forward to some time off over the next couple of weeks with my family and my dogs and I hope you are able to enjoy some down time too with your loved ones. I wish each and every one of you a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.
Josh MacAlister MP 