The starting gun has been fired on a summer general election and this is my last column as an MP ahead of the dissolution of Parliament. It is the greatest honour of my life to represent the people of Monmouthshire and it would be a privilege to continue.

 

I have been the MP since 2005 and I have always worked hard by holding regular advice surgeries and campaigning on a range of local issues, such as:

  • Opposing a 7.8 per cent council tax hike by Labour-run Monmouthshire County Council and pressing for a fairer funding settlement.
  • Uniting with the agricultural community in anger and frustration at policy plans that would require farmers across Wales to give up 20 per cent of their land for tree planting and other schemes.
  • Speaking out for motorists after a Labour council report suggested reintroducing tolls on the Severn bridges.
  • Lobbying on behalf of worried patients against the overnight closure of the minor injury unit at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny.
  • Supporting local traders facing higher business rates because of the Welsh Labour Government’s failure to pass on rate relief.
  • Backing parents wanting local school places.
  • Helping to get the £35m scheme for a cleaner River Wye.

I have never been afraid to speak my mind. In 2017, I was the first MP to publicly speak about the need for single-sex spaces and the impact trans activism has had on children. I faced abuse and threats, but my concerns were completely vindicated by the Cass Review.

 I have been assiduous in holding the Welsh Labour Government to account on:

  • The default 20mph speed limit which, according to the Welsh Government’s own analysis, is going to hit the economy by billions.
  • The decision to force health boards to make cuts of over £60m while spending £120m on creating extra politicians in Cardiff Bay.
  • The new First Minister’s decision to accept a donation of £200,000 from an environmental firm owner convicted of dumping waste in the Gwent Levels.
  • £1,600 monthly payments of taxpayers’ money being handed out by the Welsh Labour Government to some asylum seekers.

 As a UK Government minister, I was pleased to support economic policies which have brought down inflation from over 11 per cent to just 2.3 per cent. I strongly support the move to save lives in the English Channel by removing people to Rwanda if they come to the UK illegally. I will continue to support affordable tax cuts.

 I am excited to hit doorsteps across the constituency and look forward to meeting as many people as possible before the country goes to the polls on Thursday 4 July.