One Year On – we’ve achieved so much together

I don’t know if it’s having young children, but the years seem to fly by. This Friday marks one year since I was elected as your MP — the proudest moment of my life. Looking back, I’m struck by how much we’ve achieved together in just 12 months.

In our schools, we’ve launched free breakfast clubs in three local primaries, making sure children start the day ready to learn and parents can get to work. We’ve also extended free school dinners to all children on means-tested benefits — helping 3,000 children across High Peak and lifting many out of poverty.

We’ve taken urgent action to save our NHS, which was on the brink of collapse. By cutting waste and bureaucracy, we’ve been able to reinvest in frontline care. As a result, waiting lists are now at a two-year low, with four million extra appointments delivered.

On energy and the environment, we’ve launched GB Energy — a new, publicly owned energy company to invest in British renewables, cut bills, and reduce our reliance on tyrants like Putin. We’ve also banned bonuses for water company bosses who continue to pollute our rivers.

As someone who worked for a fuel poverty charity, I’m especially proud we’ve extended the Warm Home Discount — giving nearly 3 million of the poorest households an extra £150 to help with bills.

I was honoured to be part of the team that steered the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation through Parliament: banning fire and rehire, ending exploitative zero hours contracts, and making the lowest-paid eligible for sick pay for the first time.

A promise I made on the doorstep was free bus travel for local students going to college in Greater Manchester — and I’m proud to say we’ve delivered that, working with East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward.

Some of you will remember being told that if you elected me it would mean the Mottram Bypass would be scrapped. They were wrong. Just a few weeks ago, I was proud to break ground at the start of the works.

It already feels like a lifetime ago, but I made my maiden speech in Parliament on the Bill to renationalise our railways — a proud moment for me as the son of a railway worker.

Being an MP is like starting a small business — and I’m proud of the local team we’ve built. We’ve already helped with over 10,000 pieces of casework and held careers fairs, surgeries, and community events every week.

Somehow I’ve also managed to become a dad again in that time. Definitely my proudest moment.

There’s still more to do, but if we can achieve this much each year for the next four years, High Peak will be an even better place to live, work and raise a family.