Putting High Peak at the heart of Government

Last week I was honoured to be asked by the Prime Minister to serve as one of his Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS). In practice that means supporting him in Parliament, helping to prepare for Prime Minister’s Questions, working closely with backbench MPs, and making sure the Government delivers on its mission to change Britain for the better.

It is a daunting responsibility. But let me be clear: my most important job remains here in High Peak as your MP. That will never change.

In just over a year, we have already secured more for our area than I dared promise at the general election. £28.6 million for the Peak Cluster Carbon Capture project – protecting thousands of local quarrying and supply chain jobs. £7.6 million to make the Snake Pass safer. Work finally starting on the long-promised Mottram Bypass. Free bus travel for students travelling to colleges in Greater Manchester. New funding so children in three of our schools are among the first in the country to benefit from free breakfast clubs. And the creation of the Peak Partnership – bringing together the mayors of the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester to prioritise the issues that matter most to us.

That is a record to be proud of. But I will not be resting on my laurels. There is still so much more to do. Nowhere is that clearer than in health and social care. Too often the services people here rely on are fragmented, inconsistent and far too distant. Fixing that remains one of my top priorities.

My new role means I won’t always be able to speak as often in debates. But it will give me something else: direct access to the centre of Government. I intend to put High Peak at the heart of national decision-making. I will be leaning heavily on what you tell me – on the doorstep, at surgeries, over emails and at coffee mornings – to make sure your voice is heard where it matters most.

I know that many of you are impatient for change. Nationally, we have already made progress: strengthening workers’ rights, lifting the living wage, banning obscene bonuses for water company bosses. But Britain will not feel fixed until the money in your pocket goes further, and until our public services feel like they are working for you, not against you.

That is the case I will keep making every single day at the heart of Government – for High Peak, and for the country.