This will be my last column as your ‘Man in Westminster’ in this Parliament. From next Wednesday, Parliament will have been dissolved and you won’t have a MP until after the election on Thursday 8th June. I’ll be working hard to be the author of this column for another five years but our democracy has proven itself to be an unpredictable thing in recent years and so I hope you’ll indulge me a couple of paragraphs to reminisce.
Serving as the MP for the Wells Constituency is the most extraordinary privilege. Whether it’s leading the charge on a community broadband campaign, hounding the banks over branch closures, saving a post office, getting a bus back into a village or scrutinising the local sewerage works to improve bathing water quality; the variety of issues that get thrown up every day in this job is mind boggling. But its great fun and sometimes you get to make a real difference.
It’s not just the high profile local issues that are so rewarding but the thousands of individual requests for advice or help that come in every month as well. In just two years, we’ve responded to 24,937 enquiries from constituents sorting out everything from a lost pair of false teeth to saving someone’s home.
There can’t be many constituencies where there is so much history, natural beauty and culture packed within such a relatively small space. And there can’t be many that have so many different but vibrant communities each with its own character, foibles and promise. Championing this part of the world and the aspirations of all who live and work here has been a huge honour. I hope to serve on if you’ll have me.