Thank you to all of my fellow local residents who have once again put their faith in me to represent North Swindon. I am very proud and humbled to have secured a record number of votes and the highest share of the vote in each and every part of the constituency. I will continue to do everything I can to champion our town and be a highly visible, accessible and hardworking local MP.
Nationally it was a very disappointing result and whilst we secured (by a significant margin) the most votes and seats, it was well below where we had hoped to be at the start of the election campaign. We have lost some excellent colleagues and, but for a strong performance in Scotland, we came very close to losing the General Election. As a Party we will need to listen, learn and act and I am determined to play a key role in this.
The reality is our national campaign was poor. The manifesto lacked thought, as well as tangible, positive reasons to vote Conservative. As a Government since 2010 we have delivered: strong economic growth, record employment, rising wages and record funding for our vital public services. Yet we failed to articulate how we would continue to build on this and how we would share the proceeds of growth to benefit everybody.
We are the party of opportunity and meritocracy. We believe that everybody should be given the chance to succeed in life, regardless of background. And we also believe that if you work hard in life, you should be rewarded. We offer positive values and quite simply, we were not positive enough in this campaign. It is therefore time to accept these mistakes and move forward ensuring positive changes. Crucially, we must never again allow Jeremy Corbyn to come within an inch of Downing Street. Especially when his anti-business agenda would put growth and jobs at risk.
Locally I always write and produce my own literature. I focus on a positive message of what I have achieved and what I wish to achieve. I passionately believe you have to ‘earn’ the right to be the MP - you are either good enough in your own right or you don’t deserve to win. If you are working hard for the local community, you shouldn’t have space for negative campaigning.
I will never forget what an honour it is to represent my local community and I am as enthusiastic and determined today as when I was first elected back in 2010. My community office is already back up and running with the first wave of charity events taking place over the course of the next two weeks including Swindon Young Carers, the British Heart Foundation, Parkinsons UK and the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.
Today I am delighted to be hosting a public event: The Great Get Together, a celebration of the life of Jo Cox MP, who was tragically murdered a year ago today. The event will be between 3-4pm at my office, with tea, coffee and cake on offer. The idea is simply to bring our community together and celebrate all that unites us. Celebrating the life and work of Jo Cox is an incredible way of doing this. We will also be doing a collection for the Jo Cox Foundation and I hope you can join us.
