Politics for me has always been about helping people, solving problems and bringing people together through hard work and co-operation.
Having lived in South West Norfolk my entire life and having served on all three levels of local government for more than ten years, I’ve always felt that I had a good understanding of the issues facing the constituency.
That knowledge helped inform my election campaign last year and I ran on three key priorities: health and social care, jobs and pay, and farming and the natural environment. As we look back on the last 12 months since the general election, I am pleased with the progress made on these priorities but know there is much more to do.
It was almost 7am when I stood in King’s Lynn Leisure Centre and learnt of my election victory, winning by 630 votes and overturning a majority of 26,195 – the biggest swing from Conservative to Labour at a General Election ever.
Every day I am grateful for the support I received. Thank you.
And it has been a busy year. Over the last eleven months I have spoken 53 times in Parliament and submitted 110 written questions. I have held 10 surgeries, attended over 100 visits within the constituency, and my team and I have worked on more than 7,000 individual pieces of casework.
When you hold public office, you have a duty to listen to the people you serve. I have always believed meeting people face-to-face is the best way to engage. In a large rural constituency with 72 villages and 3 market towns, that brings with it some logistical challenges!
To mark my first year as MP on Friday, July 4th – exactly one year since I won my seat – I will be commencing my summer listening tour where I will be visiting dozens of villages throughout the month to meet you and hear your concerns. My constituency team have called it ‘Terry On Tour’!
We don’t all agree with everything all of the time – that’s the nature of politics. But we should take on board different points of view and engage respectfully – I’ve made a point of doing that over the last year and I look forward to continuing along those lines in the years ahead.
If you would like to arrange a time to meet over the next month, please email; [email protected]
