During the Christmas period I have been reflecting on the past year, which has been one of the most politically eventful in living memory, where the UK/EU referendum in June saw Crawley supporting the campaign for a leave vote, followed by the appointment of a new Prime Minister, Theresa May.
Since the British peoples’ vote to leave last June, which I campaigned for, we have seen the economy grow, unemployment fall and our horizons extend globally again. However, there are challenges to be met in 2017 both in delivering Brexit and improving the wellbeing of households across Crawley and the UK.
Following Theresa May becoming our country’s second female Prime Minister, I accepted an invitation from her to be the Education Secretary’s Parliamentary Private Secretary and am pleased to help deliver increased school funding as well as greater parental choice.
In September, I secured and led a House of Commons debate on the underperformance of Govia Thameslink Railway, operator of Southern and Thameslink services. Since then, of course, the RMT and ASLEF unions have embarked a co-ordinated campaign of politically-motivated strike action. There are no job losses or salary reductions but rather the dispute is about the unions being against more automation on trains, something that has existed on the majority of networks across the developed world.
Last week I met with the Prime Minister about Southern Railway issues and am supporting further measures in Parliament.
Over the summer I helped set up, and was elected to chair, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Blood Cancer. In this role, I work alongside MPs of all parties to help raise awareness of blood cancer, and highlight the needs of patients and their families with the Government.
Locally, the Mark Henry Archer Tribute Fund at Bloodwise continues to raise funds for blood cancer awareness – there are 137 different types of the disease.
Of course, this is only a very brief summary of just a few of my activities in 2016. To keep up to date with my work in the New Year, please visit: www.henrysmith.info
A happy and prosperous New Year to all Crawley residents.
Henry Smith MP
