So, it’s been 70 days - give or take - since I was elected MP for Bury St Edmunds and what a frenetic introduction to the business of government it has been.
It’s no secret that my diet has consisted mostly of 11pm pot noodles, fuelling late night shifts replying to constituents, reading briefings and preparing for the next day’s Parliamentary business. But I’ve loved every minute.
From the division lobbies to the lobbying of ministers about Suffolk issues like rural broadband, GP recruitment and the A14, I have made sure the constituency is on the agenda. From Queen’s Speech, to maiden speech, to Summer Budget Speech, I have worn my Suffolk hat with pride.
And that is because there is only one reason I am here.
Between the pomp and ceremony of the State Opening; behind the tradition, protocol and convention of the House, the only reason I am here is to represent the interests of our corner of Suffolk.
That’s why, when the Budget was announced last Wednesday, I welcomed it. But it’s also the reason I raised concerns about its impact on adult social care and SMEs.
Our national economy has turned a corner and this budget will keep it on the right path. Work is the best way out of poverty. Tax cuts for working people and businesses will mean more take home pay and higher wages for hard working Suffolk families. The new National Living Wage will make sure people are making a decent living.
But I want to make sure that measures like the new National Living Wage won’t mean, that in order to pay it, businesses are forced to make redundancies and Councils are forced to cut the number of carers.
After all, enterprises employing less than 50 people make up 99% of all businesses in my constituency. Their ability to absorb such rises are limited. Yes, corporation tax reduction and changes to National Insurance payments will temper the rise.
But a number of my constituents have contacted me about the strain a Living Wage will put on their businesses and I worry about a policy that may mean some people receive no wage, so that others receive a Living Wage.
Suffolk is also home to 160,000 people aged 65 and older. Unless they reduce the number of carers, Council’s must find other ways to meet the cost of increased wages.
As I said this week, where do we find this extra money and who does it come from? A fairer society is a two-way street: fairness to those who have little, but also fairness to those who make the jobs and pay the wages.
It might set the cat among the pigeons, but I’ll always make sure the interests of Bury St Edmunds constituency are heard in Westminster.