Party conference was a great chance to press key people on local issues
WELCOME to my first column for The Hinckley Times. I’m delighted to be writing a monthly update for you all, telling you about my work in and around Bosworth, what’s happening in our fantastic community, as well as some news from Westminster each month.
This month was Party Conference season, and it was fantastic to be up in Manchester with my fellow MPs, party members and delegates.
Whilst it’s always great to watch the keynote speeches, away from the headlines it was a brilliant opportunity to meet key people, organisations and ministers about issues important to our community, and drive forward work on a wide range of projects and areas across Hinckley and Bosworth.
Amongst many meetings included the CEO of Openreach – this was the perfect opportunity to raise broadband improvements across Leicestershire, like Sketchley Brook residents in Burbage who have been experiencing issues with their broadband speeds, for example.
Now that plans to upgrade the entire estate have been given the green light, lobbying Openreach at conference was a great opportunity to make sure that the project stays on track, to get residents connected as soon as possible. I also met the Midlands Connect to discuss the A5, the Hinckley bridge (the most bashed bridge in Britain!), and improving other infrastructure across the area, and I will continue to make sure Bosworth is at the top of the agenda.
As we continue to move back towards some form of normality, I know access to GP appointments and local healthcare is one of the most important issues facing our community, so it was extremely useful to meet the Chair of the Royal College of GPs and the Chair of the British Medical Association (BMA), to discuss how we can manage the backlog caused by the pandemic, to ensure we can all access local health services.
Further still, I followed up with the CEO of the Mental Health Foundation, to continue our joint work on mental health, as well as my discuss my campaign on body image and the negative effects of social media, as highlighted most recently by the international leaks from Facebook.
Farming is really important to our community, so I was keen to meet the National Farmers
Union to explore their Back British Farming campaign.
There are exciting new opportunities for farmers to export across the world, both now and in the future, and as an MP you can have a big impact in linking farmers and producers with new markets and the Department of International Trade.
There was also a chance to meet the Midlands Engine, having backed their 10 Point Plan for Green Growth earlier in the year, which will bring jobs and investment to our area whilst also improving our environment. I also took the opportunity to support the Midlands Engine at their event with the new Levelling up Secretary Michael Gove, emphasising why our region is so critical to the UK’s future. As well as meeting local stakeholders, I also caught up with various Ministers, including speaking to the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, about how we can build back better right here in Bosworth. It was, therefore, a very promising conference, with lots of discussion on progress for local projects!
Finally, away from conference, a huge congratulations to detectives and officers from Leicestershire Police for all of their hard work on the recent County Lines drugs bust in Hinckley – having met Inspector Jamie Osborne from the local Neighbourhood Policing Area this month, I know how hard the team there worked on the operation, so a huge thank you to them for all of their hard work.
As ever, if you are in the Bosworth constituency and experiencing a problem I may be able to assist with, please do email me at: luke.evans. mp@parliament.uk, and I’ll do my best to help.