Happy New Year to everyone across South Shropshire!  

This is the last New Year message I shall send as your MP. While that fact is a little hard to write, after almost twenty years as your MP, it does help remind me that this is my final year to achieve as much as possible for the Ludlow Constituency before I step down.  

I am under no illusion about the challenges the country faces, but I am also aware that the right approach from government can make a huge difference to people’s lives.   

Continuing to bear down on inflation must be a priority for the government again this year, as it is effectively a stealth tax, making life more difficult for family household budgets. This time last year, at the end of 2022, inflation was at 10.5 per cent, but thanks to the difficult decisions taken last year, inflation has been more than halved to 4.6 per cent in October. In his Autumn Statement in November the Chancellor was able to find some scope for tax cuts.   

This month, 27 million working people are receiving a tax cut, as the main rate of National Insurance Contributions is cut from 12 per cent to 10 per cent. For the average worker in England earning £35,000 a year, this means a £450 tax cut.  Tax for the self-employed is being cut and simplified to support the country's entrepreneurs, giving an average total saving of around £350 for someone earning £28,000 a year. Business taxes are being cut permanently by £11 billion a year, delivering the biggest business tax cut in modern history.  

To support the lowest paid, this year the government is delivering the largest ever cash increase to the National Living Wage, boosting it from April to £11.44 an hour. That is a 9.8 per cent increase, benefiting 2.7 million workers by an average £1,800 a year.  

Locally, I am determined to see the Hospital Transformation Programme to improve Shropshire’s acute hospitals get underway. Successfully campaigning for £312m for our hospitals was one of my proudest achievements as your MP, and I do not wish to see this project become a political football, with patients missing out on better care. Initial enabling works are due to begin soon this year.   

As readers will know, the health of our rivers and waterways is something about which I care deeply. Following my campaigning with Severn Trent Water, 2024 will see multimillion pound upgrade works to improve the quality of the River Teme around Ludlow, to help deliver bathing quality water between Knighton and Tenbury Wells. I look forward to seeing this project delivered, and the lessons learned begin to be applied elsewhere in South Shropshire.   

As part of my wider environmental work, I am looking to ensure the Environmental Audit Committee delivers important guidance to government through our inquiries this year. We are focussed on improving the electricity grid to help decarbonise the economy and making natural capital work to improve nature and biodiversity. My time as Chair of the Committee has been a personal highlight of this Parliament, and I wish to deliver impactful reports in this my last year heading the Committee.   

If you have an issue, local or national, which you would like to raise with me this year, please do get in touch by email at philip.dunne.mp@parliament.uk. I expect 2024 to be very busy, but I stand ready to do whatever I can to help everyone across South Shropshire in my final year as your MP.   

Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP