At New Year many of us look forward and set our own goals of what we would like to achieve over the next 12 months, often through a New Year’s resolution.

According to a survey last year, half of us in the UK who make a New Year’s resolution aim to take more exercise, lose weight, or improve overall fitness. While these goals are admirable and always popular, they also take on greater significance now we know about covid – we are at far less risk of severe disease if we maintain a healthy weight and good overall fitness. So I hope more people in South Shropshire will turn a new leaf this New Year to get outside and enjoy our amazing scenery, take some exercise, and protect overall health.

For me, New Year also is a chance to reflect on the year ahead politically. This includes ensuring that government learns from what local people in North Shropshire were saying about their hopes and aspirations for the future.

It is reasonable to expect covid will continue to be a presence in our lives. But I want to see life return to some sense of normality - once we are clear the current Omicron variant (and for that matter future variants) is less severe for those who catch the virus, whether requiring treatment in hospital or not, and that the NHS is not going to be overwhelmed by hospitalisations. The vaccination campaign has been a remarkable success, with over 1 million doses delivered in Shropshire thanks to the incredible work of our primary care and pharmacy teams, ensuring all those eligible were offered a booster jab before the New Year.

If we can avoid covid dominating the legislative agenda for another year, I expect the government to get back to delivering on its key manifesto commitments. There are big challenges to tackle, where the public expects action – including economic growth, social care, immigration, and the environment, alongside real concerns about the growing price of energy, and wider impacts on the cost of living.

More locally, as covid restrictions ease, I shall be getting back out into the community and visiting around South Shropshire as much as I can. I had started undertaking more visits and meetings in person before Omicron developed, so look forward to resuming as soon as possible. I shall continue to help as many constituents as possible with their real-life problems (last year I received an average of 320 emails per week from constituents raising individual issues). I also look forward to getting to know the new wards north of the River Severn likely to enter the Ludlow Constituency, as proposed by the Boundary Commission.