Northfield MP Gary Sambrook writes for the Standard.
THIS WEEK we take our next, cautious, step back to normality.
Like many of you, I’m itching to get back out to meet with family and friends after what has been an utterly awful year.
This is my first column for the Bromsgrove Standard and it is written as we near the light at the end of the tunnel.
For many of us, a pint down the pub with friends, or a meal out with our family is a simple pleasure we have missed so much.
That’s why, as we can now sit indoors, many of our favourite pubs and restaurants are reopening their doors for the first time in what seems like an eternity. Lockdowns have been miserable, they are something I never envisaged having to be necessary, but unfortunately, they were, and it has worked.
With the vaccination programme ever stretching its reach, we are in an enviable position globally.
Over the coming days and weeks I’ll be doing my bit to visit local businesses throughout Rubery, Rednal, Frankley and across the
Northfield constituency to see how they are getting on, what support they need to succeed and of course get the obligatory pint in, all for the economy.
Last week I also saw the Queen’s Speech, where the Government set out its legislative priorities for the next year.
This programme is packed with new laws to help our NHS innovate, introducing new rules for asylum, online safety, implementing the
Environment Bill, higher animal welfare standards and banning gay conversion therapy – plus much more.
Now the pandemic is reaching a more manageable state, it’s time we continue to pursue the issues that people want to see tackled, deliver on our priorities and Build Back Better.
