Tom Rutland MP: Happy new year to all constituents

Happy New Year to everyone across Fishersgate, Southwick, Shoreham, Lancing, Sompting and East Worthing.

I hope you had a good break over the Christmas period – I certainly was glad to have some downtime with friends and family over the festive period and to tune in to some excellent TV, including the Gavin & Stacey finale, and of course the new season of The Traitors.

It was good to be able to highlight the brilliant work of the BBC in a debate in Parliament late last month – our public service broadcasters are world-leading, and we must fight to keep them in an era of media fragmentation and disinformation.

As I write this, Parliament has just today returned from the Christmas recess. It was wonderful to visit Worthing Hospital on Christmas Eve to thank the staff and offer some chocolates to them for their hard work year-round (and over Christmas itself) and speak with some patients who were spending Christmas in the hospital.

I was glad to also read from the Bible at the Town Carol Service at St Mary de Haura in Shoreham.

In the week ahead, I’m looking forward to the debate on the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and – relatedly – visiting a couple of secondary schools in the constituency and meeting with residents over the weekend.