Election to Westminster is just the start, the campaigning doesn’t stop there. It is only through hard work and delivering on our promises that we continue to win elections. That is why I have made sure that every month the current Workington Association is in the TOP 10% of associations in the country with a sitting Conservative MP for data collection.

Helping Our Councillors
I am in regular contact with the councillors in my constituency, and with group leaders. I run a number of WhatsApp groups so that they are able to contact me at any time of day or night for assistance. I make sure that I assist them in elections as much as I can, and was instrumental in setting up our local association office and ensuring it has the ability to print and distribute thousands of leaflets on local issues quickly. In 2021, we saw off our last Lib Dem councillor after a fantastic local campaign.

Regular Engagement
I survey every elector in the constituency across the year with an personalised, hand-delivered survey to understand their local issues, and work hard to ensure we raise the funding that allows us to do it. I also run canvassing sessions two to three times in most weeks and support our local councillors at all levels. I spend as much time as possible at home in the constituency, and ensure that I’m visible and accessible to all. It is only through this constant local engagement that we ensure that we win elections and rebuild our councillor base.

I undertake regular canvassing sessions in every town, village and hamlet in the constituency – ensuring nowhere is left behind. My public surgeries are operated on a ‘drop-in’ basis and are advertised widely, the local are is leafletted to increase participation.

The party that tells the most people, most often, about its achievements and goals, stands the most chance of winning. Working with those volunteer delivery networks, with our councillors, and with your help, I will ensure that continues. This year, we won a council seat in Workington that we haven’t held before. I will ensure that we continue to win elections.

Every Christmas I send a Christmas book to every primary school child across the constituency, almost 6500 children, and I deliver hampers of local produce to over 100 veterans. I have sent classes full of children copies of books I have read to them, and provided gifts and selection boxes to local community groups.

Successes
I have had some tremendous successes across the Workington constituency, from access to government funding in two of my largest towns, to saving a large business, and hundreds of jobs, in another. We’ve resolved longstanding issues across the patch, saved rural bus services and had many successes with rural school transport. Every constituent has to be represented, from the smallest hamlet to the largest town.

As Deputy Leader of Allerdale Borough Council I led a bid to the Future High Street Fund for Maryport, and successfully delivered £11.5m as a newly elected MP – one of projects with the highest percentage of approved funding. I have successfully delivered £23m in Town Deal funding for Workington and new post-brexit funding for additional facilities at the Port of Workington. I have delivered ‘Getting Britain Building’ funding for road improvements in Bothel and have supported dozens of successful bids for funding from many local groups.

I led the submission from four local MPs to reinstate the Penrith to Keswick railway line, and this remains something I want to see delivered. I have offered support for many local issues, including Newton Rigg and the West Cumbrian coal mine. Where colleagues have taken me up on those offers, we have been successful. In December 2022 the Chair of the Climate Change Committee, Lord Deben, told Newsnight viewers that the mine had received its approval because of me.