Mail Weekly Column: 26 December 2023

This column normally appears on a Monday and is submitted to the Mail on a Saturday night. Given that Monday was Christmas Day and that everyone is downing tools early, I’m submitting this column considerably in advance, and with a healthy degree of concern, not least given the storms we’ve had recently! If Furness has been basking in a 40 degree heatwave and it goes unmentioned here, that is the reason why!

Nonetheless - I do hope that you had a relaxing and a merry Christmas. I can only speak for myself, but this year it felt like Christmas crept up on me somewhat. That said, it’s been lovely to spend time with my family and step away from the laptop for a while. Whether it’s the Hoad lit up against the night sky, the Christmas lights twinkling in town with the biting air in the back of your throat, or the fun of the Christingle service, it’s been great to enjoy these moments with my kids.

But I’m also very thoughtful of those of you who didn’t get a break over these last few days, whether it was because you were ensuring that A&E was open, keeping ambulances running, ensuring our community was safe and that emergencies were dealt with, because you were keeping the power on, or even as you took a shift that meant people could pick up that pint of milk they forgot. I am very grateful and, on behalf of my constituents, would like to say - thank you.

I shall save my look ahead to 2024 for the next column, but I thought it would be worthwhile mentioning some of the things that we have achieved this year in Barrow & Furness. We often look at the big projects like the university campus, or improvements to our roads or railway as measures of success, but actually the things that have the biggest impact for local residents are often the individual cases we pick up in surgeries or through letters and emails. My incredible team have managed almost 6,000 of these cases in just this year on behalf of my constituents, covering everything from probate to child support, and housing issues to compensation claims. I’m very grateful to Natalie, Claire, Chloe and Maf for all their hard work (and for managing the 10,000s of email campaigns, running events like the jobs fair, and ensuring that I’m enabled to do the best job possible in representing you on top of all that).

Finally, I also wanted to acknowledge that while Christmas is a joyous time for many, it’s also incredibly hard for others. I would urge anyone who is struggling to take that difficult first step of speaking up and asking for help. When you’re feeling low, it can feel like there’s no one there who cares, but my experience is people are almost always happy to listen and help. My team and I have put together a list of local and national support that’s available should you need it: https://www.simonfell.org/howwecanhelp

My next column will land after New Year’s Eve, so may I take this opportunity to wish you - in advance - a very happy new year! Until next week...