Mail Weekly Column: 2 January 2023
A very Happy New Year!
It's fair to say that the last few years have been tough. Yesterday young Miss Fell asked me what the last few years of being an MP had been like, and I found myself running through a list of 'black swan' events - things so stunning and rare that they almost seem unbelievable.
2019 ended with a General Election whose mantra 'Get Brexit Done' cut through on all sides, whether fervent Brexiteers who wanted to get on and leave the EU, or those less keen who were just determined that we should - FINALLY - stop talking about it and move on.
2020 and 2021 were, of course, the pandemic years. And the effects of those months are still very keenly felt today, whether through the people we lost, or the impact of the lockdowns - opportunities lost, mental health problems building, backlogs in the NHS, and trouble getting anything from almost anywhere across the globe as supply chains slammed on the breaks and then slowly crawled back to life. So much happened around the world, but one thing really stands out to me: the US capitol being stormed while a President claimed that an election had been stolen. A reminder of how fragile democracy can be.
2022, the year just gone, has been marked by those same challenges from the pandemic and then some. The illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia has hit the west particularly badly. The cost of fuel has jumped up by over 900% as a result, and countries around the world have been reeling from that, the impact on food production, and the subsequent inflation that has followed. And, of course, 2022 was also the year that we lost our beloved Queen. Being able to witness some of the ceremonies associated with one Monarch passing and another taking the Crown was a tremendous honour.
And so to 2023. Despite the last three years, I remain very optimistic and I believe that Barrow & Furness' best days lay ahead of it.
This is the year where we will finally see spades in the ground on some of the fantastic projects that make up our £25million Town Deal and £16million Levelling Up programme, from a university campus in Barrow to an outdoor hub on Walney. It is when we should see the Grizebeck Bypass *finally* delivered. When *I hope* the high street will begin to see a turnaround. When new life is breathed into the Roxy in Ulverston. And when we should see a wide range of schemes, from Borderlands funding in Ulverston and Dalton, to the new forest that's being planted in Cumbria move from the drawing board to delivery.
But most of all, I do hope that it will be a year when we can finally be optimistic and hopeful again. It feels as if the last few years have been peppered with false starts. This amazing community has proved itself time and again but imagine what it can do outside of the yoke of global energy shortages, pandemics and political upheaval?
I'm not silly enough to make predictions but... I very much hope that we will continue to see inflation trend down and an end to Putin's folly in Ukraine in 2023. The world will breathe calmer for it.
So, I end as I began: a very happy new year to you! May it be better than the last three!
