Although I was about the last MP in the country to know I’d been elected on Friday 5th July 2024 – no recount; just that the count itself was exceptionally painstaking – I lost no time getting started.
I was in Westminster the following Monday, and it’s been all go ever since.
What’s the best thing about a year in Parliament?
Though the cut-and-thrust of Chamber is exciting – I’ve crossed swords with the Prime Minister and most of his Cabinet – the best is something else entirely.
It’s the chance to criss-cross Dumfries & Galloway, from Portpatrick to Glencaple, meeting some amazing people, people who are pressing on despite issues with the economy, or their own personal circumstances.
It’s about my fantastic and dedicated team getting to grips with thousands of issues – they’ve handled more than 3,000 cases in the last year – on behalf of constituents.
They’ve sorted out everything from passport problems to dreadful errors on power bills; they’ve helped get broadband reconnected, restored power to residents affected by storm Eowyn, and tackled housing issues by the dozen.
One local firm was hit with an £18,000 power bill that turned out to be completely wrong, but it took my team to get the energy firm to see sense.
It’s those wins – small, perhaps, in the grand scheme of things but so important to the individuals affected – that really matter.
Of course, there’s no magic wand, and we can’t always sort out everything to everyone’s satisfaction.
Not being able to do everything is not an excuse to do nothing, though.
So we press on.
And that’s been the case on the big political matters. It’s been painful to watch things I opposed – the cuts to pensioners’ Winter Fuel Payments; changes to family business and agricultural tax reliefs; assisted dying – being smashed through by a bludgeoning Labour majority.
But that’s Opposition, and that’s where the public put us a year ago.
I am pleased, though, to be part of the fightback. My Party has taken careful stock, is under new leadership at both Holyrood and Westminster, and is driving forward its message of common sense – something that I think resonates across Dumfries & Galloway, and rural Scotland more widely.
The 4th of July is the anniversary of the General Election, and it’s also American independence day…
But every day is Thanksgiving Day for me.
I give thanks for the people who put their faith in me to represent them. I give thanks for the chance to represent the area that gave me so much – an idyllic childhood; a great education; my first job; my lovely wife.
And I give thanks for the chance to keep pushing for Dumfries & Galloway.
That’s because while much has been done over the last year, there’s much more still to do.
