It was a pleasure to attend the NAF International Hartpury Horse Trials this year. The Horse Trials run across the 360-hectare Hartpury campus with the dressage and show jumping taking place in the International Arena and the cross country phase running across Hartpury House Bank.

Amid another busy week in politics, last week saw the Chancellor, Sajid Javid, deliver the Spending Round setting out the budgets for Government departments over the coming year. 

Last night, I voted in favour of the Government’s motion to have an early General Election on October 15th. For the second time in a week, this motion was defeated.

In another momentous week in Parliament, I thought my constituents would be interested to know how I voted last night and how I will vote in Parliament today.

Recently, the Prime Minister expanded the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF), confirming that another 50 towns in England will be given a share of £1 billion to reenergise their high streets. 

Recently, I met with members of the Newent and District Model Aircraft Club. We met in a field near Upleadon where club members had constructed a mini runway. This was an interesting opportunity to talk to the members of this local club and also have a go at flying a model aircraft myself!

Recent figures released by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that employment in the UK continues to be at its highest rate on record, at 76.1%, with over 32.8 million people now in work, up 425,000 over the last year and up by 3.76 million since Conservatives took office i

As Member of Parliament for the Forest of Dean, I regularly attend meetings with headteachers and governing bodies across the constituency. In June, I attended a meeting with the headteacher and governors at Heart of the Forest Community Special School.

The first duty of any Government is to keep people safe, which is why I am pleased that Boris Johnson’s new Government has hit the ground running by announcing the recruitment of an extra 20,000 police officers. As the Home Secretary has said, it is time to reverse the balance of fear.

Parliament is now in recess until the first week of September. Regardless of what you may read in some national newspapers, this period is not a holiday for MPs. We still have plenty of work to do!