Last week, millions of people across our country exercised their democratic right and headed to the polling station to cast their vote for their local Member of Parliament. Our democracy is precious - we owe it to the generations before us, who fought to preserve and protect our way of life, to never take it for granted.
I am enormously grateful to have been re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Grantham, Bourne, and our surrounding villages, and I will continue to serve people throughout our area in the best way I can, whichever way they voted.
Over the past six weeks, day-in, day-out, my team and I have been out across our entire community, delivering tens of thousands of leaflets and speaking directly to residents on their doorsteps. Walking over half a million steps, I was determined to not only visit Grantham, Bourne, and the villages in between, but also as many as possible of the wonderful new villages to the north, from Long Bennington to Heckington, that I am now lucky to represent under the new constituency boundaries.
I am proud of the way in which all candidates in our area conducted their campaigns. We showed the rest of our county and indeed our country how a civil and respectful local political debate should be conducted.
The unsung heroes of our democratic process are the council officials and their teams who ensure that local residents are registered, polling stations are up and running, and votes are counted fairly and efficiently. Without their efforts, local residents would be unable to have their say on who represents them in Westminster. This election, as before, they worked hard throughout the night until the early hours of Friday morning out of duty to our community, and I thank them again for their efforts.
While a difficult night for my party on the national stage, I am hugely grateful to all those who placed their trust in me and my Conservative colleagues across Lincolnshire. It is a privilege to be joined by them once more in Westminster as we work together for the benefit of our county.
I was eager to get back to work and returned to Parliament later on Friday after the count at the Grantham Meres Leisure Centre that morning. I am as determined as ever to do everything I can to continue to push for our priorities, for safer streets, expanded healthcare provision, stronger infrastructure, and better education.
