MP Alan Duncan: Looking back on 2013 - a year of progress
Our MP wrote the following for the Rutland Times:
Another year gone. In many ways it has been a year of rolling up your sleeves and getting on with things, which was perhaps inevitable after all the glamour of 2012, the Olympics and Jubilee.
And the work has been coming along well, both locally and in Westminster.
The Council have had to deal with as a tough a financial settlement as ever, but have got stuck into projects that will boost the county’s prosperity well into the future.
The Digital Rutland scheme is gathering steam and it still looks as if Rutland will be the first county in the country to complete its infrastructure upgrades, bar a few tricky black spots.
Plans for the new Oakham Enterprise Park are also moving along well, as I saw for myself when I visited the site a couple of weeks ago.
Kendrew Barracks has also been bedding in well to its new site at Cottesmore, and received a huge boost in the spring when it was confirmed as one of only seven key strategic hubs for the Army.
Nationally we welcomed a new face as third in line to the throne with the birth of Prince George in July.
We also sadly saw the passing of Margaret Thatcher earlier this year.
I have written previously in these pages about my admiration for Baroness Thatcher and my belief that she turned this country around, rescuing it from what would otherwise have been a bleak course.
Source: Getty Images
I was honoured to be amongst those paying tribute to her life and legacy in St Paul’s Cathedral. I opted to attend in the full uniform of a Privy Counsellor and have to admit that I did get more than a few double-takes from my fellow guests!
Internationally, the world is as uncertain as it ever was with the tragedy of the Syrian conflict never far away from the headlines and changes afoot in Egypt. In recent weeks we have also seen the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines; I have been helping to coordinate the UK’s response through my role at DFID but it is clear that it will be a long time before that region gets back on its feet.
Alan Duncan Rutland MP defends foriegn aid budget. John Hess Political editor, BBC East Midlands
Although the list of domestic challenges remains as long as ever, the Government is continuing to bring the deficit under control. Without this progress we would find ourselves financially hamstrung as a nation, but with interest rates still at their low base and unemployment steadily falling, there is real progress being made.
We have also completed the first stage of legislating for an In/Out referendum on the EU in 2017, finally deported Abu Qatada back to Jordan and seen the deal for the new first nuclear power station in a generation signed off. 2014 will be the year the next general election beings to loom on the horizon (not to mention the crucial decision north of the border on Scottish independence) but I believe there is an increasing sense that the tough decisions taken early on in this Parliament are beginning to bear fruit.
Whatever the next twelve months ends up bringing, can I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
