Tories have not forgotten the promises we made to Yorkshire’s voters - Andrea Jenkyns

This huge win was only possible thanks to swathes of new support in the North. Some lent us their vote for the first time as a direct response to the promises we made – that the North would not be ignored or forgotten.

Places which had never voted Conservative changed hands, as many grew tired of Labour taking seats for granted and their London-centric leadership.

Well, no-one could have foreseen what a year it would be. The coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, causing huge disruption to all our lives and requiring an unprecedented government response and action. Who would have thought we’d see the Government paying 80 per cent of people’s wages to save millions upon millions of jobs and livelihoods?

Here in Yorkshire, over £3.5bn in Government-backed loans has gone to over 90,000 businesses and employers to help keep them afloat and people in jobs, including Express Bi-Folding Doors, and many others, in my constituency.

And while it may seem dealing with coronavirus is an all-consuming task, we have also not forgotten about the promises you elected us on.

It may seem like a lifetime ago now, but less than a year ago we promised to recruit 20,000 more police officers to keep our streets and communities safe.

Last week, it was announced that we have already recruited over 5,000 more officers less than a year into government, including over 500 more here in Yorkshire. Well on our way to delivering on that commitment and making local streets safer.

We also pledged 50,000 more nurses to staff our wonderful NHS. And I’m delighted that we have already got an additional 13,700 nurses, including nearly 2,000 more here in the North East and Yorkshire.

Our NHS is on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus, and I say a huge thank you to everyone, from nurses to doctors to porters, who have been working day-in, day-out to protect us. It’s why our pledges to put record funding into our NHS and upgrade hospitals and build new ones are even more important than ever before.

This year, we will meet our commitment to increase our health budget as well as giving the NHS an additional £9bn on top of those increases to deal with coronavirus. In Harrogate, a new NHS Nightingale hospital was built in just 18 days, and in Leeds, building is well under way to build two hospitals in Leeds city centre that will deliver a new adult hospital with operating theatres and critical care facilities, and a purpose-built children’s hospital.

The Government has also committed over £3.5bn to a new Towns Fund to invest in towns across the North that have been overlooked in the past. In September, Leeds City Council received £750,000 from that fund to help my own constituency of Morley recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and kick-start longer term growth plans, including improvements to Queens Street. We are also bidding for an additional £25m.

Improving transport across the North to at least match what is available in some of our Southern cities is another key priority that will help to unlock economic growth and new jobs across our regions.

It’s why this Government has already invested £600m into the Trans Pennine Leeds to Manchester rail route, to finally get that much talked about project off the ground. And a £4bn local transport fund will help fund new projects, such as proposals for a new metro or light rail in West Yorkshire, including to Dewsbury, Pudsey and the Spen Valley.

Despite the huge challenges and efforts needed to get through the unprecedented coronavirus crisis, we will not forget our promises and will continue to take action to deliver for those that lent us their votes.

While the Labour party pushes division between regions, this Conservative Government will continue to work night and day to spread opportunities and investment to every part of our United Kingdom, to give a hand-up to people that work hard and want to get on, regardless of background.

It’s been a tough year, but together we will get through this and build back better and stronger than before.

Andrea Jenkyns is the Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood.

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