Welcoming refugees from Ukraine is the right thing to do and I’m proud at how many people across the Town and Suffolk have opened up their homes. It was also right that we were generous to Afghan refugees, particularly those who worked as interpreters and supported our armed forces.

However, it’s clear that in the short term this act of generosity will place significant pressure on public services (school places, health services, council housing, you name it). This will become all the more challenging if robust action is not taken to cut off illegal small boat crossings from France. Unless this parallel illegal route into our country from mostly young men from another safe European country is dealt with my fear is that pressure on public services could become intolerable. It’s for this reason that I welcomed the focus on tackling the small boats issue in the Queen’s speech and the Rwanda plan (for which its opponents have no alternative).

During my speech I also welcomed the Public Order Bill that was announced in the Queen’s speech. This Bill will create a criminal offence of ‘locking on’ to prevent activists chaining themselves to buildings, vehicles and other protesters. It will carry a maximum penalty of six months and an unlimited fine. Stop and search powers will allow police to detain campaigners carrying bike locks and other equipment designed to make themselves difficult to remove. A new offence will also be introduced to specifically ban the obstruction of key national infrastructure such as airports, railways and newspaper printing presses, which will be punishable by up to 12 months in prison and an unlimited fine.

The Queen’s speech outlined the Government’s priorities, and at the top of that list is the cost of living. Of course this is going to be a difficult yet vital challenge to tackle, and it was right for the Government to emphasise this in the speech. I personally feel more can be done to tackle this and I hope the Chancellor will be announcing more measures very soon to help ease the burden of the cost of living.

We also heard about new provisions to improve our town centres, which I welcome. In Ipswich, this is a subject close to our hearts, with some feeling our town centre has gone downhill. It is our main civic place and somewhere we are passionate about. I am pleased that since election in 2019 I have been able to secure £25 million in the Town Deal and I know the improvements have started already.

We have many brilliant small, independent businesses and entrepreneurs. On Monday I brought the Chancellor to meet these passionate and entrepreneurial local people for himself, and to see the Micro-Shops concept.

In Ipswich, we need to continue working on bringing buildings back to life, like old post-office becoming the fantastic new Botanist venue. The new powers of local authorities for compulsory rental auction will help give councils the impetus and the ability to bring these important old buildings back into usage, rather than letting them collect dust.

To increase footfall across high-streets and town centres we must also address constituents’ concerns about anti-social behaviour, with some residents avoiding town at certain times because of this. I urgently want to see enforcement of no-alcohol zones as well as hands-on dispersal of groups causing problems, in order to make this a space where everyone can feel safe and comfortable.

I raised questions about the provision for those with learning difficulties in mainstream schools. I am very keen to ensure that all teachers who are not specialists in this area are able to get the support they need in order to teach those with special educational needs in mainstream schools.

I also wanted to highlight the positive work Matt Hancock’s campaign is doing to implement universal screening for dyslexia for primary school children. As someone who is both dyslexic and dyspraxic, I absolutely know the value of specialist teaching. It is something that must be expanded to all hidden learning difficulties so they can be given the same effective teaching as those without. Early identification is key in delivering the right support for every child and this is something I am keen to see put in motion.