In the current economic climate we are all having to make savings to keep up with the many bills which each household is facing.  On a national level, the Government is taking action to address the £1.1 trillion black hole which represents the legacy that my Party inherited form the former Labour Government after 13 years.

However, such is the extent of our public sector net debt that we are still adding around £120 billion each year in the form of an annual budget deficit.  Despite necessary cuts in Government Departments, not only is our nation’s bank account in overdraft each and every month, but we are also calling up our bank manager to increase it on a regular basis.

Now other political parties talk about ‘austerity’ and suggest that this is all unnecessary; that we can develop an alternative route to strong economic growth.  Whilst I have no doubt that they are sincere in their convictions, I cannot subscribe to the Keynesian model which Ed Miliband picked up at university and through his years in the public sector working for the likes of Gordon Brown.

The idea that we can simply spend our way out of economic difficulty holds no sway for me.  It reminds me of watching Labour politicians stand up at the dispatch box between 1997 and 2010 and talk about ‘investment’.  It made me angry because I knew that this was not investment of any kind, it was high public spending which was borrowed, or as many of us remember, outrageously financed by selling off our nation’s gold reserves at the bottom of the market – what do you expect when you tell the proverbial Gordon Gekko of our intention to sell the day before!

Now we have the Labour Party showing its true colours once again.  Ed Miliband talks about ‘short term borrowing’ to finance his extortionate spending commitments which will supposedly pay for themselves across the ‘medium term’ should Labour ever be in charge and in Government again.  I have got some news for you Ed; we are still waiting on this return on our ‘investment’ from the end of the 1990’s!  Whilst on the subject of Ed Miliband, the next time he visits our lovely City he should look at the top of the Hill – there is a Cathedral and hence I hope the local Labour Party point out to our visitor from Doncaster that we are a City not a town!

The Labour Leader visited Lincoln ahead of last week’s election results, which saw us lose some of our valuable Councillors who have put in a tremendous amount of effort and time during their terms to make their communities a better place to live in.  As is often the case with local elections, they bore the brunt of the electorate’s ire – the c.25% who voted – and unfortunately took the opportunity to register a protest against central Government.

However, rather than opposing deficit reduction (as evidenced by the relatively few number of gains for Labour), voters were concerned that Westminster politicians, or at least those in power, have moved away from traditional conservative values.  The reluctance to provide for an earlier EU referendum and the side-lining of religious beliefs when the Coalition introduced plans for same-sex marriages illustrate this shift; and I hope that the Leader of my Party, the Prime Minister, and those around him, recognise the need to return to our core values and our wide range of supporters – we are proudly a ‘broad-church’ Party.  I for one will continue to raise these issues when he meets with me and other representatives of the 1922 Committee Executive and at the other opportunities that present themselves.

I am not going to suggest for one moment that the path to economic recovery is going to be easy and the Conservative Party is certainly not going to try and sell you a quick fix like the other political parties; however I am going to promise the people in my constituency and the City of Lincoln that we can come out of this economic situation if we stay the course, and maintain our commitment to balance our nation’s finances – with our Party showing it’s own true colours once again, doing the best it can for our Country.

Today, elections will be held in 34 local authorities in England including for all 77 seats at Conservative-controlled Lincolnshire County Council.

Over the last several weeks, in anticipation of today’s local elections, I have spent many evenings and weekends with Conservative Council candidates knocking on doors and speaking to voters.  The economic downturn and the measures the current Conservative-led Government has had to take to deal with the largest budget deficit in the G20, bequeathed to us by the previous Labour Government, are not an ideal backdrop for fighting a local County Council election.  This evening it all comes to fruition.

The last four years have been very tough for the people of Lincolnshire while the nation remains in the grip of a prolonged and severe economic downturn.  The Conservative-controlled County Council has played its part in reducing the national annual borrowing requirement inherited from the previous Labour Government.  The County Council has already indentified and delivered savings of £125 million as it plays its part in restoring our nation’s finances.

At the same time as finding these savings, we must remain committed to protecting important frontline services, securing improvements, championing Lincolnshire’s economy and culture, as well as keeping our Council Tax low.

In the past four years, on the whole, my Conservative colleagues have delivered all of their 2009 manifesto commitments, and have promoted debate on issues that matter to us locally in Lincolnshire such as wind turbine proliferation, coastal defences for both residents and our farmland, and a referendum on Britain’s relationship with the European Union.  All of which have an important bearing on our quality of life.

To rise to future challenges we will have to become even more efficient and innovative.  We must also be open minded about different ways of providing services at the same time as protecting and enhancing them.  For me, the current leadership at Lincolnshire County Council are doing an outstanding job for all of the people in our County.  I especially am thankful that in my first three years as a Conservative Member of Parliament, the Conservatives at Lincolnshire County Council have helped deliver improvements in many areas of our City. Our highways in and around the City are a priority and the County Council have helped tremendously with the campaign to ensure we have an Eastern Bypass joining up with the southern section to the western bypass. The County Council are funding an East-West link road to join our two flyovers south of the railway line in the City Centre to ease congestion and also provide a solution to enable suitable footbridges to be feasibly constructed on both the High Street and Brayford Wharf East level crossings.  I hope to continue working closely with the Conservatives on Lincolnshire County Council to achieve much more like the £17m improvements to the Castle and ensuring we retain local services such as the Lincoln Prison when under threat from other agencies’ decisions.

Elections are by their very nature are, of course, politically tribal affairs – that is the essence and reality of democracy.  The political parties contesting the local elections have different views about the past and different proposed policies for the future.  All of the candidates taking part, certainly for the mainstream parties, are, I feel, similar in at least one crucial respect: they all want to improve their local community and the quality of the lives of the people living in their community.  As a former Parish Councillor, Borough Council Candidate, a school governor at various schools, a magistrate since 1999, a former Board Member of Lincolnshire Drainage Boards and, of course, a Member of Parliament, this sense of public duty is one that I entirely understand and share. Our County of Lincolnshire has a proud history of public duty from its elected citizens who all deserve our respect – as do those who put themselves forward for election to such positions.

It was King George IV who once said: “The highest of distinctions is service to others.”  Each of the candidates standing in today’s elections in Lincolnshire would like to serve the people in their local community, and our County.  I would urge everybody who has the opportunity to vote today, to do so, for whichever Party.  It isn’t too much to ask.

Transport is arguably the central issue that impacts most, often detrimentally, on the lives of my City of Lincoln constituents, businesses and organisations in our City and many people in the rest of Lincolnshire too.  In this column, I thought I would update readers on some of the particular transport issues that I and my colleagues at Lincolnshire County Council have been working on, along with the City Council and others.

The rail level crossing that dissects Lincoln High Street is the cause of a great deal of concern.  This is particularly the case in respect of Network Rail’s proposal to increase the current 20-23 minutes per hour the barriers are down each day to 40+ minutes per hour so that long freight trains can pass slowly through our beautiful City.  Such an increase in barrier down time will not benefit anyone in Lincoln at all. I have been seeking to persuade Network Rail, even long before I was elected to Parliament, that the Lincoln High Street Level Crossing requires more appropriate timings, as well as a re-instatement of a ‘fit-for-purpose’ pedestrian footbridge.  I will carry on working closely with Network Rail and other elected representatives of the City and County Councils, and their officers, to ensure that constructive engagement on behalf of my constituents continues and progresses towards a positive conclusion in the near future, not least ideally for Network Rail to re-examine their plans for so much freight to pass by rail through our City.

I know many of my constituents in, and visitors to, Lincoln will be pleased to learn that planning permission for the footbridge at the Brayford Wharf Level Crossing has now been granted.  This is great news and will help to reduce risks at this crossing for pedestrians.  I also understand that Network Rail are further progressing negotiations with owners of some buildings at the High Street location to allow them to proceed with planning permission applications and ultimately a footbridge at that location also.  This has been a long time coming and I believe it was only through the tenacity of my actions and questions raising the safety aspects of a busy level crossing in the heart of our City that has led Network Rail to spend a considerable sum of their budget in alleviating the problems Network Rail actions have wrought upon our City.   The Lindumgate proposal is a Co-operative and others’ development initiative and I gather, whilst being developed over a good few years, is now also likely to be realised imminently.  The proposal brings the bus station and train station together and includes a footbridge over the railway to the east of the station.

Another real area of concern is Lincoln’s direct rail links to London, and cross country to other towns and Cities.  There has for many years been a lack of credible, reasonably fast, direct train services from Lincoln to London.  Under the last Labour Government, the City of Lincoln was promised seven daily trains to-and-from London.  Sadly, this promise was not brought to fruition.

It is economically imperative that we have more direct trains for the growth and sustainability of our local economy.  Lincoln is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK, with successful and fast growing higher education facilities, a strong small business community combined with expertise in manufacturing and agri-food, and plans for significant housing and economic growth in the medium term.  All these positives could be further enhanced by more regular daily and weekend direct services to our capital City.  Chester is a City similar in many ways to Lincoln, and their economy has seen no stagnation during recent years, just strong growth, felt in part by many to be due to the advent of regular quick and direct rail services to and from London, despite the closeness of Crewe.  To achieve the same level of service to Lincoln that Chester enjoys would be a wonderful boost for the City, County and business and organisations such as Siemens, Dynex, the University and many others.

Now that private companies have been invited to bid for the East Coast rail franchise, I will be urging the Government over the coming weeks and months to give very careful consideration to the proposed number of direct, reasonably fast train services between Lincoln and London when deciding which services should be specified within the latest version of the franchise.  We need to ensure that there is appropriate capacity available, ultimately with such factors as Lincoln’s connectivity playing a part in the decision as to which company should eventually win the franchise.

Finally, the Conservative-led Government’s announcement that the Lincoln Eastern Bypass has finally been given the go-ahead is fantastic news for my constituents in the City of Lincoln as well as for the people of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands.  It seems that, all being well, the building of the Bypass is likely to be completed in 2016/17.  This decision owes much to the unceasing work of both officers and elected Members at Lincolnshire County Council over many years and the unwavering support of many organisations and business representatives in the City, including the various administrations of the City Council.  It was at one point a possibility that this project would fall off the list of those infrastructure projects being considered for Government funding, and that would have lead to further delays as had been experienced under a Labour Government for 13 years.  I am proud that, with the support of so many in our City and County, I was able to lead the campaign to ensure the Department of Transport knew of the need and sound business case that backed up the requirement for Lincoln to have an Eastern (and Southern) Bypass.

After 13 years of a Labour Government that consistently failed to deliver the transport network and infrastructure our City, County and Region need and deserve, we have, at last, a Conservative-led Government  that is listening to, and delivering for, the people of Lincoln and Lincolnshire.  Long may that continue and that the people of our County can enjoy the benefits that such improvements bring.

Yesterday this Country paid tribute to the Rt. Hon. Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven LG OM FRS, a daughter of Lincolnshire, with a Ceremonial funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.  Her coffin was draped in the union flag which she sought to represent here and overseas to the best of her ability – and she succeeded – and it is a mark of how well regarded she was the world over that so many foreign dignitaries came to witness and take part in the service at the Cathedral.  It was an honour and a privilege for me to represent my constituents and my family at yesterday’s service, in which the Country remembered a Prime Minister of such fortitude.

The Soviets called her ‘The Iron Lady’ and many of us will agree that Lady Thatcher was and is an inspirational political figure who shaped the terms of economic, political and social debate for decades and who will be remembered for many more to come as someone who instilled a sense of pride across our nation.

Although I was at the Cathedral for the service, I could hear the sound of the guns from the Tower of London, as members of the Honourable Artillery Company alerted our Country to the passing of our first woman Prime Minister.  Her coffin was placed on a gun carriage and it is a mark of her role as a war leader that over 700 Armed Forces personnel were involved for the Ceremonial funeral.  It is also important to remember that Lady Thatcher spent much of her life under direct threat from the IRA and she lost two of her closest parliamentary colleagues to terrorism.

As her title suggests, Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven was born and raised in Lincolnshire.  As the daughter of a grocer in Grantham, her path to Downing Street was by no means straightforward and she encountered many hurdles along the way.  However it is a tribute to her character that she was able to persevere with her career.

Politics was in her family blood, her father, Alfred Roberts, had served on Grantham Town Council, latterly as an Alderman.  However I am sure he might have been surprised to see his daughter stand for Parliament in 1950 at the age of just 24 in Dartford.  She then overcame the odds to become the Member of Parliament for the safer seat of Finchley in 1959, when just 4% of MPs in Parliament were women.  It was a seat she would hold until her retirement from the Commons in 1992, having served her constituents for 33 years.

Margaret Thatcher would become our longest continuous serving Prime Minister for more than 150 years, winning three elections in a row.  She was a conviction politician who was not afraid to make tough choices and who believed in the rule of the law and democracy.  She understood the sense of aspiration that people felt across the Country and the need for our Country’s economy to change.

She came to power following the Winter of Discontent and successive Governments who were either unable or unwilling to tackle the problems which our Country was facing.  It was a time when the state had expanded to own our airports, the ‘phones in our homes and where the unions would go on strike (without a ballot) to protest the imposition of an annual 5% increase in public sector salaries.   Home ownership had been a privilege of the few in society; however her policies saw the introduction of council home sales, which brought in a new wave of homeowners across all areas of our nation allowed people to move freely.

Lady Thatcher may have polarised opinion, but as the Prime Minister, David Cameron, said in his tribute last week, no one wants to return to strikes without ballots or the return to the tax rates of 98%.  The Iron Lady was one of the few leaders who changed the political landscape not just in Britain but across the world and it is right and proper that we have paid tribute to her outstanding achievements.

This month the Government is delivering on its promise to help hardworking people. We are reforming our tax and benefit system to make work pay.  In doing so, the Government is ensuring that work is the most attractive and productive route for the vast majority of our population and specifically for those who may have thought a life on benefits was their best option.  Many of those previously have been in receipt of benefits when in reality they could and should be seeking work, like the majority of people (who are also taxpayers) do.  That’s why, even in these tough times while we are reducing the deficit, we are: cutting income tax for 24 million people and taking 2.2 million out of income tax altogether with the biggest ever rise in tax free earnings; starting to cap benefits so no household can claim more than the average working family earns; introducing Universal Credit; and cutting corporation tax and making the top rate of tax competitive to attract business and jobs so that we succeed in the global race.

Take Universal Credit – the most radical redesign of the benefits system our Country has ever seen. This new single benefit will bring together a range of working-age benefits into a single streamlined payment, replacing the current costly, outdated process.   At the heart of Universal Credit is a belief that work should always pay. Under the new system, benefit will be withdrawn gradually as claimants start work or increase their earnings, meaning their total income goes up.  A hand up in life, not a hand out for life.

Universal Credit will make it easier for individuals to move in and out of work, and reduce poverty among people on low incomes. Three million families will be better off under Universal Credit by £168 per month, and 75 per cent will come from the bottom two fifths of the income scale. In addition, Universal Credit will cut back on fraud and error, and be more cost-effective to run.

The Government has always been clear that Universal Credit must be simple and easy for claimants to access. Ministers will ensure that vulnerable people receive the support they need to make a claim and budget their finances.

In respect of the Government’s reforms to housing benefit, I believe that when there are 250,000 social housing tenants living in overcrowded accommodation and over two million people on waiting lists, it is unacceptable for any Government to subsidise people to live in accommodation that is too big for their actual needs.  By ensuring that housing support is based on the need of a household, the Government is bringing the social housing sector in line with the private rented sector and making the most efficient use of our available houses.

Crucially, pensioners will be exempt from this measure, as will those in supported exempt accommodation. Provisions have been put in place to accommodate carers who may need to stay overnight in a property from time to time, and where a child’s disability means that they cannot share a bedroom families will be allowed to maintain such a ‘spare’ room. In addition, approved foster carers will be allowed an additional room, as will houses where service personnel continue to live with their parents.

The Government has allocated £155 million for discretionary housing payments in 2013/14 to help support difficult cases and will monitor carefully the use of these to ensure that they are being used appropriately to support people most affected.  This measure will encourage housing associations to be more strategic in their allocation of property and importantly, in the long run it will influence their building programmes ensuring more appropriately sized accommodation for demand. I am pleased that the Government has announced measures to stimulate the building of new rental home which will aid housing associations in achieving the required portfolio. It is anticipated that £19.5 billion of new private and public investment will deliver around 170,000 new affordable homes to rent and buy by 2015.

These changes are essential because we live in a changed world. Britain is in a global race. To succeed in that race, we must back hardworking people and families. This is a Government for, and on the side of, hardworking people.

For all of us here in Lincolnshire the Easter holidays are a special time of year.  It gave us an opportunity to spend time with our loved ones away from the everyday pressures of life.  For Christian families it was also a time to celebrate the Resurrection following an eventful few weeks; with the election of Pope Francis in Rome and enthronement of Justin Welby as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

Here in Lincoln there were a number of events for families to enjoy over the Easter weekend.  On Good Friday we saw the launch of the Children’s Festival at Lincoln Drill Hall as well as live jazz music at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre.  The next day we also had the Fete on the Strait event at the bottom of Steep Fill with face painting for kids and a Pimms Bar for adults.  For us in the M^cCartney household, the Easter weekend also saw a number of church services, including those at Lincoln Cathedral; beginning on Wednesday afternoon, with a Passiontide Service when, as a family we were very proud of our eldest son, for building up the courage to deliver a reading to the congregation during that service.

Of course this time of year also has a strong association with chocolate and I heard that one of our local Easter egg hunts in Hartsholme Country Park actually ran out of eggs after hundreds of children took part in the challenge this year.  For many children, including my own, the thought of cracking open their chocolate egg on Easter Sunday is something they look forward to all over Lent and this is reflected by the fact that 80 million chocolate eggs are sold in the UK each year.

However there are times when we forget about the religious significance of this period as well.  That is why I was pleased to hear about the work of the chocolate company behind The Real Easter Egg, which seeks to explain the Christian understanding of Easter to children.  In addition to the Easter story being explained within the box containing the chocolate egg, there is also an activity poster which seeks to develop an understanding of this religious holiday as well as providing a chocolate treat.  The Real Easter Egg has now been sold for its third consecutive year and it is good to see some of our large supermarket chains in Lincoln such as Waitrose and Morrisons agreeing to stock them on their shelves.

Returning to the significance of Easter, the Bible reminds us of Jesus teachings of generosity, compassion, tolerance and forgiveness and these virtues live on in our community.  Here in Lincolnshire there are many Christian charities which do what they can to help meet the needs of the poor and provide support to those in need; these organisations are of tremendous benefit to our society and I hope that we can all support them throughout, as well as particularly during, this important time of year.

London 2012 gave Britain a once in a lifetime opportunity to inspire a nation to enjoy sport and the Government wants to embed that into the school day from an early age.  As a result, my Government have sought to identify a range of options for how we might improve the sporting opportunities available to our young people.  Our aim was to ensure that children have the chance to lead healthy active lifestyles, to enjoy PE and sport in school, to compete against their peers and to have the chance to achieve sporting excellence from a young age.  In some schools this is obviously already taking place, exemplified for our family earlier this week when I was proud to hear that our youngest son had won an Outstanding Sportsman Award in his first year at school.

The Prime Minister has announced a £150 million Olympic legacy fund to improve the quality of provision in every state primary school in England.  As a result, an extra £2,390,500 will go to primary schools across Lincolnshire to transform school sport, improve coaching for the youngest pupils and inspire the Olympic and Paralympic stars of the future.  There will be a lump sum for each school, with a per-pupil top-up, which means that a typical primary school in Lincoln with 250 primary aged pupils will receive £9,250 per year. This is the equivalent of around two days a week of a primary teacher or a coach’s time – enough to make sure every pupil in the school can do sport with a specialist.

This ring-fenced funding – only to be spent on sport – will go directly into the hands of headmasters and headmistresses and their teaching colleagues for them to spend on improving the quality of PE and sport for all young people, from the least active to our future elite athletes.  This could vary from specialist coaching and teacher training to dedicated sports programmes, Change4Life sport clubs and even support for after-school or weekend competitions.

There will also be a greater role for Britain’s best sporting and voluntary organisations, including the National Governing Bodies who will increase the specialist coaching and skills development on offer for primary schools.  There will also be tougher assessments of sport provision via Ofsted who will ensure the funding is bringing the maximum benefit for all pupils, with schools held to account for how they spend the money.

In addition, Sport England are investing £1.5 million a year of lottery funding through the County Sport partnerships to help Primary Schools link up with local sports coaches, clubs and sports governing bodies.  There will also be new provision as part of initial teacher training to produce a cadre of primary teachers with a particular specialism in PE. This is being developed in conjunction with sporting bodies and will start with a pilot covering 120 primary teachers, with the first of these beginning work in schools in September 2013.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games marked an incredible year for our Country and I will always be proud that we showed the world what Britain can do. I want to ensure the Games count for the future too and that means capitalising on the inspiration young people took from what they saw during those summer months last year. This investment will benefit a whole generation of children – in Lincoln and up and down our Country – for many years to come.  I enjoyed participating in all sports during my educational years, and still do when I have the chance.  For me and many other people, school should not just be about sitting behind a desk in a classroom; school should be an opportunity for all pupils to try, and potentially excel at, individual and team games in different and mainstream sports.

Apprenticeships are at the heart of our mission as Conservatives to rebuild the Country’s economy, giving young people the chance to learn a trade, to build their careers, and create a truly world-class, high-skilled workforce that can compete and thrive in the fierce global race we are in.  During National Apprenticeship Week last week, I supported the Prime Minister’s vision for it to become the new norm for young people to either go to university or to start an apprenticeship.  Last Friday morning, I attended an event at the Gelder Group Head Office and Training Academy to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week.  I was proud to attend this and a number of events in Lincoln towards the end of National Apprenticeship Week.  I saw at first hand the great experience and opportunities that apprenticeships are providing young people across Lincoln and Lincolnshire.  There was an awards’ ceremony for apprentices at The Gelder Group at various stages in their career – from youngsters excluded from school, through to University students from Lincoln’s Universities who are mentored by Gelder Group employees.  I presented certificates with Steve Gelder MBE and witnessed Bradley Robinson being signed up from the Gelder Academy to the Gelder Apprenticeship Scheme, and also the first Higher Apprenticeship in Horticulture being offered to Rebecca Gilliatt .  After my visit to The Gelder Group, and a number of other meetings with constituents, I went to Lincoln College where, among other things, I had afternoon tea with the College’s apprentices.  First stop at the College was the Leap & Lincoln College ‘Great British/Lincoln Bake-Off’ which I found fulfilling in many ways.  Congratulations to all four entrants but specifically Lindum Group and Lincoln College who won the presentation and taste prizes respectively! And thankyou to all those who supported Comic Relief by buying lots of cake! I then met with and chatted to a number of the apprentices who work at Lincoln College, and at the sister site at Newark College, about their experiences and opportunities and answered some of the apprentices’ questions (before buses needed to be caught!).

When Labour were in power, the number of people not in education, employment, or training – the so-called NEETs -  soared in the UK as they fell internationally. Between 2000 and 2009, the NEET rate for 15-19 year-olds in the UK rose from 8.0 per cent to 9.6 per cent, while the OECD average fell from 9.4 per cent to 8.4 per cent. Over the same period, the NEET rate for 20-24 year-olds in the UK rose from 15.4 per cent to 19.1 per cent, while the OECD average fell from 17.8 per cent to 17.7 per cent. By 2009, the UK had worse NEET rates than Greece, the Slovak Republic and Poland.  Conservatives realised that positive action needed to be taken and we took it.

There are now record numbers of people taking up an apprenticeship, with a million starting one in the last few years.  Across Lincoln 1340 people started apprenticeships in the academic year 2011-12, and another 420 have started in the first quarter of this academic year. This is a percentage increase of 86% compared to Labour’s last year in office.  Further, there were 46,790 apprenticeship starts in the East Midlands in 2011/12, which represented 14.5% increase from the previous year.

And unlike under the Labour Government, all apprenticeships are worthwhile.  This is amply demonstrated at Gelder Group and many other Lincoln firms and businesses such as PK Automotive that hosted a visit recently by the former Apprentices Minister John Hayes MP, my colleague from South Holland and The Deepings.  Apprenticeships now last at least a year and are meaningful with those who undertake them able to use the skills learnt and real work experience within the same company, or take those skills and experiences with them when they move to different jobs in their working careers.

This good news comes as the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) have released a forecast that apprenticeships completed over the next decade could contribute productivity gains worth up to £3.4 billion a year to the economy by 2022.

Our drive as Conservatives to reform and strengthen apprenticeships, raising standards and making them more rigorous and responsive to the needs of employers means that an apprenticeship is increasingly seen as a first choice career move.

Conservatives in Government are investing in apprenticeships to ensure that the Country has the skills it needs to compete in the world and people across our City and County are benefitting from this.

Clearly, apprenticeships have a very positive impact on individuals, businesses and the economy – and this was very clearly illustrated for me at my visits to Lincoln College, The Gelder Group and all the other businesses in Lincoln that I visit that encourage and employ apprentices.  But we need to challenge ourselves to go even further – that is why I want it to be the new norm for young people to either go to university or into an apprenticeship that leads individuals to a great start in their careers. We need to look at how we can expand apprenticeship opportunities so that they are available to all young people who are ready and eager to take them up, and aspire to better themselves throughout their lives and working careers.

At the end of February, we saw the publication of the latest migration statistics which showed another significant fall in net migration, which is down almost a third since the election.  For the year ending June 2012, net migration was 163,000, which is down from 247,000 in the previous year.  Such figures show that the Government is making real progress in bringing net migration down from the hundreds of thousands per year under the last Labour Government, to the tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament.

Since the election, the Government has made numerous reforms to the available routes for migration with the aim of making the system more robust and reducing the levels of fraud.  We have seen tighter controls for the family route, with the introduction of an income threshold to ensure that anyone seeking to bring a foreign spouse from outside of Europe has the necessary financial means to support them without access to our Country’s benefit system.  Of course with any threshold there will be individuals that fall slightly below this figure and that this is why the Government has allowed applicants to offset income shortfall with savings.

At the same time, the Government has increased the minimum probationary period for non-European spouses before they can apply for settlement, bringing this up from two to five years.  This will help to combat marriages of convenience, where the sole goal is permanent residency in the UK.

We also want to see migrants integrate into our society, rather than see the development of areas where the English language is not utilised.  That is why the Government has strengthened the English language requirement for migrants coupled with an enhanced ‘Life in the UK’ test, which will see applicants tested on British history and culture.

All these changes should be welcomed as they are helping to address many of the problems within our immigration system, many of which were exacerbated under the last Labour Government.  However, it must be acknowledged that under our existing membership arrangement with the European Union (EU), the above measures are not being enforced for 30% of net migration which originates from the EU due to the Free Movement Directive (Directive 2004/38/EC), which prevents the UK from imposing restrictions for these individuals.

This is an important point, as there is a strong degree of public concern regarding the cessation of migration restrictions for two specific Countries, Bulgaria and Romania from next year, as well as unrestricted migration from other EU Member States.  The potential threat of benefit tourism is a major part of this concern and is one the reasons why I want to see this Government extend its immigration reforms to all applicants from EU Member States.

Now the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has recently promised us a referendum on the EU, which would be put to the public following a renegotiation of our terms of membership.  This renegotiation needs to focus on the issues which matter, and placing our immigration rules on an equal footing across the board, will not only restore trust in the system, but it will also send a signal that we need individuals with valuable skills in the UK, rather than allowing the hard pressed taxpayer to foot the bill for benefit tourism.

Many times in life, we have to make decisions  that we might live to regret – or look back on and be glad that we stood up for something we believed in.

I believe in free speech. On many occasions I have stuck by and supported my constituents who are under pressure from organisations and bureaucracies that negatively impact on their lives.

These organisations provide immense frustration and unwieldy power over them as individuals and they feel they have little hope of affecting reasonable and common sense changes to that relationship or processes that impact on them and their families so harshly.

Last Wednesday morning I was told by a third party that if I did not desist from exposing the frankly scandalous charge that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) costs the taxpayer to administer MPs’ expenses, then the organisation would make sure, through FOI requests or other means, that three comments I had made on my IPSA claim forms would be made public.

For an elected Member of Parliament to be confronted with such a threat from a non-elected civil servant was unexpected. I am not proud that my frustration led me to making such comments, and I have apologised fully, but the context in which they were made should be known before the judgement on my actions is reached.

Many Members of Parliament have had, and after two-and-a-half years still have, ongoing issues with IPSA. We would much rather spend our time getting on with the job we were elected to do rather than dealing with the bureaucracy that surrounds IPSA.

In my case, for five months after being elected as a Member of Parliament, a large sum of money, which included salaries for my staff, had been withheld for no good reason other than their incompetence.

The people I employ had helped me hit the ground running and deal with a heavy workload on behalf of the people of Lincoln who had elected me.

They had mortgages to pay and living to do with their families. So did I. Such delays in payments still occur today. No Member of Parliament wants to worry about their allowances and expenses, they just want to be able to do the job they were elected to do.

At this unexpected meeting last Wednesday I was then told the content of three comments that IPSA had noted.

While admitting I had made them, I pointed out that some were made over 18 months ago, and I was surprised that IPSA had not raised any concerns directly with me at the time they were made.

It is worth noting that all three comments were made in response to specific comments from IPSA employees on my claim forms that they spuriously delayed.

Subsequently, all these claims have been paid to me. I have never submitted a “dodgy” claim and I have never had to pay any monies back to IPSA.

It seems an “untouchables” attitude pervades at IPSA – along with an incompetent and unsympathetic culture, clearly demonstrated on the one occasion when I did meet a senior management team  member in June 2011.

His attitude was one, it seems, that permeates many at IPSA – you are all rich and can afford it, and we do not answer to anyone. His parting shot was a surprise to me: “When we go down to the pub on a Friday night, our mates tell us we need to screw you lot into the floor – and that’s what we are going to do.” I did not make that shocking statement by a senior IPSA employee public at the time. Perhaps I should have.

I made a decision last week that I would not be silenced and bullied. By standing up the following day, Thursday, to ask a Business Question on IPSA, I was willing to take the consequences of them making public my comments.

They decided to publish their chief executive’s letter to me, with no Freedom of Information request having been made, nor any regard to the Data Protection Act, nor professional management processes being followed in 18 months.

In my Parliamentary Question I truthfully pointed out that no organisation, charity or business would allow their finance department to budget a cost per employee of c.£10,000 pa. to process individual allowance and expense claims.

Instead of dealing with such a serious issue, the IPSA Chief Executive chose to attempt to smear me. The letter he sent me had not appeared on the IPSA website before media stories appeared.

Obviously, the three communication officers (cost to the taxpayer: c.£95k each) pro-actively “sold-in” the story to the media and e-mailed the letter that I eventually received electronically in my office.

I will continue to stick up for myself, my colleagues and for the taxpayer, in my dealings with IPSA, who should effectively administer the expenses and allowances of Members of Parliament and their staff. Once they manage that brief competently, maybe they can then come back and lecture us on their moral crusade.