A comment on Mims' activities through the week, and the latest news from Parliament.
The majority of my constituents will be aware of my activity on social media, including Twitter, Facebook and more recently Instagram, which continue to be excellent ways, alongside columns such as this, my website, regular newsletter, work in the constituency, and updates via email and letter, to keep you all in the loop.
I have always been passionate about reaching out to people in the community, and as your MP, I hope that the methods that I have outlined above ensure that you feel kept up to date on my work, both in Parliament and in the constituency.
These outlets can also be an excellent way of spreading important messages, and this was demonstrated recently by the Prime Minister, who during Prime Ministers Questions outlined the importance of women taking up the invitation for a smear test. Her bold comments on this important issue have since been shared thousands of times, and could potentially save lives! This is social media at its very best.
Personally I have been pleased to work alongside Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, and was shocked to learn that almost 30% of women in Hampshire are missing their smear tests, and would urge those that have yet to take up the invitation to do so. To spread that message, I joined others by taking part in the Trust’s Smear for Smear Campaign which can be viewed on my Instagram account, and on Twitter which the video was linked to before I had time to post it, again demonstrating this techniques huge worth.
Social media is also often used these days to highlight people’s journeys, whether that be by car, bus, train, or even by air! Too frequently I see constituents sharing their frustration at the constant queues around our area, and so, further to a meeting with Highways England, I have written to the Roads Minister Jesse Norman requesting a meeting. Included among the areas that I hope to raise with the Minister is the forthcoming upgrade of the M27 to Smart Motorway, flow of traffic onto the M3 and M27 from Leigh Road and Hamble Lane and the growing need for the Chickenhall Link Road.
Like many of you, I’ve missed important meetings and events due to crashes and delays, and as we close our productivity gap, I would really appreciate hearing about your own experiences, and how these have affected your daily lives. This information will assist me in providing a large amount of evidence to the Minister for this meeting, and ensure that your views are included! If you would like to share your experiences with me, please either email me at mims.davies.mp@parliament.uk or write to Mims Davies MP, Member of Parliament for Eastleigh, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.
Finally for this week’s column, if you have a flick through the internet and social media, you will often see people sharing their photos of stunning landscapes, beautifully outlined by trees, rivers and sunsets. In the Eastleigh constituency we are fortunate in that we have stunning woodland, including ancient woodland across our patch, meanwhile, and too often forgotten, the Borough is renowned for its stunning chalk streams, which are popular with fishermen from across the country.
I was therefore delighted to be able to have a private discussion with the Environment Secretary Michael Gove to highlight these areas within my constituency, and the importance of protecting them, and others like them, across the country. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is going further than ever before to safeguard the security of our wildlife and the environment upon which it depends, leading the world in the fight against plastics, and I am determined to ensure that ancient woodland and chalk streams remain a priority within that work, in the hope that we could, in time, also become world leaders in not just protecting but enhancing our ancient woodland and chalk streams.
As always, I’ll be sure to keep you updated via all of the method’s I have outlined within this week’s column, and I look forward to hearing from you about your journeys around the constituency ahead of my meeting with the Roads Minister. Meanwhile, I always enjoy welcoming constituents to Parliament for tours, and if you should be interested in taking part in one of my tours, please get in touch, and I will make the necessary arrangements.