MAY I begin by wishing you a very happy and peaceful New Year. I hope you were able to enjoy Christmas despite both the weather and the multitude of bugs and viruses that seemed to strike every family with Biblical severity.

Readers of keen memory may recall that I thought it was the word ‘change’ that best summarised 2022. My hopes for 2023 are twofold – stability and civility.
Turning to the latter first. I do not use this regular column to be overly party political. I represent all residents of North Dorset so I try to be as non-partisan as I can be. From my inbox readers seem to appreciate this approach. I write my columns as the Member of Parliament rather than the Conservative MP.

I am, of course, proud to be a Conservative, a Party I have been a member of since 1985. So my incessant non-Party drum beating is not out of any sense of timidity – I merely think it the better thing to do.
Elections, local and general, are approaching but not until May 2024 – to hear some, one could be forgiven for thinking an election is around the corner. But, the political temperature is beginning to rise and the pace quicken. There will be a vigorous battle of ideas – waged with passion and energy. There will be political disagreements but, as I have got older, I realise that one can disagree without being disagreeable. Better to play the ball not the man. Cheap and snide shots are best left in the drawer.
So my first hope is we can have civility and respect in our political discussion. Given the upheavals we all witnessed over the last few years, I firmly believe it is what most people in the country, and certainly in North Dorset, want.
My second hope for 2023 is for stability. I think we all recognise we are living in a new world order. The impacts of Covid, the invasion of Ukraine – coupled to its domestic economic impacts – and the recalibrating of the UK’s economic model post EU membership made this inevitable. Change has come upon us thick and fast leaving most people feeling exhausted.

2023 needs to be a year of stability. Letting the dust settle. Surveying the scene and replotting the course. The country at large wants and deserves UK political stability. It wants to see the Government deal with serious issues in a serious way.
I have every confidence that the Prime Minister will have this as his guiding star throughout the year. The markets have responded favourably to the Government’s economic policy. Who knows, there may be some currently unforeseen headroom when it comes to the next budget. We must hope that inflation has peaked and will be beginning to fall to something like 5-6 per cent by June. That of itself will provide stability for policy making.

So, a civil and stable 2023. Not too much to ask for is it?