Dear John

It has been said time and again, but is no less true, that 2020 has been an immensely challenging year for Birmingham, Edgbaston and the country. The coronavirus pandemic up-ended many of our hopes and ambitions for this year, and instead delivered financial hardship, difficult months apart from loved ones, and grief and loss for far too many people.
 
In the face of enormous adversity however, I have been buoyed to see how our community has pulled together in these extraordinary times — how businesses have provided for their staff and community while adapting to ever-changing trading conditions and public health guidance to keep us safe; volunteers have been knocking on doors to check in on their neighbours and make sure they have the supplies they need; and across our public services, key workers have gone to extraordinary lengths to support us in our hour of need.
 
Whether you have been one of those people, or have simply done your bit by following public health guidance, I want to say thank you. Your choice to give up the last nine months of your regular life being careful and socially distancing could very well be the reason someone else is alive today.
 
As ever, it has been a privilege to serve as the Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Edgbaston, and especially in such trying times. Since March, the volume of casework that my office has received has more than doubled, and at a time when the pace and scale of change in government policy in response to the pandemic (not to mention Brexit) has been like nothing we’ve seen before.
 
In April, I was honoured to be promoted by our new party leader Keir Starmer to become Labour’s Shadow Secretary for International Development; to be elected Chair of the Co-op Party Parliamentary Group in November; and earlier this month to win MP of the Year from the Patchwork Foundation.
 
But beyond the whirlwind in Westminster, it has been some of the constituency work with our community that has given me the greatest satisfaction.
 
To round off 2020, I wanted to give you a run-down of some of the things I have been working on this year.

Going forward, I am hopeful that 2021 can be a brighter (and less ‘unprecedented’) year for us all. With the wide rollout of a vaccine on the horizon, we can begin to cautiously look forward to returning to something more resembling our normal lives. Make no mistake, we are not over the hill yet, but I am optimistic about some of the things we might do and achieve next year.
 
As ever, I will be available at [email protected] over the Christmas break, although I will be winding down on non-urgent casework until January.
 
And otherwise, it remains for me to wish each and every one of you a restful and love-filled Christmas break, and a happy New Year.