With all the speculation, let me be clear on this early in the day. I’ll be voting confidence in the Prime Minister this evening to get on and continue delivering on our ambitious agenda for our country and on the promises we made to the British people at the General Election.
Much as some might want me to, I'm not going to cover old ground and all that has been said before about recent events. I have nothing more to add.
What I will say is that a vast amount has been achieved by this Government so far - Brexit delivered; the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out was an enormous success, getting us back to normality before others; we've been at the forefront of the international Ukraine conflict response; we have a comprehensive plan in place to tackle illegal migration; have a strong package to help tackle the cost of living pressures; plus much more. But there is still a lot more to do.
Not everyone locally will agree with me - although I know many do -and I respect their sincerely held point of view. But I must do what I believe is right and I could not be clearer that now is the time to get on with the job that my colleagues and I were elected to do. The stakes are high and our focus must now be on governing, not on internal wrangling.
