As Parliament returns, albeit in a virtual setting, may I begin by wishing you all a very happy new year – one that began momentously with Brexit having been achieved and the UK regaining sovereignty over its borders, trade and legislation.

As an ardent Brexiteer, I am delighted that the democratic will of the majority of British people has been delivered.

In addition, the Government’s decision not to call in the original planning decision in respect of West Cumbria Mining was incredibly welcome news last week. We’ll be needing a lot of steel as we build back better so it really is brilliant news. West Cumbria Mining will be an innovative leader in coking coal extraction, which will be used for steel production in order to build wind turbines and new nuclear plants, helping to contribute to the UK’s energy requirements for ourselves and future generations.

This is not thermal coal for power stations but coking coal for the steel industry and every part of our green industrial strategy needs steel. To simply accept the imports of coking coal from countries including Australia, US, Brazil and Russia is morally wrong, environmentally more harmful and economically ludicrous.

Of course, Tier 4 was not the way any of us wanted to begin a new year. This decision was not taken lightly, with much consideration given to the rate of increase of Covid cases across our county. Copeland has done well to have had minimal cases, but the trend is now dramatically upwards. Across Cumbria, the figures for the week up to January 5 shows 3,356 new cases, up from 1,567 in the previous week and an increase of 87.6%. These figures emphasise the need for us all to continue to wash our hands, cover our faces and maintain social distancing, whilst continuing to support each other over this final hurdle, providing our health teams with the best chance of caring, testing and vaccinating.

Our goal is to have 13.9 million people vaccinated by mid February which would mean that the first four priority groups will have had their initial jab. Across Cumbria we are on course for this target to be met particularly with the Oxford Astra-Zenica vaccine now joining the existing Pfeizer BioNTech programme.

Across the UK we are ramping up vaccine supply, sites, logistics and administrators with quite literally military precision. This is a world first: never before has a vaccination process been carried out on this scale.

As ever, I pay tribute to the doctors, nurses, healthcare staff, care and key workers who work tirelessly on our behalf through often difficult circumstances. I also understand the tragic human cost of the Covid virus and my heart and sympathies go out to all families who have lost loved ones or those that are in our hospitals.

We look forward to a better future and a return to a more normal way of living our lives once the battle against Covid has been won – and rest assured it will be won.

Finally, if I can support you, my office will remain open throughout this lockdown, though most staff will be working from home. Please email me at trudy.harrison.mp@parliament.uk or call 01229 718333.