By Rob Roberts

MP for Delyn

We are now six weeks into 2022 and what a start to the New Year it has been.

I am not going to comment on the actions of our Prime Minister and the No. 10 Civil Servants or the content of the Sue Gray report. I do share the disappointment many of you feel but I am pleased that the report will bring about change to the culture in Downing Street. I will continue to support the Prime Minister and the Cabinet as I feel this Government is best placed to navigate the UK economy out of the pandemic.

What I do think is that politicians should get back to what is important – working hard for their constituencies and the residents they represent. I will be continuing to work hard for the people of Delyn to bring forward local improvements and help those who need it.

Although being more transmissible, it was proven by our amazing scientists that the COVID-19 Omicron variant has less of an effect on our health meaning we require less medical intervention, and that recovery is much quicker. Of course, by far in the best way to protect each other is to have both doses of vaccine and following them up with the booster.

I want to outline my gratitude once again to all the medical staff, admin staff, volunteers and members of the military who helped ensure we are as protected as possible against COVID. I also want to thank the thousands of front-line staff across all our health services who have kept the services running to the best of their abilities.

I am concerned by recent reports that certain services within our Health Board are failing their patients. Under no circumstances should it be right that patients suffer pain or distress because of poor management. Health is devolved in Wales and therefore the responsibility of the Welsh Government to sort this out. It was only prior to the Senedd Elections in May last year that the Health Board was taken out of special measures, yet it remains within an environment of “targeted intervention”. A move I was not altogether comfortable with and the cynic in me might conclude that it was done to try to give a positive headline just before the election. I would hope that isn’t the case and that Welsh Government wouldn’t be so irresponsible with public health. I will continue to meet with the board Chief Executive and other Senior Management to hear what improvements are being suggested and to represent the views of my constituents.

Another vital service I would like to thank is North Wales Police. The Police work tirelessly to keep us safe. I recently met with Inspector Stephen Roberts who updated me on the Anti-Social Behaviour problem in Holywell. I was reassured by their actions and the problem now seems to be calming down. I urge you to report instances of crime and anti-social behaviour to the police using the 101 service (or 999 in an emergency). They cannot do their job without help from residents, and it is often the accumulation of calls / evidence that leads to action so please do keep reporting crime and antisocial behaviour when you see it.

I have said all along that transport is the key to driving economic growth here in Delyn. I know from my recent transport survey that the majority of you agree with this. I will be publishing the results of the survey shortly. I have been working hard on the plans to bring a train station back to Holywell & Greenfield. I secured an Adjournment debate on the subject and met with the transport minister who committed to visiting the site and outlined the relevant funding available to make this happen. To keep up to date with this project go to my website.

You can find the details of my next round of surgery dates and locations on my website. Please feel free to make an appointment if there is an issue you feel passionate about and would like to raise with me.

There are still many challenges ahead for us to face but it does feel that we can be cautiously optimistic that 2022 will be better then the last few years.

As always, I am here and always happy to help if you, a friend, or a member of your family need my help.

You can email me on rob.roberts.mp@parliament.uk, you can use the contact form on my website https://www.rjroberts.co.uk/contact or you can call my office 01352 710 232.