Rutland and Stamford MP Alicia Kearns discusses farming, A1 and solar farms

As the ice and snow turned into Storm Bert, bringing winds, rain and floods, our farmers continue to go about their work in all elements to make sure livestock is well looked after and food is put on our tables, writes Rutland and Stamford MP Alicia Kearns (Con). In Westminster last week, around 15,000 thousand of our hard-working farmers turned out to show the strength of opposition to policies introduced in Labour’s budget.

I was so proud to meet many of our farmers and it was wonderful to hear their thoughts and solutions. Farmers are the guardians of our natural heritage and our rural way of life, and I will continue to do all I can to protect this role and defend our nation’s food security.

Down in Parliament, I recently raised the illegal dismissal of 5,700 women from the Armed Forces between 1978 and 1990 on ‘family grounds’ for falling pregnant while in service. I welcomed the Minister’s warm response to right the injustices doled out to so many women who served the nation with pride and honour, and I look forward to working with him to rightfully return their berets and cap badges to them.

In other news, I am continuing my fight to secure fair compensation for our rural communities impacted by the imposition of solar developments. I have campaigned on this for a few years now as I fought against Mallard pass, so I was pleased during my question to the Government last week to hear our concerns are being recognised, as the last Government was also keen to make progress on this.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to attend my public meeting to share your suggestions on how we make the A1 safer. I will be taking your suggestions to National Highways when they come for a drive-along the A1 to see the issues first-hand, in addition to continuing to campaign in Parliament. In the meantime, to strengthen our calls please do add your names to the petition on my website to improve the safety of the A1 between Stamford South and Little Ponton.

It was good to meet the chief constable of Lincolnshire Police recently to discuss the force’s priorities and campaigns. I will be doing everything I can to advocate for our Police, and in particular the disproportionate funding formula Lincolnshire faces.

All of our emergency services do incredible work to protect our communities, including that of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue whose fire station in Billesdon I visited to hear all about exciting plans to upgrade their training centre.

In Stamford, it was a pleasure to meet the chairman, manager and treasurer of Stamford Rugby Club. The club has quite an incredible history and I loved hearing about their passion for our communities.

I also enjoyed a really interesting visit to Stamford substation where I learnt all about the role of the National Grid network and our local substation’s role in the wider UK energy system.

Rounding off my fortnight, I had a lovely lunch and tour with the school council at Casterton College, one of the recipients of the Conservative's School Rebuilding Fund which is an exciting investment to upgrade the school’s facilities. Finally, at Uppingham School pupils gave some fascinating presentations on research they’ve been doing on Rutland using ONS data, helping shape what they think our community’s key priorities should be.

Finishing with some positive news, it's wonderful to hear St Mary’s Street in Stamford has been named the best street for independent shopping by American Express’ Shop Small Campaign! There’s no better opportunity to continue our celebration of local independent businesses than my nominating your favourites for my awards to find Rutland and Stamford’s favourite independent shop. There are 13 different categories for this year’s awards, so please do support our independent businesses and nominate your favourites on my website before December 12.