THIS week I am addressing a matter of great concern to our county. It is necessary to bring to attention an issue which is in danger of becoming neglected.
As MP, I often found myself driving up and down the country, through the night, to attend meetings about threatened school closures in Montgomeryshire, a concern close to all of our hearts.
As you may recall, this panic was caused by the leaking of a confidential document to the press in the run up to the General Election. This caused a flurry of activity, including meetings organised by myself and many others. We did our best to attend these, despite the extra pressures it put upon our work schedule and fought hard to try and prevent any damage to the education of our young.
I believe this should remain our priority: the interests of Montgomeryshire’s education system have to come first.
This is why I was worried to hear that our new MP was unable to attend this week’s Llanidloes meeting about school closures.
I understand, of course, he must be busy and has other central business now. But in the spirit of co-operation, I shall provide gentle advice, a personal reminder, as a fellow politician, to our new MP;
Our constituency must come first.
This type of issue requires 100% commitment – even if this means making difficult journeys. Sometimes sacrifices must be made to make sure such important local issues are attended to.
Politics is about priorities. When you stir up feelings about a subject – as Mr Davies, by his own admission, did by leaking the confidential document and organising meetings – it’s reasonable to assume he must continue such commitment as the Elected Member.
I have no doubt he is aware of this and I hope this piece serves as a timely reminder of his most dear priorities.
Being an MP means travelling at unsociable hours and putting up with the exhaustion of attending meetings hundreds of miles apart. But that’s the nature of the job.
It is hard to imagine a more important matter in Llanidloes than the future of the town’s high school.
Looking ahead, we can not be confident of the safety of the education system in Montgomeryshire until crucial votes has been cast.
So we must make sure that our friends do not jeopardise our future or their own position by damaging any high school structures.
I’m sure this point is not lost on them. As long as we work together on a cross party basis, we will get the right result. I hope this feedback is helpful to all interested parties.