This springtime a key part of my focus is on education and skills training having recently been elected Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Education, and I feel very positive about the opportunities that we can build on in Somerset.

Easter is a lovely time of year and I very much hope that people got to have a break, maybe spend time with their families and certainly enjoyed a pause from what had become a rather repetitive national news cycle.

This week MPs are on a shortened Easter recess. Even this has divided opinion in these challenging political times but for many of us it is the first proper chance to spend time with family and catch up on work in our constituencies since Christmas.

Last week I was pleased to be elected a Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Education. There are APPGs for many issues in Parliament and I am involved with some including the ones on Knifecrime and Equitable Life.

It’s been another week to test the constitutional experts in Westminster and MPs have been consulting their copies of Erskine May trying to keep up.

At the time of writing we are coming up to another vote on the Withdrawal Agreement on the EU on Tuesday evening.

On Monday, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire made a very positive statement in the House of Commons about the new Stronger Towns Fund which will sit alongside other revenue streams such as the Shared Prosperity Fund and Future High Streets fund as ways to help our cities, towns and villages

Good news this week as Somerset County Council has agreed to a full review of gritting and increasing the budget for next year. Obviously there have been some problems this year and thanks to everyone who got in touch to let me know about their experiences.

This week I have joined a working group to find solutions to issues around the Irish border and ‘backstop’ provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement proposed for our exit from the EU.

Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh was joined by Defence Procurement Minister Stuart Andrew at Leonardo for the announcement of the new 5 year contract for maintenance and repair of the fleet of 50 Apache attack helicopters. He hailed the contract as a great endorsement for the team and Yeovil site.