AT THE time of writing, I am in Parliament about to go to the Chamber to listen to the Chancellor’s Spring Budget.

I’ll be following up with a summary of key announcements and how they relate to my constituency through my website and an e-newsletter, so please do get in touch with my office if you would be interested in receiving this.

I’ve met with the Chancellor a number of times in the last couple of weeks to discuss the budget making clear the needs of the South West where all measures to enable a thriving economy are critical, in particular in terms of increasing our productivity from the region.

In this vein, I welcome the tremendously positive news we received last week that Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata have confirmed their investment of £4bn into building the UK’s biggest electric vehicle battery factory in Bridgwater, Somerset.

Securing high-quality jobs for our area that will help drive our economy forward has been a priority of mine since being elected.

This announcement is a game changer not just for our area but for the whole of the UK. It will create 4,000 jobs locally and thousands more in the wider supply chain which will help boost the economy, with significant benefits for this constituency.

I’ve already been engaging with educational establishments across our area that are successfully working with businesses to skill up the future workforce; we must build on this new world that is opening up in Somerset and I shall be continuing the dialogue with establishments like the University Centre, Somerset, to make the most of opportunities.

More broadly, the recent upgrades in infrastructure that I have worked hard to secure, particularly the upgrade of Taunton rail station, improvements to the road network, and with the forthcoming Wellington rail station on the cards, the whole area is ready to take advantage of this incredible new boost providing the services that will be needed to link to the new site.

This also marks a major step forward in the drive to meet our net zero ambitions as a county and indeed as a country.

The firm is aiming to produce its first batteries in Somerset in 2026 and is set to provide almost half of the battery production needed nationally by 2030.

We are fortunate to have some top-class educational establishments in the constituency, including Bridgwater & Taunton College, who should be congratulated on winning the RCU award for Support for Students as part of the Association of Colleges Beacon Awards recently.

The college has won this award for the work they do in devising individual programmes for those with additional needs and learning difficulties.

Ultimately, it is helping them to lead more independent lives and to join the workforce so well done to all involved, this work is so important.

There’s some good news at Court Fields School in Wellington, having secured funding from the Football Foundation’s funding partners, including Government, an all-weather 3G sports pitch will now be developed.

Sport can be transformative and facilities like this will be a great benefit to the pupils and I look forward to seeing it open.

And making a big splash, some exciting news that the French Weir site on the River Tone is in the 27 applications announced for consultation as a new bathing water site by DEFRA.

As the former Water Minister, I worked to ensure more inland bathing water sites, like this one in Taunton, were brought forward.

I would encourage you to have your say in the consultation which closes this Sunday, 10th March.

As a Government, we are cleaning up our rivers, and in this respect, I was proud to instigate the Plan for Water so that we can crack down on water companies and we have increased fines and banned bonuses if any environmental harm is demonstrated together with a raft of other measures.

We have also introduced a target for no one to live more than a 15-minute walk from a green or blue (water) space which is why additional bathing sites will be so beneficial.

Finally, sticking to environmental issues, it was an absolute honour to represent the UK as a Vice-President at the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) in Kenya last week.

UNEA-6 provided an opportunity on the international stage to demonstrate the UK's commitment to collaborative action to address the profound environmental challenges we face.

It is clear that we are regarded as world leaders in terms of the environmental legislation we have set in place under this Government including the stretching targets we have set legally to restore nature and meet our net-zero commitments.