Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

An e-newsletter from your MP, Mary Robinson.

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🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎄

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and all your loved ones. This year has certainly been a difficult one, but there is light as we begin 2021.

This is a very different festive period to normal, for Christians celebrating Christmas and also for our Jewish community who have just marked Chanukah.

Our local hospitality and leisure venues have worked incredibly hard to be Covid-safe, and a strong case has been made against treating the boroughs as a single entity - so it is disappointing news that we remain under Tier 3/Very High restrictions.

However, local organisations are working so hard to bring us joy at this time of year Handy Ladies Feeding the Community group have held a 'drive through' Santa's grotto. Many Churches are also putting on virtual Christmas services (you can spot me doing a reading at St Mary's service this Sunday at 6pm!).

An early Christmas present - vaccinations and mass rapid-testing!
This month has seen breakthroughs in testing and vaccines, with further good news on the horizon.

We are one of 67 Local Authorities where community testing programmes will begin as part of the Government's winter Covid plan. We'll be receiving thousands of rapid turnaround lateral flow tests which will be able to detect asymptomatic cases and lower our transmission rate even further. This community and school testing will help us navigate our way out of Tier 3 restrictions as we lower our level of infections.

I've called for community testing and rapid testing in Parliament and made the case for our area and our local schools to receive these tests with ministers - our community is working so hard and I strongly welcome this announcement!

This great news comes after the announcement that our very own Stepping Hill Hospital has not only begun to roll out our local immunisation programme earlier this month, but is also one of 50 national vaccine hubs!

As we’re doing our Christmas shopping, let’s not forget our local shops!

Small Business Saturday - supporting our local shops and startups!

On Small Business Saturday on 5th December and in the days preceding, I visited many small shops around the constituency to see how small business owners were getting on and to do my Christmas shopping.

I welcomed the news that despite the need for tiers, non-essential shops could open. In Heald Green I visited Peter Herd bakery and Ian Morris butchers, Greenhouse Books and Create-it! in Cheadle, Daisies Floral Design in Cheadle Hulme, and Amaranth, Modiste, Jim Hall Sports and Crookilley Crafts Emporium in Bramhall.

In Bramhall, Em's Easy Eco, a zero waste refill shop, and Foot Care by David Taylor have opened up during lockdown, and have been helping us all to get through. Fantastic shops like Crookilley Toys Emporium are also still continuing click and collect via Facebook.

A few days later, I joined in the debate in Parliament on 10th December on our local high street shops - lockdown reminded us that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. The run up to Christmas is a great time to show support for local shops! The Government has really helped local businesses across Cheadle, with 2,270 Bounce Back Loans and £18 million in Business interruption loans - in addition to thousands of grants worth millions of pounds.

I've also set up a survey for small businesses - if you are a small business, please do visit the page on my website here.

Thank you to all the shops throughout this year - whether open or closed

Office & Contacts Over Christmas

Although my office will close for Christmas at the end of Wednesday 23rd December, I will still be able to pick up emails and any new or ongoing queries will be dealt with when the office reopens on Monday 4th January, however if you have an issue which requires urgent attention then I will do my best to assist. A list of emergency contacts is available from Stockport Council here.

My Views

In addition to regular casework correspondence, I receive a number of campaign emails and postcards each month regarding various topics. While I always prefer to get back to people directly in the first instance, each month I publish these views on my website. You can read these here.

Surgeries

I hold regular surgeries both at my office in Cheadle Hulme and around the constituency. In-person surgeries are suspended at the moment in the light of the current situation. However, my team and I will be assisting on all enquiries so please do continue to get in touch with us.

Thank you for taking the time to read my latest e-newsletter. As ever, if there are any issues you'd like to raise with me then please do get in touch. In the meantime, my very best wishes for Christmas, and I'll see you in the new year.

Mary Robinson MP
Member of Parliament for Cheadle

Constituency Office:
8A Station Rd | Cheadle Hulme | SK8 5AE
0161 672 6855

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