Recently renationalised Greater Anglia (now known as GBR Anglia) has introduced a range of improvements for rail travellers in Bury.

Key service improvements include an extra morning peak Ipswich to Cambridge service on the newly-named St Edmund’s Line and an evening peak Cambridge to Ipswich service Monday to Friday.

These improvements will benefit Bury’s rail travellers in terms of frequency and capacity. With rail fares frozen too, we are keeping train travel affordable, protecting people from inflation, and providing greater certainty over commuting costs.

The Government aims to bring nearly all English passenger rail services under public ownership by the end of 2027, saving the taxpayer an estimated £150 million a year in operator fees.

More frequent trains and frozen rail fares mean more opportunities for families in Bury to enjoy the Government’s new package of support over the summer.

From June 25 VAT will be cut to 5% on a range of family experiences from children’s meals and cinema tickets to museums and fairs, and from August 1 every child aged 5-15 in England will travel free on buses, saving a family with 2 children taking a regular weekly bus journey £27 over the month.

I warmly welcome the Government’s £30 million crackdown on dodgy shops our on high streets.

Bury is far from unique in having seen an increase in the number of vape shops over the past decade. Some of these businesses undercut honest business owners and give cover to criminal networks.

Under the Government’s new High Street Organised Crime Unit these premises will be subject to raids, shutdowns and cash seizures.

What a pleasure it was to meet Mr Hope’s citizenship students on a recent trip to Sybil Andrews School. All of the 80-odd students told me that they get their news via social media with just one student answering that they read a daily paper and four that they watch news on TV. I was impressed by how much the students knew about current affairs, and how engaged they were in politics but I also encouraged them to read news stories from across a range of different social media platforms to get a balanced view and to develop critical thinking.

Social media obviously has an important role to play in political discussion but as a Government we also have a responsibility to protect children from harmful content. I welcome the recent announcement that the Government will make platforms verify ages, remove harmful content, disable addictive features, and prohibit under-16s from accessing the most harmful social-media services including the sharing of nude images. The government has said it will legislate if firms do not introduce these important protections.

Bury celebrated Pride this year with its first ever procession attracting hundreds of local residents. Despite some especially nasty comments posted online ahead of the event, it was a wonderful day of celebration.