Ashfield MP demands stronger action against those who damage statues and attack the police

And we weren’t the only ones.

Throughout the day several people turned up to help and we were eventually asked to stop when the professional cleaning company turned up.

We were making a point in that, no matter what you think of our past leaders, they are part of our history.

Churchill was not perfect by any stretch but as I pointed out in my interview afterwards, we would be living in a much different country than we are now, and we have all benefitted from the efforts of Churchill and our forefathers all those year ago and we should never forget that.

As with any protest you will always get an element of trouble makers who will hijack a cause for their own ends, those ends being vandalism, mindless violence and, given the opportunity, a spot of looting.

I stood on a ticket of law and order in the election but the events over the past few weeks in London have quite clearly shown that the public want to see much stronger action, and so do I.

We should not be boarding up our statues and monuments and we need to make sure our police are backed up.

A group and I of backbench MPs have written to the home secretary to ask her to look at increasing the jail sentence for yobs that desecrate our war memorials.

This is now being looked at by the justice secretary and the ministerial team.

Believe me when I tell you that the new Tory MPs in the midlands and the north are cut from similar cloth to me and we will not sit back and say nothing.

We will be heard at the very highest level.

People who are genuinely concerned about racism do not attack our police and damage our statues

Likewise, people who are genuinely patriotic do not attack our police whilst singing God Save The Queen.

A few weeks ago in Commons, I asked the Leader of the House Jacob Rees Mogg to assure me that the Brexit extension period would not be extended.

Last week, the time limit to ask for an extension passed its deadline so the ball is now the EU’s court.

They can either have a grown-up debate with us or the UK leaves at the end of the year on WTO terms.

Now leaving is an absolute certainty, British businesses will be in a much better position to cope post-Covid to ensure the minimum damage to the economy as possible.

Finally, our shops are starting to open back up this week.

They have had a tough time and I would urge everyone to think again about shopping online too much.

Please go out and support our local traders, without your support they are at risk of closing.

Stay safe and shop safe.