The incident in Birmingham last weekend was truly shocking. My thoughts go out to all the victims of this appalling crime. But knife crime isn't just a problem in our cities; in 2017 Ryan Passey was tragically killed at the hands of a knife after an altercation right here in our town.

I would like to thank all school staff across the constituency who have spent the summer months making classrooms Covid-secure in preparation for a full return in September. Parents can feel reassured about the safety measures that have been put in place.

Last week the House of Commons rose for summer recess and so I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on my last eight months as your MP.

Firstly, I am proud to say that in this time, I voted to get Brexit done and we have left the European Union.

As easing of Lockdown continues, I thought it was important to share some of the current UK COVID-19 statistics.  From just 2,000 tests per day in March we now have the capacity to conduct over 300,000 tests per day – with 311,113 tests available on 6th July 2020.

Thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of everyone, we are succeeding in bringing coronavirus under control, and have been able to cautiously reopen parts of our local economy.

I thought that I would update you on progress in our fight to defeat COVID-19.

Last week the Prime Minister confirmed that we had passed the peak of Covid-19 and I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to you all for the massive collective effort to shield the NHS and prevent an uncontrollable epidemic across Dudley Borough.

We have just experienced an Easter like no other. Normally we would have all been out with family or friends, on an Easter break or visiting one of our many places of worship. Instead we stayed home, we protected the NHS and we saved lives.

This week I thought I would begin by giving you an insight into my life as a Westminster politician during the unprecedented crisis that is the invisible killer, Coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented situation and we must take the strongest measures to slow its spread, as a community we must not be complacent.

We need to take the steps outlined below to save people’s lives.