I can’t believe that a year has passed already! In the early hours of May 6th last year in the Sports Centre at Hemel I heard the words “I hereby declare that Michael Penning is elected to serve as Member of Parliament for the Hemel Hempstead constituency.” I couldn’t have imagined the rollercoaster ride that I was about to embark upon. Now, one year on, I get the chance to look back at some of the highlights and activities of the previous 12 months: Within hours of being elected, I was at the House of Commons sorting out admin arrangements and starting the hunt for an office. On the 7th July I, like the rest of the country, was shocked, saddened and angered by events in London. It is numbing when terrorism strikes so close to home. On a personal note, I was appointed to the influential Health Select Committee a position I was particularly keen to accept as I see it as one of the best chances I have to air my concerns about the downgrading of Hemel’s Hospital.
In August, together with South West Herts MP, David Gauke, I delivered 1,400 letters inviting Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt to visit Hemel and Watford hospitals. She should see for herself, the effect closure will have on local patients. Needless to say she didn’t take up the offer then and apparently has no plans to do so still. As Secretary of the All-Party Gibraltar Group, I was honoured to be invited by the Government of Gibraltar to the national day celebrations in September. The people of Gibraltar are fiercely loyal to this country, they are self sufficient and don’t ask us for money, I fully support their wishes to remain British. At the beginning of December I visited Hemel Hospital little knowing that it would soon play a part in a national drama. On Sunday 11th, we were all woken very early by the explosion at Buncefield Oil Depot. The destruction and devastation caused has had repercussions far wider than we could have envisaged at the time. Some families have still not yet returned to their homes. Many companies have had to relocate. The environmental damage may not be apparent for some time to come. I spent the whole day visiting Buncefield and the rest centres set up by various organisations, so I was in an excellent position to be able to witness first hand the hard work, dedication and commitment put in by the emergency services, local councils, voluntary organisations and others. We were so lucky that the explosion occurred at 6am on a Sunday morning. It is nothing short of a miracle that no one was killed.
I was highly honoured in the New Year to be elected by my fellow back-bench Conservative MPs to the Executive of the 1922 Committee. It is very rare that a newcomer MP is elected to the executive of this highly influential committee. Jubilation didn’t last long, however, as within a couple of days I was locked up in jail. Not headline news though, myself and others spent a night in HMP The Mount to raise money for my ‘Charity of the year’, The Hospice of St Francis. In February I launched my ‘Limit Luton Airport’ campaign as plans were released to expand Luton Airport by building a new runway. I firmly believe that Luton does a great job as a regional airport servicing low cost airlines. I don’t believe that our local infrastructure can cope with the demand created by what would become London’s second airport. I will soon be submitting the petition to Parliament.
I seem to have spent the entire year fighting against centralisation and the “bigger is better” mantra of this Government. Larger police forces, centralisation of emergency services control rooms, larger – more distant – hospitals…and there’s more to come – with the probably merger of Dacorum and other local authorities on the horizon.
Aside from my Parliamentary work I have enjoyed visiting a wide range of constituency organisations and meeting with so many constituents.
As for the future? Well, I will continue to fight against the closure of any part of the hospital, I will fight for transparency in the Buncefield enquiry, I will continue to fight for Dexion pensioners, I will continue to fight for our dedicated firefighters, I will continue to fight against police force mergers. My door is always open to any constituent – if you have a problem, I will be happy to help! | 
