The last few weeks have brought a number of issues into sharp focus.

The relationship with the EU, the management of the pandemic, the economic situation and the inequality that is hurting the most in need the hardest.

These issues have been across my desk over Christmas and New Year as I have sought answers, read detailed papers and then weighed options. I have always sought to represent you with the right motivation and your best interests in mind.

In politics the easy choices never hit the headlines, but the difficult ones always do. Normally there are issues to consider from all sides of the argument and tests to apply, while with every decision I take I seek to create a fairer, far more equal society for all.

Parliament was recalled between Christmas and New Year to vote on the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill. It was spun as a vote on the Prime Minister’s “Deal”. However, his ‘EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement’ was neither up for debate nor a vote; he’d left it too late for that.

The Agreement, itself, was very thin. It failed to address the trade needs of 80 per cent of the economy, it admitted failure as new custom arrangements mean that our borders are now tied down by bureaucratic checks, inspections, ‘friction’ and expense: even for goods if there is divergence.

It never achieved equivalent terms as visitors to the EU will now have to hold a visa if they go there for more than three months, have to pay roaming charges on their phones and many of the benefits we have taken for granted have now vanished. It certainly will not encourage inward investment, jobs and better security at our borders.

One thing the Agreement did achieve was a comprehensive framework for future talks, insisted on by the EU, to help the UK resolve all the outstanding issues that were not addressed. This is detail, I know, but is important.

So the last minute, cobbled together, pretty much hollow deal, was far from the 'oven ready deal' with equivalence we were promised. It showed a failure to be able to negotiate and put in place the security our economy and country needs. It exposed what happens when you promise something that can never be delivered.

The subsequent Bill was therefore uncontroversial, for those that read it. It was technical in making provision for data sharing on criminal activity, on product safety, and how systems would operate. Measures that would never catch a headline yet are essential to maintain some of the protections citizens had in the EU. So when the spin was stripped away, and the facts emerged; a very different truth was told.

The learning of this is that the Prime Minister consistently says what is not.

The problem is that when this applies to Covid19, people die. The shocking rise in infections has been the result of the absence of a strategy for dealing with Covid19, a PM seized with dither and delay in making decisions.

His optimistic tones are now being reflected back as cruel statistics.

The 'fantastic NHS' is on its knees as staff are broken by the relentless stream of Covid19 patients; teachers have been put into a spin with plans changed by the hour; and now his meddling in the efficacy of the vaccine means that science is being tossed aside so that he can once more boast of vaccinating millions when few will be protected.

As for the UK economy and the significant hardship he has caused by failing to provide essential support, while frittering billions away on failed contracts to his cronies, it now ranks as the worst hit globally, plunging people into new depths of poverty and leaving businesses to crumble.

Covid19 has exposed deep seated poverty, inequality, the lack of resilience in our public services and now the Prime Minster himself.

Enough. I will speak plain. We need to stop the rise of infection. The only way to do this is to stop contact. All measures must be applied, and financial support provided to make this possible. Once back under control, we must open up the economy in a Covid-secure way, not like last time when there was a free for all. I called for this before, I call for it again.

The painful truth is this: you cannot spin your way out of this crisis, you have to lead with honesty and integrity. It is time to level and time to act. To make another mistake now will be too costly to contemplate.