I am over the moon to have been re-elected as our MP for Hyde, Stalybridge, Mossley and Dukinfield in the early hours of last Friday morning. To increase the majority and win every ward is a huge show of support.

I don’t take it lightly. As you can see from results around the country, there really are no such thing as safe seats anymore for any party. You have to earn people’s support, and rightly so. Whether you voted for me or not, thank you for upholding our democracy by voting, I will serve you to the very best of my ability.

I’d like to thank my brilliant agent, Jim Fitzpatrick, my lovely family who all got involved to help, my brilliant team, and the wonderful volunteers of the Stalybridge and Hyde Labour Party who always give me incredible support. I am grateful for every door knocked, leaflet delivered, and poster or garden stake put up.

The country voted for change and a new Government is now in place. It is an honour to have been asked by the Prime Minister to play a part in it as Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade.

This will be a government that works for places like Tameside – with a real industrial strategy, action to regenerate town centres, measures to improve job security, and build the homes and infrastructure we need. I’m already getting stuck in.

I can’t lie, my mum shed a tear as I took the call from No 10 to present myself at Downing Street, and that set my whole team who were assembled in our living room at the time off. You’re never to old to make your mam proud.

Arriving at Admiralty Arch to be greeted by a huge team of clapping civil servants lining the corridors was a moment I will never forget. The sense of anticipation and responsibility were huge. The Permanent Secretary showed me to my office, which somewhat crazily used to be Winston Churchill’s. There are still war maps on the wall. I’m not sure I’ll ever fully get used to a room of such rich history being my place of work!

It’s also a bit of an adjustment to go from have a team of eight staff across parliament and the constituency to support me, to a department of eight thousand. Some governments have belittled the role of the civil service and I  fear demoralised them in the process. To me these public servants are as critical to the smooth running of the country as our frontline workers. Everyone I have met so far has appeared skilled, energetic and ready to run the country differently under new management.

I’ve got straight into it, holding meetings with businesses, putting more detail to our industrial strategy attending a British Fashion Council event to celebrate our creative and textile industries, joining His Majesty at the Kings Awards for Enterprise in Windsor Castle, before heading to Buckingham Palace to collect my seals of office and officially become Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, member of the Privy Council. For a firefighter’s lad from Sunderland via Stalybridge, it does all feel kind of a big deal.

This has been a historic week, but a humbling one. People voted for change, but the results showed we are still a divided nation. Whether you voted Labour or not, we are here to serve you. We will never forget who put us here, and we will do all we can to run a government that build a bright future for Britain, as I told Laura Kuenssburg.

Heartfelt thanks for all your support over my appointment, it’s been quite overwhelming! However, constituency activity remains as important to me as ever, as you can see from my diary today.

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