I’ve had a busy couple of weeks in Parliament, speaking on a wide range of issues – the biggest being the release of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the brutal murder of Woking constituent Sara Sharif.

The day the report was released, I immediately raised this with the Solicitor General in Parliament, who has agreed to meet with me to discuss urgently implementing the report's recommendations.

What’s most shocking is that the report makes clear what I had feared: all the warning signs were there, yet they were not acted upon.

The authorities were fully aware that Sara was at risk, having placed her on a child protection plan before birth. Social workers and her school raised concerns that were not acted upon.

Sara’s father was given custody from her mother, despite a history of domestic violence. Her murderers exploited loopholes in the home education system to conceal their abuse: “there can now be no doubt that Sara’s father and stepmother used home education to keep Sara hidden from view in the last weeks of her life.”

Given the gravity of this report, and the clear failure of council officials to follow their own safeguarding processes, there must now be a fundamental cultural shift within Surrey County Council to ensure its rules are enforced and that no other child is left to slip through the cracks of a system designed to protect them.

I have therefore called for Surrey County Council’s Children’s Services to be placed into special measures immediately, and I am demanding accountability from senior council officers, including the executive director for children, families and lifelong learning, Rachael Wardell.

Rachael Wardell should appear before MPs to explain why she accepted an £8,700 pay rise after Sara’s death, despite the catastrophic failings within her department.

With 15 urgent recommendations set out in the report, it is essential they are implemented in full – and proper accountability at senior level is crucial to ensuring that happens.

We owe it to Sara, and to every vulnerable child in Surrey and beyond, to ensure that no child is ever again murdered by those who should love and care for them.

I’ve been back in Parliament for the Budget, listening carefully to understand its impact on Woking. My main hope was for a 5 per cent cut on VAT for the hospitality sector that I have been calling for, as well as measures to support the hospitality sector that has been hit so hard in recent years.

Doing so would help ease cost-of-living pressures – as would reducing the prohibitive costs of installing renewable energy in privately owned homes.

That’s why I raised in Parliament the case of a local resident who wants to replace his gas boiler with a renewable alternative, but is worried about the upfront expense, and asked the Minister what the Government is doing to bring these costs down.

I’d also like to say a huge congratulations to Rudie Maisey from St Hugh of Lincoln Primary School, this year’s winner of my annual Christmas card competition – thank you to all the primary school students who entered.

I was delighted to join Rudie’s school assembly to share the news and speak with the students.

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