My constituency postbag, or rather as it increasingly is, my Inbox, has been particularly busy over the last few weeks. Constituents concerned about the cost of living crisis, how to pay their energy bills or their rent. Concern that the Government is set to tear up environmental standards which protect nature. Anti-social behaviour, the rise in Covid cases and the difficulty in getting a dentist appointment. The new Home Secretary’s plan to take away victim status from people who are being trafficked. And the list goes on.

How frustrating then that the headlines are dominated by whether the new Prime Minister keeps her job having removed her ideological soulmate, the former Chancellor, from his. As she moves to change her disastrous minibudget her colleagues are plotting to change Prime Minister. So febrile is the situation that even by the time you read this she may be gone. Or not.

The Prime Minister may be worried about the price she will pay in terms of the history books. That is nothing compared with the price working people are already paying in higher inflation and mortgages as a direct result of the Government’s mistakes.  By personalising the problem and changing their leader again, the Conservatives may hope to cling on to office. The reality is that it’s not the failure of individuals but the collective failure of a party and its ideology of trickle-down economics which doesn’t work. The economy is in crisis and our international reputation is in tatters. Only a general election and a new Government will change that.