When I became a Member of Parliament, our economy was reeling in the wake of the financial crisis.

More than 600,000 jobs had been lost in two years, pushing the unemployment rate up to eight per cent.

In the Chippenham constituency, more than 1,500 people were claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance, compared to around 600 before the crash.

Since the election, I have been working to turn that around, by helping local employers keep jobs here and create more. With the Liberal Democrats in Government, businesses have created more than 1.4 million jobs across the country, helping to bring the number of Jobseekers locally down by a third.

Important to that effort has been the Regional Growth Fund, established by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to invest in businesses all over the country. Last year I helped Cooper Tires win a conditional offer of £1 million from the fund to keep their Melksham operation competitive and help secure a future for several hundred local jobs. I’m continuing to work closely with Cooper’s to keep those jobs in Melksham.

Dunlop recently announced that it is closing its tyre plant in Birmingham, and I’m determined to make sure we don’t see that sort of thing here.

At Prime Minister’s Questions last week, I urged David Cameron to help manufacturers make their plants more energy-efficient. More of that sort of investment will help cut operating costs and ensure our vital manufacturing industry has a competitive and sustainable future here, while also cutting climate-changing pollution.

Later, I joined fellow parliamentarians of all parties at a conference with leading Chinese politicians, to share frank insights about each other’s political systems and learn more about the opportunities for co-operation between our two countries.

Back in Wiltshire, I joined representatives from Community Education Awards and Cooper Tires at Corsham Primary School to hand out activity books that will help pupils learn the importance of good behaviour and the hurt caused by bullying.

From there it was on to Melksham’s new Blenheim House retirement home, where I met residents over a cup of tea and heard from management about their ambitious expansion plans.

After two busy constituency surgeries in Chippenham and Melksham, my next will be at Bradford on Avon Library on Saturday, from noon to 1.30pm.