Parliament is still grinding through important legislation, but gradually Westminster is winding down with the House officially rising today.

London is blissfully emptying as people head off for the holidays and I am also looking forward to heading home this week to finish decorating the tree and start opening the Quality Street.

My local office will be closed for the week between Christmas and New Year but we will of course be checking messages and picking up on any urgent local matters. The Christmas storms of last year that knocked out power for many at the most inconvenient time are thankfully not in the weather forecast for this year, but we remain on standby, just in case.

As I look back on 2014, there is plenty to cheer about, with the economy moving solidly ahead, unemployment tumbling as more people find full-time jobs, youth unemployment at the lowest level since the 1970s, fuel prices coming down, rail fares frozen in real terms, and progress in building the roads, railways and infrastructure that Britain needs.

There’s been a steady improvement in wages, plus tax cuts for 24 million people (benefiting the lowest paid most of all), meaning that we start to feel the progress in our pockets. Locally, we have seen the return of more services to Savernake hospital, our high streets seem in good shape with many local traders reporting boom conditions and getting some welcome help on business rates, the Army re-basing plans that will see our area become home to thousands more soldiers and their families are progressing well and I was happy to secure funding worth £3million so that service leavers can get more help to retrain for civilian jobs.

On the debit side of the balance sheet, there are still more local priorities to keep fighting for, and local tragedies to mourn like the loss of young lives on the roads in recent weeks.

The uneasy international situation in the Middle East and Russia and shocking attacks like the Sydney siege or the brutality of the massacre of innocents in Pakistan are a reminder that we live in uncertain times.

The more time I spend in politics, the more I think that Bill Clinton’s 1992 phrase, “It’s the Economy Stupid” is really the central mandate of government.

Without a strong economy we can’t afford armed forces to protect our interests, to pay for teachers or nurses or to build the infrastructure. I feel a 2015 slogan T-shirt coming on…