WESTMINSTER this week, as in weeks to come, was dominated by conversations about Europe. The Prime Minister promised that if elected, his government would give us an In or Out referendum – finally repairing the democratic deficit that has meant the people of Britain have had no say in our relationship with Europe for 40 years.

It is striking how the idea of letting the people decide makes many opposition politicians so nervous. Given their metro London mindsets and sneering tweets about white vans it is quite clear that they don’t trust British people to decide their own future, but luckily my Government remains committed to getting on with the renegotiation of our relationship, and putting it to the vote.

This week the PM started to deliver on his promise and the first salvos were fired with the publication of a draft renegotiation agreement that delivers substantial change in all four areas that Britain asked for: sovereignty; business competitiveness; preserving the pound and reducing immigration. There is clearly still much detail to follow but this is real progress and in areas where doubters said it would be impossible to negotiate.

The question for me is not whether Britain can survive outside Europe – of course we can – but what relationship helps us achieve our goal of being among the most prosperous nations in the world. There will be many more debates, many local meetings and more many interesting conversations to come before the big day.

The topic of business competitiveness was core to the agenda of the Wiltshire Inspire Business Breakfast in Devizes last Friday (fittingly held during British Breakfast week) at which I spoke to urge the audience of dynamic local business owners to invest more in skills and apprenticeships and to work with Wiltshire College which is focused on helping students to get the skills that local businesses need. I was pleased to highlight the wonderful Vaughan’s Kitchen of Devizes, who provided catering for the event, as a brilliant example of a provider of superb food and an investor in local skills and suppliers, although I had to munch at record speed to get through my delicious Full English before I took to the podium.

From Devizes I dropped in on Chirton School, scheduled for closure in 2012 and now a thriving village school, full of creativity and talent and also full of ideas for the future. The work that we all did to secure the future of the school is being repaid in spades and I look forward to many more years of working with them.