WITH the amount of LED lighting and tinsel I have put up at home this week it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas – if we ignore the balmy spring temperatures and the rain.

Despite the murk and drizzle there was a fabulously festive atmosphere at the Burbage Christmas tree sale last Saturday where I donned my volunteer Santa hat to help record numbers of people buy more trees than ever, as well as stock up on locally produced crafts, Savernake apple juice and a whole host of Christmas goodies – all of which benefits the Burbage Church, the school and many other groups in the village. The Pewsey Belles were in fine voice and a great festive time was had by all.

With so many of us splashing out on Christmas gifts, there was welcome news for wallets this week with the release of the latest batch of employment numbers. They look healthy with unemployment across the UK remaining at the joint lowest rate for over a decade – down nearly 900,000 since 2010.

As well as unemployment continuing to run at a 10-year low, the number of women in work is at a record high of almost 15 million and youth unemployment is down 352,000 since 2010.

There are 31.8 million people in work, up by 2.7 million since 2010 – that’s well over 1,000 jobs created on average every day – and average wages excluding bonuses grew by 2.6 per cent over the last year.

It is good news that shows the strength of the British economy, helped by the rate cuts and funds flows from the Bank of England and as we head towards the start of the Brexit negotiation process, the challenge will be to shape a deal that helps our economy to continue to thrive.

My Westminster work will continue into next week with a round of debates, meetings and visits, but a highlight of this week for me was welcoming former Marlborough mayor Councillor Margaret Rose and her daughter to Westminster as they attended the All Party Group for Brain Tumours to hear the latest on research in this area.

Having lost a family member to this awful illness, Margaret made fundraising for brain tumour research one of her mayoral charity targets and handed over a cheque in excess of £11,000 at the end of her term of office.

It was a privilege to see her in Parliament and congratulate her in person on her Herculean efforts.

I will be holding my usual advice surgeries during the festive break so please do get in touch if I can help you with anything.