WITH a General Election now called and Parliament dissolved, I am no longer the Member of Parliament for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle and this will be my last column in this paper. The baton now passes to the various candidates who will fight it out over the next five weeks for the right to have the honour of representing this amazing part of West Cornwall.

In my time as an MP, most of the schools in our area have had at least two head teachers. I have seen four Chief Constables, three Chief Executives at Cornwall Council, seven Council Leaders and more NHS Chief Executives than I can count. In any leadership role, I believe you should give it 110 per cent for as long as you can but then move on. In every job I have done I have always moved to the next chapter in life rather than linger on the final page of the previous chapter and that is why I decided to move on.

I grew up at Trevakis Farm near Connor Downs and my family have lived in the area for over four hundred years. Not everyone who goes into politics has the opportunity to represent their home seat and for me it has been a privilege to do so these last fifteen years. This is the part of Cornwall where the work gets done. Our industrial heritage in mining and engineering means we still have world beating businesses rooted in those sectors. We still have talented engineers and our expertise in drilling technology is still applied in mines around the world as well as the oil and offshore wind industries.

The loss of tin mining and industrial titans like Holmans was a blow to our confidence. In my time I wanted to focus on getting that confidence back so regeneration and getting new industries like computer software was high up my agenda. It is hard when an area takes a hit. Unslumping yourself is not easily done but we have so much to be proud of and so much talent that I have seen during my fifteen years. As an MP I always enjoyed visiting the thirty five schools in our constituency to meet the staff and pupils and to hear about their hopes and aspirations for the next generation. I want to see them succeed.

In some areas, Cornwall's geography places it at a disadvantage because it is a peninsula and at the end of the line. We cannot draw on neighbouring resources at times of need or when the system is under pressure. It's just us. It's why we ended up with the motto "one and all" because throughout our history we have had to find resilience from within. Today this is apparent in both the NHS and social housing providers and I have had the privilege of working with some exceptionally talented individuals in both of those fields doing their utmost to make things work.

When I first became MP, in my maiden speech I used a fabulous quote from Richard Trevithick where he bemoaned all the opprobrium that had been heaped on him for the inventions he had brought forward but said that he drew secret pleasure and pride from knowing in his own heart that he had done good things and that, in the end, is all that matters. In politics, no one really gets the credit for things they get right and no one is there for very long in the scheme of things. The most important thing is to do your utmost while you are there and to know in your own heart what you have done.