I HOPE your Christmas was enjoyable and, like me, you were able to spend precious time with the family. Tonight’s New Year celebrations mark the end of the festive period, and then it’s all systems go for 2015. And what a year it promises to be.

We’ve known all along that the General Election will be on May 7, 2015 – the fixed term Parliament was one of the elements of the coalition agreement. For years we’ve been used to the Prime Minister choosing the date of the election. Parliaments in recent history have lasted anything from eight months to the full five years. The uncertainty has traditionally meant a rush of campaigning when the election is announced. This time it’s very different. The General Election campaign has already started, and will be one of the longest and most intense we’ve seen for a long time.

It’s also one of the most important General Elections I can remember. A great deal is at stake, and Britain’s economy takes centre stage.

We are seeing consistent growth, while at the same time unemployment is falling and more jobs are being created. The number of people in full employment in Swindon now is greater that when I became an MP in 2010. The vast majority of the new jobs created in the last year are full-time positions – 95 per cent according to some measures.

There’s other myths we can burst as well. The opposition says the Government’s spending plans will ‘take us back to the 1930s’, and involve ‘tax cuts for the rich.’ Nonsense. That’s all based on a deliberate misreading of the figures.

The truth is that under David Cameron and George Osborne’s economic plan, public spending will be about the same as it was at the start of the last Labour government.

And under this Government, the top earners have paid more tax in every year than in any year under Labour.

Our policies are balancing the books in a sustainable way.

A strong and growing economy is fundamental to so many aspects of our everyday lives. For instance, just before Christmas, George Osborne announced an extra £2bn in funding for the NHS. In Swindon we’re seeing an increase in the budget for next year of 6.4 per cent – one of the highest of any region in the country. This is only possible because we have a strong economy, and yet all that is at risk next year.

We must keep moving forward and build on our success. Going back to the economics and politics of the past would be disastrous for Swindon and for the UK as a whole. That’s why the next General Election matters so much. Bring on 2015!