TEESDALE’S MP, Dehenna Davison, paid tribute to her late father when she gave her maiden speech in Parliament last week.
Speaking in the health and social care debate on Thursday, Ms Davison, praised her predecessor, Helen Goodman, for her “good work on maintenance fees for new build estates” and also paid tribute to the NHS staff who fought valiantly to help save the life of her late father, Dominic. Ms Davison’s father, a self-employed stone mason, died after a single blow to the head when she was just 13.
She said: “A man, who later admitted he was high on drink and drugs, walked across a pub and ended my dad’s life in seconds with one single punch. As a result I spent early teenage years in and out of court cases, tribunals, meetings with lawyers and the police. While I was insistent that I would not let a dark event in my past negatively determine to my future, it’s a life I would not want other young people to have.”
She highlighted how her father had been an inspiration, teaching her “how to graft” and credited the experience following his death as the inspiration to enter politics to “leave a better world for future generations”.
Ms Davison outlined her key local priority of fighting for improved health services at Bishop Auckland hospital and the re-opening the A&E.
Ms Davison highlighted the proud history of the area’s railways, miners, farmers and footballers.
The speech, which included a light-hearted reference to a fictional wizard, also addressed her plan to work as a “true champion” for farmers, create a thriving rural economy, eradicate “not spots” by boosting connectivity, fighting for a bypass for Toft Hill and repairing Whorlton Bridge “not least because the community faces a dramatic detour which has forced the closure of the local pub, but also because of its cultural value in being the oldest suspension bridge in Britain that still relies on its original chainwork”. She added: “In Teesdale we need to protect our rural communities, with an emphasis on the farming heroes who help to feed our nation and preserve our environment.”
She said she would work closely with Utass (Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services).
