HALTON MP Derek Twigg reached a milestone serving the borough 20 years in parliament this year.

In his Christmas message, he commends health professionals.

Mr Twigg said: “The NHS continues to be under severe pressure and reaching a crisis point and I pay a particular tribute to the doctors, nurses and all the staff in the NHS, who despite the major challenges our health system faces, do a tremendous job and work so hard.

“I am grateful for the dedication and hard work of all our emergency services, who will continue to work hard for us over the Christmas and new year period.”

Mr Twigg also thanks selfless volunteers who give up their time to help needy families.

He said: “Christmas will sadly be a difficult time for some of our community, in particular those who need to rely on foodbanks, manage on low incomes or are alone at Christmas. My thoughts will be with them this Christmas.

“I want to put on record my thanks for the tireless work of the foodbank volunteers who give so much of their own time to help.

“In my role as MP I see so many acts of kindness by local people, helping those less fortunate than themselves.

"My thanks go to all those individuals and groups for caring so much about our community.”

Reflecting on 2017, Mr Twigg said the Westminster agenda has been dominated by the outcome of the EU referendum.

He added: “Politics continues to be turbulent and unpredictable, few predicted that Teresa May would call an election on June 8, the result of which continues to have major ramifications for British and European politics.

“Westminster has been dominated by Brexit following last year’s referendum with many hours of debate and late night voting on legislation.

“Politicians need to work hard to achieve the best outcome for the UK, my priority as always is Halton.”