MAY I thank all the residents of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire who voted in the election last week and for returning me as their MP for the third time.

This job is a great responsibility as well as an honour and one that I take extremely seriously. I am also grateful to those people who helped me and my team in our campaigning efforts, displayed boards or messages of support.

There is no denying that the election at a national level didn’t go exactly as planned.

We failed to explain the challenges ahead clearly enough nor how we planned to overcome them. Even more importantly we failed to provide optimism and hope (as distinct from false optimism and hope!) at a time when our economy is doing well and when young and old have good reason to be hopeful.

That was as frustrating for us candidates as it was for the rest of the population, and I can only apologise.

Anybody who wishes to get in touch, whether or not they supported me can always do so on simon.hart.mp@parliament.uk

SIMON HART MP

Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire