THE newly-elected MP for Durham City has used her maiden speech in the House of Commons to invite her colleagues to see for themselves the progress being made in her constituency.
Quoting Bill Bryson, the newly-appointed chancellor of Durham University, Roberta Blackman-Woods invited her fellow MPs to visit the city.
She said her colleagues should discover its heritage and see for themselves the improvements brought to Durham by the Labour government during the past eight years .
The academic, who won the seat at the General Election with a majority 3,300, also paid tribute to her predecessor, Gerry Steinberg.
She said that Durham had seen rising exam pass rates among pupils, falling burglary rates and declining death rates from circulatory diseases and cancer.
She said: "One has only to look around my constituency to see how investment in public services is making a difference.
"In Durham, we have a new hospital, a new state-of-the-art further education college, and we are shortly to have new buildings for Durham Johnston School. We have a Sure Start scheme with a children's centre already being built, and more children's centres on the way."
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