Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Bosworth, has been re-adopted by Bosworth’s Conservative Party to fight the next general election.
Members of the Bosworth Conservative Association unanimously readopted the constituency’s sitting MP as their representative for Parliament for the next general election, which must take place on or before 23rd January 2025.
Speaking after the readoption, Dr Evans said: “I’m very grateful to have been selected to stand again when the next election is called. With the boundary changes and proposed name change, it would be an honour to become the Member of Parliament for Hinckley and Bosworth and continue delivering for our community.
“It’s been a privilege to be your MP these last three years, and while it’s fair to say a few things have – as the saying goes – thrown the spanner in the works, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished for our area.”
The GP turned MP was elected on 12th December 2019, four months before the start of Covid-19 lockdown measures, and says his order of priorities is “Constituency, Country, Party. I put the people and businesses of Bosworth at the heart of every decision I take as their MP.
“I’ve lobbied the Government and successfully secured £19.9 million for a Conservation Centre at Twycross Zoo, millions of pounds to support Hinckley Academy and”, continues Dr Evans, “most recently landed £14.5 million for a Community Diagnostic Centre at Hinckley Hospital which means local people won’t have to travel to the city for MRI tests, CT scans, blood tests and ultrasounds. These local successes are all part of my promise to deliver for our area.”
Dr Evans’ ‘My Plan for Bosworth’ covers six priorities: Supporting a Strong Local Economy, Enhancing Skills, Education and Opportunities, Championing Local Healthcare, Progressing Rural and Environmental Issues, Improving Infrastructure and Transport and Working for our Community.
“Further projects such as £400,000 from the Rural Prosperity Fund, millions to explore reopening the Ivanhoe Line, improved internet access for hundreds of homes across our community, Hinckley and Bosworth’s share of the £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund, £1.8 million for Hinckley High Street, will also improve the lives of the people I represent,” added Dr Evans.
“But being an MP isn’t just about getting money to our area, I have received over 55,000 emails and worked on over 22,000 cases to help local people with local issues, policy concerns or casework problems they may face from passports to pensions, and health complaints to tax issues. This is the bread and butter of being an MP and allows me to draw on my experience as a GP.”
Dr Evans, one of 140 new MPs who joined Parliament after the last election, quickly caught Westminster’s attention and won Patchwork’s Newcomer MP of the Year award in 2020 following a string of casework successes for constituents and local schools.
Nationally, a large focus for Dr Evans is his body image campaign, “As a GP I saw first-hand the negative effects that social media platforms and false advertising can have on a person’s relationship with their body.” The campaign has gone from strength to strength with national organisations such as Boots, Dove, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, PureGym and Boohoo Group signing Dr Evans’ Body Image Pledge, a commitment to stop digitally manipulating body proportions in any direct imagery.
Dr Evans’ efforts on local concerns and national politics have often intersected. In 2020 he was one of a group of MPs who successfully lobbied for changes to national planning policy. “The housing algorithm would have seen rural communities like Hinckley and Bosworth burdened by inappropriate developments,” he said. “This change means a renewed focus of building on brownfield sites, protecting local environments and, importantly, our rural character.”
In the winter of 2021, following a question by Dr Evans to then Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, the 15-minute wait requirement following administration of the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine was dropped. “In medicine, as is the same in politics, we have to adapt quickly to new information,” said Dr Evans. “I was pleased that the Health Department carefully reviewed the data and dropped the wait requirement, improving NHS capacity and speeding up the vaccine rollout.”
In recent months Dr Evans has worked on national energy legislation and support for cost of living pressures, raised concerns with the Home Office following a ‘lack of communication’ and ‘failure to adhere to process’ when placing asylum seekers at a hotel in his constituency and became the first MP to deliver a speech in the House of Commons which was authored by Artificial Intelligence. The latter, says Dr Evans, was done to “call for a regulator for algorithms and artificial intelligence” following recent technological advances.
When it comes to what he hopes to achieve ahead of the next election, the MP is focussed on continuing to help constituents with casework and policy queries, furthering both his local and national campaigns and delivering on his six promises for the area.
