George Osborne's Christmas message for Alderley Edge

After a turbulent year the Christmas holiday gives us a welcome break to reflect on 2016 and look on to the challenges ahead. It is also a time to appreciate the most important things in life – the family and friends who support us through the hard times and the good.

I am so grateful to be Tatton's MP and the support of my constituents is not something I will ever take for granted. Meeting them, listening to their concerns and doing all I can to help is the most fulfilling part of my job. It doesn't matter whether someone supports me politically or not. I'm here for everyone, working with my fellow MPs to make Cheshire a better place to live.

A major part of this plan is my new Northern Powerhouse Partnership. The North of England is brimming with talent but it needs the infrastructure to enable cities and counties to work together. Together, cities like Manchester and Leeds, counties like Cheshire and Lancashire, can be far greater than a sum of their parts and end the economy's reliance on London. We have to get this right and I am determined to make it happen. It will bring jobs and bright futures for our young people here in Alderley Edge.

It has also been an eventful year for the Alderley area. Cheshire businesses are going from strength to strength. It was great to welcome new life science start-up ApconiX to the BioHub at Alderley Park. We also flew the flag for our county in Westminster, celebrating local produce at Cheshire Food and Drink Day in Parliament. It was great to see local businesses Tatton Brewery and Burts Cheese showing their wares. Our local talent is making an impact on the national stage. Better broadband will help companies like his to grow and I was pleased to see so many more properties connected.

Our local schools continue to provide the high quality education our children deserve. I was lucky enough to visit Wilmslow High twice, once to help Sale Sharks put on their award winning education programme to use rugby to teach young people about money management, and a second time to join the French Ambassador in a French lesson ahead of Year 8's school trip to France. I also joined local primary pupils from Alderley Edge and Wilmslow when they were taught crucial first aid skills by North West Ambulance staff, a fantastic initiative that really saves lives.

I am always blown away by the community spirit of people I meet in our town, from the poppy sellers at Sainsburys to the volunteers at the Combined Charities Christmas Card shop. The team who steered Wilmslow to their third RHS in Bloom Gold Award also deserve a special mention. Presenting the Legion d'Honneur to local Wilmslow residents who took part in D-Day was a moving reminder of the sacrifices their generation made to allow us to live in safety and freedom today. It was also a great honour to join local campaigner Anthony Harrison at the new Handforth Community War Memorial to pay my respects to local men who died in both distant and recent conflicts.

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.