SINCE my last column there have been two big developments.

The roadmap out of lockdown has been published and we had the spring 2021 Budget this week.

We now have an actual set of dates we can look forward to and businesses can plan around with schools going back on March 8 which I know will be a huge relief to parents and teachers. Local headteachers I have spoken cannot wait to have all their pupils back with them.

Then we see more and more open up until we reach June 21, when hopefully we should be back to something looking close to normal. Nothing is certain but the vaccine roll out continues to go well locally and nationally.

Over the recent half-term break I had the privilege of volunteering alongside NHS staff again so I got to see first hand the strain Covid-19 is still placing on the NHS. We aren't out of the woods yet. I am glad I went back on the front line again.

I think it was the right thing to do with my time away from Parliament as constituency visits that you might normally do weren't really an option. Instead I got to talk first hand to staff about their experiences. I know me helping out is nothing compared to what they do day in and day out.

How we carry on funding our NHS and how the government is planning to support business to get back on their feet was laid out in the budget. This is when you hear about what is going to happen to things like income taxes and VAT and things like fuel duty.

The government has stuck to its pledge from the election not to raise income taxes to help people and families keep more of the money they earn. They have also kept the freeze on fuel duty so your money goes further.

But we all know the big challenges to come for getting our economy back to normal. So furlough has been continued until September and many of the local businesses in Crewe that have struggled are going to get grants of up to £16,000 to help them reopen successfully as we come out of lockdown.

The first thing I want people to remember is that we have only been able to help people like we have over the past year because of the difficult ten years we went through getting the enormous deficit in public spending under control.

These were tough times for everyone, particularly public services. But it has meant we had the financial firepower we needed to protect livelihoods and jobs during this emergency. People should remember they contributed to that.

What the Chancellor has shown this week is that we are going to carry on supporting jobs and businesses and protect people's livelihoods. We are going to help people get back on their feet.

Tax rises are targeted at the very biggest and most profitable businesses because we know smaller businesses need to help us get our economy back on track. This is a Conservative Budget that delivers for hard working families and businesses and sets us up to get back to growth and success as we come out of the lockdown.

I know there will be a lot of debate about pay for NHS staff. I will listen carefully to the different arguments. Some of the health unions are asking for a pay rise of 12.5 per cent. That is something that I just do not think is affordable.

Any decision on pay will need to reflect what is happening in the rest of the economy - if hundreds of thousands of people in the private sector are losing their jobs and take pay cuts then the government needs to be mindful of that. It is the taxes paid by those people that pay for NHS staff salaries.

I also know from talking to staff that tackling vacancies and getting more staff overall is what would make a big difference to them. If the choice is between big pay increases or having even more doctors and nurses and other staff, I would prefer the latter.