Below is a New Year's message shared with Oxford Mail readers from Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds:

We are now approaching the middle of the 2020s - a decade that started with a global pandemic, was followed by economic turbulence and is now marred by awful conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine.  

For many in Oxford, the cost-of-living crisis will continue to be the biggest challenge into 2024.

Although National Insurance will be cut in early January, that only restores £1 out of every £8 the Conservatives have raised taxes by since 2019.

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In addition, their mortgage interest rate hike kicks in next year for millions of households.

And the Resolution Foundation thinktank has pointed out that Britons are set to be 4% poorer in 2024 than they were in 2019.  

The scale of the climate crisis will also become more apparent than ever next year.

The Met Office has predicted that 2024 will be even hotter than 2023, until now the hottest-ever year.  

These are obviously huge challenges.

2024 must therefore be a year of change for the better.  

Seven out of the ten most populous countries in the world will hold elections in 2024, as will the UK.

As a Labour MP, you would expect me to say this; but I do fervently hope our country votes for change at the general election.  

I keep hearing the same thing on the doorstep - “we’ve given them thirteen years”.

Now we need a mission-led government to break down barriers to opportunity, take back our streets, get the NHS back on its feet, switch on Great British Energy and get our country building the homes we need again.  

We can’t change everything overnight – but if we work together, in partnership, we can make progress.

Our city has shown that like nowhere else, given how we pulled together to deliver the Oxford vaccine. 

We’ll need that ambition more than ever next year, including internationally.

2024 must be a year where Britain uses all of its influence and resources to build and sustain peace, not least given recent dreadful bloodshed in the Middle East.  

What else am I hoping for in 2024?

Well, we will all breathe a sigh of relief when the Botley Road reopens – and I’ll keep pushing for that to happen on time, by end October.

I hope for a fitting and respectful 80th commemoration of the Normandy Landings in June.

And I also hope that the men and women of the Yellows and the Hoops continue to play great, entertaining football - and that plans for a secure home ground for the former continue to progress next year.  

Above all, I hope for the health, wellbeing and happiness of all in Oxfordshire, and their families.

Happy 2024 to one and all!