IT has been a huge privilege representing you as the MP for Barrow and Furness these past seven years and I will be asking you to re-elect me on June 8.

This is the election that Theresa May said again and again she would not call, but now it is happening I am looking forward to getting out on the campaign trail to talk about the future of our area.

Since I was first elected in 2010, we have achieved so much. We came together to save Furness General's maternity unit when it was threatened with closure by the Tory government. We stood up for more jobs and opportunities in the area. I have been able to help hundreds of people who have come to see me at my regular surgeries - and of course I am proud of the role I played helping secure the historic parliamentary vote on the Dreadnought programme that is bringing 20 years of work to the shipyard.

There is so much still at stake though and I want to continue fighting for our community:

- Pressure on the NHS means the future of our hospital is still not secure, with our local health trust still facing a big deficit that would require deep cuts in services to eliminate.

- We need to do more to help our schools get our young people to the stage where they are leaving school with the qualifications that they need to succeed.

- The investment rolling into the area must be targeted to tackle deprivation in Barrow and give everyone the opportunities that they need, unlike the boom and bust in the town in the 1980s.

- We need the best possible deal from the Brexit negotiations. I am profoundly concerned that the Conservatives are putting Britain on the wrong track in a way that will cost jobs in our area and damage living standards.

But I have made an unusual declaration at the start of this campaign because I owe it to you to be honest about the leader of my party - Jeremy Corbyn. Mr Corbyn does of course have some ardent fans, but I have lost count of the number of local people who've told me that they have always been Labour but they are profoundly concerned about him. They raise his lifelong opposition to Trident renewal or fear that he is just not cut out to be prime minister.

Put simply, I feel the same. I want to give you the chance to vote for a strong, independent-minded Labour voice putting Furness first and holding the government to account safe in the knowledge that your vote will not put Jeremy Corbyn anywhere near Downing Street.

How would that work? Well, in the highly unlikely event the Mr Corbyn was in a position to try to form a government (and let's face it, we are 20 points behind in the polls under his leadership; it is not going to happen). I would refuse to endorse his premiership in the necessary parliamentary vote that would follow.

That is not an easy thing to say, and it has already caused some of my party members to fall out with me. But my first duty is to you, the people of Barrow and Furness, and to my country. I will be the independent fighter this area needs to get the best deal from government and I cannot countenance endorsing anyone for the top job when they are simply not fit to carry it out.

I promised when I first asked you to vote for me that I would always put Furness first and that means in these circumstances doing what is right rather than what is easy.

So let's get cracking. I am sure I will see many of you on the campaign trail over the coming weeks and I look forward to running a positive campaign focused on the issues that matter to people in Furness.