I LIKE to use this column in the Evening Mail to comment on local issues, as that is what I feel you want to read about. Very occasionally I stray into national issues when I feel circumstances force me to and today I feel I have to comment on a global issue - the US presidential election.

It is fair to say that I have been fortunate that in my lifetime the liberal values that I believe in have been supported by most people in the Western world. I have felt fairly confident that I was bringing up my children in a world where freedom, respect for the law and concern for those around you were values shared by most of the people they would come across.

However, yesterday in the US election it became clear to me that I can no longer take this for granted. I have never felt the things I believe in so strongly to be under such a massive threat. Or course it is very early days, Mr Trump has been making some more supportive and healing noises since he was elected, but I worry that the people who voted for him will not pick up on this change as quickly as they rose to support him in many of the racist and sexist statements that he made during the course of the election.

All through the campaign we heard journalists say how this was an election like no other. This was so true and so depressing because the kind of language and the things being said reflected a view of the world that I had believed we had left behind decades ago.

I work as a politician and I know that many people do not hold my profession, if you can call it a profession, in the highest regard. But speaking personally I stood to represent the people of Westmorland and Lonsdale in parliament to try to ensure that they got the very best deal from whatever government was in power and that has and will always be what I see my job as being.

I take massive pride from knowing that we have dealt with tens of thousands or pieces of casework since I was first elected. I can think of few jobs more rewarding than helping people find somewhere new to live when their home is flooded or any of the other thousands of issues that we help people out with every year.

I really cannot see how the election of Mr Trump is going to help me in this or any of the people who need our support. I am certain that we can only sort out the issues we all face by coming together and all trying to help those around us, not by pulling up the drawbridge and sending those in need away.

What I learnt yesterday was that I have been massively complacent in assuming that everyone understood this. I need to work so much harder to get my message across. The alternative is too awful to think about.