Over the last week I’ve been back at work in Westminster and am grateful for the correspondence I have received from Crawley residents on the subject of the freedom of faith; including the work undertaken by the charity Open Doors in parts of the world where the right to worship freely does not exist.
In particular, Open Doors work to support Christians who have been liberated from the horrors of living under Daesh control.
It is always my pleasure to attend events hosted by the organisation in the Houses of Parliament, as I have done on a number of occasions since my first election as Crawley MP in 2010.
I look forward to continuing to support this work to protect religious freedoms around the world, following the people of Crawley entrusting me to serve a third term as our town’s Member of Parliament.
On the day we went to the polls last week, the UK Ambassador to the UN spoke to his counterparts from across the globe to reaffirm our country’s leading role in the Global Coalition Against Daesh.
British efforts are showing results; Daesh have lost more than two thirds of the ground they previously occupied in Iraq, and almost half of that held in Syria. More than 2.5 million people have now been freed from their rule.
RAF air strikes continue against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. The UK is supporting Iraqi forces in their work to liberate western Mosul, and in recent days the RAF killed two terrorists planting booby traps in Raqqa, among a range of Daesh targets struck.
In the previous parliament I voted in favour of this action to destroy this evil death cult and to help keep us safe at home.
The UK will continue to work alongside international allies to tackle the scourge of Daesh, and all they represent.
Henry Smith MP
Crawley Constituency