IN recent weeks, I have met several constituents at my advice surgeries and a delegation at the House of Commons to discuss fair trade and ways of helping the developing world.

They raise an important point and I agree with them that fair trade and access to world markets is good for developing countries and good for us as increased competition keeps prices down.

However, removing trade barriers and subsidies is not a painless task and one that is best carried out with international partners.

I know the Government is leading arguments for fair trade, for increasing aid and for tying that aid not to commercial contracts of the past but to education programmes and health care.

Last week, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced a £1.5 billion increase in our aid budget by 2005.

This is the biggest ever rise in UK aid, a 93 per cent increase since 1997.

We can all do our bit too by buying "Fair Trade" goods which are produced in countries that need the trade, grown without exploitation of workers and in sustainable ways.

On Friday, I visited The Cedars, a nursing home, to see for myself the sort of services on offer, the excellent care the staff give and to listen to the concerns they have about the standards they are expected to meet these days and the level of funding they receive.

As a constituency MP, I see examples all around of the improvements in services there have been since 1997.

But we are challenging a lot of service providers to deliver even more improvements as extra investment comes in and sometimes this is difficult.

It is vital that I am able to hear the views of all those affected.

It would be impossible to meet every request for policy changes but I will always do my best and explain the reasoning behind the changes we are making.