Rupi and I needed to see some real evidence that the recession was coming to an end. So last Sunday night we persuaded some friends to baby-sit and we headed to the Guildhall.

I’ve got to be honest with you, Cajun music is not my favorite thing to dance to, but we gave it our best shot. Aside to our clumsy footwork, the big spectacle on the last day of the local Cajun Festival was all around us. People. The hall was packed; people had come from far and wide - including Holland and the USA.

Goodness, they were really enjoying the night and they appreciated our City – and its changes. The number of folk who told me they had been here before but this time felt blown away because they were staying in hotel facilities like the Docks Travelodge during the day, following it up with some shopping in the Quays and then coming down to Eastgate Street to dance the night away.

Later in the week we had decisive news about the recession. Unemployment is still an issue in Gloucester and in our country. But look at the figures and you see how we’ve doggedly got through this recession with the help of real government intervention. The latest figures say that our claimant count in Gloucester has just gone down from 3,145 to 3,082. Compare this to the Tory recession of 1992 when our population was smaller and yet our claimant count was a massive 5,596.

My own upbringing and the struggles we had as a family has taught me never to be complacent about things like this – I know the impact that just one redundancy can have on a family, believe me. But I’m also glad that some of the measures and funding I’ve been fighting for and helping us to gain has not been in vain.

As the Cajun Festival continued with a packed night at the Guildhall, Rupi and I sloped off and I packed a bag at home in readiness for a few days in Westminster.

As I traveled up the following morning I couldn’t help but think that the work we do in Westminster can make a difference to the tune we dance to in the City, and the numbers who are out there dancing.

Parmjit Dhanda MP

Member of Parliament for Gloucester