I am writing this, my latest column, on the train travelling back to Nuneaton. I have just left my office in the House of Commons and, as I walked down the stairs, I thought to myself: did all yesterday’s events really happen!

As I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the area with police incident tape blocking my normal route out of the Palace of Westminster, it confirmed just what I had most wanted to forget. 

At the time of yesterday's terrorist attack it was simply another day. I had just voted and then things changed very quickly. The sitting was adjourned and MPs and officials were immediately ‘locked down’ into the Commons chamber. Initially, it was not obvious what was happening.  We were told no more than ‘there had been an incident’. Then the tragic news started to come through.

I was locked in with many other of my colleagues for about 5 hours whilst the police and security services did their job. This unforeseen inconvenience was a very small price to pay and I am grateful for the professionalism of our police and security staff.

It was a tragic afternoon and my thoughts are with the family of PC Keith Palmer who acted with such bravery to defend our democracy.  My thoughts too are with the other innocent victims who were killed or injured.

Whether it's in London or Nuneaton each of us must join to defeat terrorism and be vigilant at all times.

It's difficult to say much more in my column this afternoon. The terrorist attack has put everything into proper human perspective. That said, we must all carry on and show we won't be defeated.

On a completely different subject, business rates has been raised as an issue in the press recently.

Although there has been some challenging press about the business rate revaluation, overall for our area it's a pretty positive story with business rate bills in Nuneaton falling by 11% on average.

This particularly helps our Town Centre where many businesses will see some very welcome reductions in their rates bills.

For those faced with the sharpest increases there will be two schemes administered by Councils, worth £410 million pounds, to help particularly the smallest businesses.

Most of our local pubs will also get a £1,000 discount on their rates bills this year to help.

Although there is only modest evidence of change, with the arrival of Pure Gym and some new independent cafes in Nuneaton Town Centre, I know there is real interest from serious investors. The reduction in business rates could really help turn around our fortunes in Nuneaton.