FIRSTLY, this is a letter to say thank you to all the people who turned out on a very cold January evening for the “build bridges not walls” rally in Stroud that I organised with the help of the Politics Kitchen.

I also marched in London with other women from Stroud and was massively inspired by the 100,000 women, men and children from every nationality, ethnic background, age and sexual orientation that turned up to show that when we get together in solidarity, we are unstoppable.

Over the last couple of months and in response to the election of Donald Trump, several people have said to me “it’s got nothing to do with us here in the UK and similarly, it’s got nothing to with people here in Stroud”. This is wrong; it has everything to do with us.

When a man who alone, can’t even control what he posts on Twitter and has his “finger on the button”, can set nuclear weapons off and destroy our world, our children and our grandchildren’s future, it has everything to do with us.

On the March 1, 2016 in an interview with CBS, when asked when the US should use nuclear weapons, Trump stated: “Well, it is an absolute last stance. And, you know, I use the word unpredictable. You want to be unpredictable.”

When Trump is in talks with the UK about a post-Brexit trade deal (without the protections we had in the EU for workers such as maternity and redundancy pay) and, when parts of our NHS and education system are “up for grabs” from US companies who have poor records on workers’ rights, it has everything to do with us.

Debbie Hicks Labour Party county council candidate for Stroud Central