Having been in my fair share of life and death situations, I can speak with some confidence to the bravery of our emergency services first responders. They selflessly put themselves in harm’s way to protect the public at large at great risk to themselves. 

Many police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency service personnel suffer severe injuries incurred in the line of duty which can prematurely end their careers. However, the current honours system means there is little recognition for the sacrifices that they make. 

Whilst there is the recently introduced Elizabeth Emblem which commemorates those who have died in public service, the civilian equivalent of the Elizabeth Cross, and separate gallantry medals for police and firefighters, the stringent criteria and scope of those medals mean they are rarely awarded.

I am therefore pleased to support a campaign started by retired Sussex Police Officer Tom Curry which calls on the Cabinet Office and Honours and Appointments Secretariat to establish an Injury in Service Award. Such an award would formally recognise and honour the sacrifice of emergency service workers severely injured in the line of duty. 

This includes Paul Jones, a former Essex Police Officer who lives in this constituency. He served for four years in the police in Harlow and Epping Forest before he was paralysed in the course of his duties. 

According to figures from the campaign, Paul is one of a total of 16,267 former police officers from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland who were severely injured on duty and yet have no medal recognition. 

I am supporting this campaign to ensure that our emergency services heroes like Paul get the thanks that they deserve.