IN this week’s column, Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols discusses the coronavirus vaccination programme.

2020 has been a year like no other and, as we head into the new year, one that I’m sure most of us are happy to leave behind.

With a second vaccine, with fewer logistical challenges for mass roll-out than the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, expected to be approved in the coming days, I am confident that this coming year will be a better one and that the restrictions we have been living under for months can begin to ease.

The Government’s efforts must now be focused on the rapid delivery of the vaccination programme, currently behind target, and learning the lessons of mistakes made in earlier phases of the pandemic response so that they are not repeated.

We need also to ensure that key workers, such as school staff, transport workers and retail staff, are given priority access to the new vaccine in recognition both of the enormous sacrifices they have made during the pandemic and their increased risk of contracting the virus.

The financial support for individuals and businesses must also be addressed.

Most urgently, eligibility for the self-isolation support payments must be extended as only around one in five people are able to apply for this, meaning being identified as a contact or a positive test result is leaving many in real financial difficulty.

Universal Credit should also be uplifted for those who have been excluded from other forms of support such as furlough or the Self Employed Income Support Scheme.

As we begin our economic recovery, I am working cross-party with industry through the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee to identify growth sectors that can create jobs and opportunities, and to protect livelihoods in sectors hardest-hit.

Outside of coronavirus, which has naturally dominated headlines and parliamentary time, Parliament will be recalled to vote on the enabling legislation for the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement.

Labour will be voting for the deal for stability and to avoid a no-deal disaster at the worst possible time for our country.

Though it is far from the 'oven ready' deal we were promised, a deal provides a foundation to be built on and it is clear from the business, public sector and trade union institutions I have been in dialogue with that even a thin deal is better than no deal.