Every time I visit Iraq or Afghanistan I am blown away.

Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us - a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead.

We spend billions of pounds on welfare, yet millions are trapped on welfare. It's not worth their while going into work.

People are increasingly frustrated that decisions taken further and further away from them mean their living standards are slashed through enforced austerity or their taxes are used to bail out governments on the other side of the continent.

I am not a British isolationist. I don't just want a better deal for Britain. I want a better deal for Europe too.

No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.

Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean. And while we must never take this for granted, the first purpose of the European Union - to secure peace - has been achieved and we should pay tribute to all those in the EU, alongside Nato, who made that happen.