Alicia Kearns survived the mass cull dished out to Conservative MPs by the electorate in July. 

Winning by a comfortable 10,000-plus votes, she is serving another term in Westminster, although for a newly created constituency, as boundary realignments mean she now represents Stamford and Rutland and is no longer MP for Melton. 

She is now a minority MP in the largest Labour government ever elected and says she is already feeling the impact of the decisions the new government is making, with her inbox groaning under the weight of emails about the introduction of VAT on private schools and cuts to fuel benefits for pensioners. 

She says: "The thing I'm struggling with the current government is they are introducing things at such speed. Winter fuel, if you look at the maths underneath it, is going to cost the state more than it is going to save – so it makes no sense at all.  

"I made a speech in parliament saying 'delay it for a year, do not cut it for people with life-limiting conditions. I'm hoping they [the Labour government] will change their mind at the budget." 

She describes the decision to impose VAT on independent schools as 'cruel' and says it will have a significant impact on the local economy – the constituency has 10 public schools which collectively employ more than 2,000 people. She said she fears public schools, which spend 70 per cent of their outgoings on salaries, will have to make redundancies. 

Parents are getting in touch with her to say they cannot secure an alternative place in a comprehensive school in the county. 

She says: "I would like to think I am one of the least partisan politicians but what you have seen is a policy of dogma and envy. The maths does not add up, it does not make sense economically and also, I think it might be illegal." 

Labour's new proposals to change policy on house building, and devolving power and funding down to a local level, could also have a big impact for the area and she has concerns. Rutland's local leaders fear the government could say the numbers of new homes built in the county each year must more than double. 

She says: "What is deeply unfair about the announcements they have made is Leicester, Nottingham, London have all had their housing targets reduced. Why are they lowering targets of labour-voting cities but putting up in Conservative areas?" 

She agrees more affordable homes are needed. She was a supporter of the St George's Barracks build proposed for Oakham but thinks a top-down approach, in which government decides, could ruin the local character. 

She says: "The rural nature of our villages is really important and the size of them because it reflects the kind of lives people want to live 

"We do need more housing, but it has to be more appropriate, not just to shove a random number on. 

"We have to protect our rural way of life because it does matter, and we are under attack. Just ploughing onto old communities can really suffocate." 

As for devolution, she is 'not convinced it will work for Rutland' as she does not think the county will get out what it puts in with funding being directed to other areas. She says the area would be 'forgotten and abused.' 

The main thing she wants to achieve in this parliamentary term is improvements to the A1. She recently secured a review to be carried out by National Highways on central reservations on the entire route, but this will take a year. 

She is also arguing for a new national sign to alert drivers when there is a short slip road, so vehicles move over to allow drivers to join. She would like to see Rutland piloting a scheme. 

The MP is keeping tight-lipped on who she will back to become the new leader of the Conservative Party as she is on the party board but says she will make it known soon. 

And her view is, despite its huge majority, Labour can be beaten at the next election.  

"In 2019 we won that enormous majority, and everyone said: 'That is it – the Conservatives are in for next 10 years' and now look where we are, with the biggest labour majority in history.  

"I do think we can because Labour had two years when they pretty much knew they were coming into power. You only get to control the narrative for the first six months you are in power and then after that the government just becomes like a ball rolling down the hill. Yet in their first three months the things they have done have been incredibly dogmatic and incredibly ideological. I'm really surprised. I think they have misstepped a lot. Things like winter fuel – people will not forget."