CLACTON’S new Member of Parliament has invited other MPs to visit our “constantly overlooked” part of the country during his maiden speech in the House of Commons.

Giles Watling gave his first speech – which by tradition is not interrupted by other MPs and pays tribute to the previous incumbent – on Monday.

The Frinton councillor and actor, famed for playing Oswald the vicar in Carla Lane's 1980s sitcom Bread, was elected as Clacton’s new MP with a 15,828-vote majority last month.

During the eight-minute speech he said it was an honour to be elected to represent Clacton - and that he was lucky to stand for election at all.

He joked: “Just a few short weeks before I stood for election – at the by-election in Clacton in 2014 – I was on tour with Jason Donovan in a production of ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’. I have played on many stages across the world in 45 years, but this has to be the finest. Thank you, residents of Clacton, I will do my very best for you.

“I was honoured and indeed humbled when the residents of Clacton gave me the overwhelming support they did at the last election.”

Mr Watling went on to praise former Clacton MP Douglas Carswell, who announced he would not be standing for re-election when Theresa May called the election.

He said: “It must be said that we did not always see eye to eye, but I will say this: Douglas was an extremely good constituency MP.

“He always behaved like a gentleman and it is to his credit that we fought those two elections without any mud-slinging.”

Mr Watling also called for more respect on social media, where he said “plain nastiness” was regular during the election campaign.

He went on to laud the constituency as “the sunshine coast” and praised its “fast-reviving” tourist industry.

But he added: “I find it absolutely incomprehensible that this extraordinarily special place so dear to my heart, lying as it does a mere 70 miles from London, has historically been constantly overlooked.

“That 70-mile journey takes the best part of one hour 40 minutes by train, which is simply not good enough.

“A journey by car during peak times is an adventure only for the very brave. The A12 is known to be one of the worst roads in the country.

“Down good roads wealth flows. Imagine if we could bring that journey closer to an hour. We would suddenly get the wealth of London on our doorstep and we would regenerate.”

Mr Watling told MPs that Clacton faces many challenges and that infrastructure is needed, but said the area was “on the up” thanks to the work of Tendring Council, which he praised for starting on the long-awaited regeneration of Jaywick.

He also invited MPs to visit Clacton and Holland-on-Sea’s new beaches, created as part of the £36million sea defences.

Mr Watling was followed by Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely, who gave his own maiden speech.

Mr Seely joked: “I want to say what a great privilege it is to follow my honourable friend, the member for Clacton, but such was the brilliance of his speech that my heart rather sank.”