Improving local services in West Sussex

So we have an election. Assuming that the House of Lords pass the Bill, we will go to the polls on Thursday 12 December.

We need to get Brexit done so that we can focus on improving the country for everyone.

There was good news for West Sussex last week as Barclays reversed its decision on cash withdrawals from post offices.

I lobbied hard on this issue, holding crucial meetings with ministers. With the loss of bank branches we need post offices to offer the full range of banking facilities.

On Monday the Government announced a £1 billion deal with the mobile phone industry to banish rural ‘not-spots’ by sharing mobile phone masts. This will bring 4G coverage to 95 per cent of the UK by 2025.

This is in addition to the £5 billion commitment to deliver ‘gigabit’ broadband to the hardest-to-reach areas of the country, so that every household has access to ultrafast speeds.

There is other good news for us locally. The biggest ever cash boost ever for the NHS - an extra £34 billion by 2023-24 - will ensure that we can protect our local hospitals, which I have always fought for.

This week the Government has announced that Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust will receive new state-of-the-art MRI, CT and mammography screening machines.

The Government has announced 20,000 extra police officers nationally, meaning that frontline police officers in Sussex are set to increase by a further 129 by 2021.

This is on top of the 250 extra police officers that Sussex Police have already started recruiting over the next four years.

I have fought hard for fair funding for West Sussex schools. So it’s great news that schools funding will be increased by £14 billion, with minimum funding of £5,000 for secondary school pupils next year and £4,000 for primary school pupils by 2021, and extra money for special needs, too.

We need to make sure that our smallest primary schools don’t lose out in the detail, and this week I met a local headteacher and governor to discuss the issue. I have already raised this with the Schools Minister so that we can get this sorted out.

These policies to improve public services in West Sussex have only been made possible by a Conservative Government delivering a strong economy that is creating jobs.