On Friday this week the Department for Transport will publish the details of the final consultation on the delivery of the Operation Stack relief lorry park, at the Stanford West site. The decision over the preferred location for the lorry park has been made by the government and this final consultation concerns the details of […]
Last week I met with John Gale and Terry Noakes at the Folkestone Trawlers Association, to discuss the outcome of the referendum on Britain leaving the European Union, and its impact on our local fishing industry. This is now an opportunity to re-write the rules as the UK prepares to withdraw from the Commons Fisheries […]
This week Britain will have a woman Prime Minister for only the second time in its history. I am delighted that Theresa May has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party and I believe that she will give the country the direction it needs at a time when there are many challenges […]
The referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union last week was one of the greatest democratic exercises in our history. Over thirty-three million people voted with the result producing a victory for the leave campaign. I campaigned for a different result, because I believe that staying in the European Union would be better for […]
On Friday morning last week, I visited St Eanswythe’s primary school in Folkestone, where I was given an excellent tour by the headteacher Jane Garrett, and heard about the pupils recent sporting successes. I then met with the headteacher of the Mundella primary school in Blackbull Road, Nigel Pantling, where I was shown some of […]
Standing under the Step Short, First World War memorial arch on The Leas in Folkestone, the decision we have to make as a country on 23rd June seems small. During the First World War there were ten million movements of soldiers through the town, to France and the trenches of the Western Front. For many, marching […]
I recently met with Kent's 'Rural plc', an organisation that promotes investment in countryside and farming businesses across the county. Farming in Kent is a big business. Within the county the farming sector alone is worth £5.4billion, employs 85,000 people and, were it to be viewed as a company, would rank 57th in the FTSE […]
In two weeks time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne will present his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons. This speech will set out the government’s spending commitments and the budgets for the different departments. Last week I led a delegation of 12 MPs from Kent to see the Chancellor to urge him […]
On Friday evening this week I have been invited by the Sandgate Society to deliver the Greenwall lecture, at 7.30pm in the Chichester Hall. The Society has been working at the heart of life in Sandgate Village for over fifty years to preserve its character, conserve its fine historic buildings and to organise events to […]
A better local NHS with more services being delivered in the community, closer to where people live, is one of my top priorities for our area over the next five years. Folkestone is already leading the way as the first town in Kent to offer patients access to a GP seven days a weeks, between […]