My focus if elected as Witham MP would be to work for local people.

A key issue is that while there has been housing growth, insufficient services and facilities have been provided.

Witham town needs a community hospital or walk-in clinic as well as enhanced GP facilities.

We need improved public transport, including a passing loop on the Braintree branch line, to improve services and help reduce commuter parking.

I would also work for a transformation in the provision for cycling and walking.

We do need more local housing, particularly affordable housing but we should be using brownfield sites first, as well as converting disused offices for flats and bringing empty homes back into use.

As well as opposing the waste incinerator planned for Rivenhall Airfield, I also will the other large scale developments proposed in the countryside in the A12 and A120 corridors.

The A12 and A120 do need investment to make them safer and more effective – but not motorways!

We need true Localism, not the current sham version which has left local communities with less say on major decisions.

We also need an end to the austerity agenda which is seeing the NHS, the police and local authority services put under ever more pressure.