Backing our Farmers

Whilst being an MP before the election, I have tried to regularly listen to farmers and meet with farmers plus the local NFU rep. If re-elected I shall ensure that we support our farmers and secure a post-Brexit deal for farming. The conservative manifesto outlines how we will do this:

• Free our farmers from the bureaucratic Common Agricultural Policy and move to a system based on “public money for public goods.”
• Guarantee the current annual budget to farmers.
• Ensure sustainable and eco-friendly farming.
• Expand the annual quota for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme.
• Roll out gigabit broadband across the country by 2025.
• Tackle rural crime.
• “Buy British” campaign to support our farmers and our incredibly high standards of animal welfare and land management and the world-leading quality of our food.

Backing our children

Education has always been my priority and passion. I successfully campaigned for more money for our schools so primary schools will now get a minimum of £4,000 per pupil and Secondary £5,000.

I was recently appointed as an Education Minister and have made improving SEND provision one of my key priorities. Over the last four years I worked hard with local businesses and Wiltshire College to expand the number of apprenticeships on offer locally.

Biggest ever pothole-filling programme

As we enter a cold Winter here in Wiltshire, our roads will be tested by very tough conditions and inevitably, more potholes will spring up locally. While it may seem like a small issue, potholes present a significant problem for thousands of motorists in the Chippenham constituency – causing damage to cars and making some stretches of road potentially hazardous.

While serving as your MP, I have taken this issue seriously and made significant progress by working with Wiltshire Council and Transport Ministers to get our pothole problem sorted. Through my campaigning efforts in Parliament on your behalf, we managed to secure £6.6 billion for local highway authorities including Wiltshire Council between 2015 and 2021 to help them improve road surfaces, fill-in potholes and maintain local bridges. I am proud to announce that the Conservative Party will also be investing £2 billion directly into the biggest ever pothole-filling programme on a national scale.

At the same time I have been working to make sure that Wiltshire Council gets its fair share from the Pothole Action Fund so that teams are able to go out and fill potholes in on a ‘find and fill’ basis. New technology in both road materials and pothole filling vehicles is also becoming available to us locally, so if I am re-elected I will continue my hard work to take us forward to our goal of having a pothole free county in the future.