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Gareth Johnson
MP for Dartford

Reporting back from Dartford and Westminster - now reaching over 5,000 people in the local area

Christmas 2019

Welcome to my latest newsletter.

General Election 2019

I was honoured to be re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Dartford following the Election on 12th December 2019.

Dartford retained its position as Britain's longest bellwether seat and has consistently voted for the party in Government since 1964.

The national swing was 4.5% from Labour, with the Conservatives gaining a majority of 80 seats.

The swing in Dartford was 5.6% and my share of the vote increased to 62.9 % from 57.6% at the last election. I was also delighted to increase my majority by nearly 6,000 votes to 19,160.

it is interesting to see that the electorate of Dartford is now 82,209 and more than 54,000 people in Dartford voted.

We must now do what we promised during the Election campaign and get on with Brexit so that we can move on to other important issues affecting Dartford and the rest of the country.

Results of the 2019 General Election
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Declaration of result of 2019 General Election in Dartford

WWII Veterans meet students at The Leigh UTC

In other Remembrance Day events, three WWII veterans joined students and teachers for Remembrance Day assemblies at the Leigh UTC.

After the service, the students had the opportunity to put questions to veterans, Frank Pendergast, Bill Gladden and Alec Borrie. Frank served with the 7th Battalion Parachute Regiment and was involved in Pegasus Bridge during WWII. Bill Gladden was in the 6th Airborne, Armoured Recce Regiment and landed in Ranville on D-Day, aged 20. Alec Borrie was a member of the SAS and worked behind the lines with the French Resistance in France, Holland and Germany.

Neil Arnould, Vice Principal at the Leigh UTC said the students will never forget meeting the veterans. Some wanted to ask questions, whilst others simply wanted to shake their hands and thank them.

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Urgent Treatment Centre Consultation

As you may have seen in previous bulletins, a consultation has been taking place on where to site the new NHS Urgent Treatment Centre.

The new centre is to treat illnesses and/or injuries that are not life-threatening but do need an assessment or treatment on the same day.

There are two options being proposed, the first of which is to move the services at White Horse Walk-in Centre at Fleet Health Campus, to join Minor Injuries at Gravesham Community Hospital. The second is to relocate both of those services to a new Urgent Treatment Centre at Darent Valley Hospital to run alongside the current A&E Department.

Whilst more resources at Darent Valley Hospital would be welcome, I do have serious concerns as to how it would cope with more patients using its facilities. I have made my concerns known to the CCG in person and via their consultation.

Having a 'one-stop-shop' at Darent Valley Hospital for both minor injuries and A&E sounds attractive but under the current plans there would be no expansion of the building and no extra car parking. When you add this to the potential loss of some bus services going to the hospital, it could cause a lot of problems for people trying to access any UTC placed there.

The CCG has received 16,500 responses and it is due to announce its decision in January.

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O Vesu Van

Each month I like to feature a local business, large or small and this month's is O Vesu Van Neopolitan Pizza which is based in Dartford and produces traditional Neopolitan-style wood-fired pizzas in a converted van.

The business is a newly opened family-run street food pizza pop-up and can be hired for both private and corporate events. If you are bored with sandwiches at office meetings why not try pizza instead?

The dough has no artificial preservatives, flavours or GM products and is low in fat and has a salt content of less than 1%. The business uses Rega tomatoes and Fior Di Latte Mozzarella, which it says are quality Italian ingredients and a fast food that you do not need to feel guilty for. The O Vesu Van has also been awarded the top rating of 5 stars for food hygiene.

The O Vesu Van can be found on The Bridge on Brunel Way by the Leigh UTC on a Saturday evening between 6.00 pm and 9.00 pm. If you fancy a break from Turkey over the festive season, pop along to the O Vesu Van or check out their website by clicking on the link below.

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Queen's Speech

Highlights from the Queen's Speech can be found below:

* Prioritise leaving the EU on 31st January and bring forward legislation to ensure the UK's exit. Seek a free trade agreement and begin trade negotiations with other leading global economies.
* Facilitate talks to restore devolved Government in Northern Ireland.
* NHS multi-year funding settlement will be enshrined in law.
* New visa will ensure NHS professionals have fast-track entry to the UK.
* Hospital car parking charges will be removed for those in greatest need.
* Cross-party consensus will be sought on proposals for long-term reform of social care, ensuring that no one who needs care will have to sell their home to pay for it.
* Continue working to reform the Mental Health Act.
* Introduce a points-based immigration system which will welcome skilled workers from across the world.
* Support working families by raising the National Insurance threshold and increasing the National Living Wage.
* Increase levels of funding per pupil in school.
* New sentencing laws to ensure longer in custody for the most serious violent offenders.
* Ensure those charged with knife possession face swift justice.
* Supporting businesses by increasing tax credits for research and development, establishing National Skills Fund and bringing forward changes to business rates.
* Continue to take steps to meet net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
* Undertake an Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review.

Gareth Johnson MP
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Tel: 0207 219 7047
email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>


Copyright © 2019, Gareth Johnson MP, All rights reserved.




SURGERY DATES

By Appointment Only:

Bluewater

10th January

7th February

13th March

17th April



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Remembrance Services

In November, I attended the Remembrance Service in Central Park and laid a wreath. As Parliament was suspended, I laid a wreath in my capacity as the Conservative Party Candidate for Dartford. This Service is always very moving and is attended by huge numbers of people with veterans and youth organisations leading the procession from the High Street to the War Memorial.

During November, I also attended a remembrance event at Holy Trinity Church which included 64 children from Holy Trinity CE School in Dartford. The children took part in a musical play that looked at the lessons we must learn from the end of the Great War.

These children had been working on how WWI shaped the lives they lead today in Dartford including the role of women in WWI and visiting Parliament to learn about the suffragettes and the election of Nancy Astor as the first sitting female MP. The children had also undertaken a WWI walk of Dartford and discovered about suffragette protests in the town and reflected on four ex pupils from their school on the Dartford War Memorial. On Remembrance Day, they visited Westminster Abbey's Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and took part in a service.

Lastly, I joined Dartford Grammar School for their annual Remembrance Service held in The Mick Jagger Centre.

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Two Minutes Silence

I recently came across the painting above by Charles Spencelayh. It is set in 1928 and is entitled 'Two Minutes Silence'. The clock is showing 11 and the picture on the wall is, I assume, of his fallen son. It is a touching painting that encapsulates our remembrance of those who have sacrificed so much.

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Network Rail

Network Rail has asked MPs to remind constituents to check before they travel this Christmas.

There are engineering works scheduled at Ashford International which will mean no high-speed services between Canterbury West and Ebbsfleet from 26-29 December.

Please click on the link below to find out about other works on the network.

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Lower Thames Crossing Community Update

Highways England has launched a regular community video newsletter and new Facebook page.

The first video provides a project update and shows how the ground investigations are going. It also highlights the free training to small and medium sized businesses in Kent and Essex.

To play the video, please click on the photo above.


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Season's Greetings

All that remains for me to do is to wish all subscribers to this bulletin a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


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