There comes a time in the life of all Members of Parliament when they have to stand before their local members and confirm they wish to stand again in the next General Election.
This time came for me this last weekend, and I am very happy to say the good people of the Brentwood and Ongar Conservative Association – in the form of the Parliamentary Selection Council - have re-adopted me as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for this constituency.
The Chairman of the Association, Cllr Keith Barber, was kind enough to describe me as “a principled and hard-working parliamentarian who can be relied upon to do the right thing for his constituents and our country.”
As ever, this means the hard work continues in the Brentwood and Ongar constituency. Last week, on Shenfield High Street, I caught up with the Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, who is doing an excellent job in ensuring Essex Police has the funding and leadership to make the force the biggest and strongest it has even been in its 182-year history. I will be updating you my work with Roger in the coming weeks - but we are keen to ensure that our area sees its fair share of the money the government are investing into policing.
Separately, I am immensely disappointed to have been told that the Elizabeth Line from Shenfield to Stratford is to be closed at weekends for most of March. Having suffered years of disruption and rail replacement services while the Elizabeth Line was being created, it is baffling our travels to London is still being disrupted. Transport for London tell me the line closures are so Network Rail can carry out maintenance. I will be writing to Network Rail to find out when we can expect to have a rail service which allows us to travel to London at weekends without regular line closures and will post their response when it is received.
