FIRSTLY, I am pleased to be able to inform readers that I have been reselected as the Conservative candidate for the newly redrawn Leigh and Atherton constituency for the next General Election.

I was also very pleased that the decision was unanimous, and that Leigh Conservatives have faith in my record so far as MP.

I have been proud to play my part in securing nearly £20m for the recently announced upgrade to Leigh Infirmary, the £13 million investment in Wigan & Leigh College as well as the multi-million pound rebuilds of schools such as Fred Longworth and Golborne High, and of course working alongside residents in stopping the hated section of HS2 that would have destroyed the heart of Lowton, a campaign which took 10 years to come to fruition.

I was also pleased to welcome the long-awaited detailed plans for Golborne Station, which the Government has already allocated £15m towards reopening, planned for completion in 2025. It is my ambition that reopening Golborne will serve as a stepping stone for bringing forward a new railway station serving Leigh in the future at Kenyon Junction.

There was also the hugely successful 'Keep Leigh in Leigh' campaign, which prevented the Leigh constituency from being abolished and our town carved up in the Parliamentary boundary review.

Speaking of which, it has now been confirmed that the ill-advised Mayoral CAZ congestion tax will not be coming to Leigh under any circumstances. Twelve months ago I raised my concerns on the floor of the House about this crazed scheme thought up by the Mayor and Wigan Council, which would only have added an extra burden on to hard-pressed families and businesses.

Other councils under the same instructions to improve air quality, such as Leeds, which managed to avoid a CAZ altogether, and Birmingham, which only applied a CAZ scheme in a small area of the city centre, managed to come up with much more sensible and workable proposals.

This illustrates both the perils of flawed devolution, and the continuing importance of the ability of backbench MP's to intervene where local decision making has clearly been wrong.

This is of course on top of the 18,000-plus individual pieces of casework I have carried out on behalf of residents since 2019.

Much has been done, and much remains to be done, such as securing a successful Levelling Up fund bid for Leigh town centre, as well as my long running campaign to complete the Atherleigh Way bypass, and, as mentioned, a station for Leigh.

I am pleased local Conservatives have chosen me to continue this work, and I hope that residents also choose to do so.