You decide who will become the decide the next MP for Hastings & Rye

The Hastings & St Leonards Observer asked Liberal Democrat candidate Nick Perry why the residents of Hastings and Rye should vote for him.

Here is Mr Perry’s statement:

Having spent 15 years working in frontline mental health services I know first hand how important it is to have a properly funded NHS – not just meeting our physical health needs, but our mental health needs too. I am proud that the Liberal Democrats will deliver the £8bn the NHS needs over the course of the next Parliament.

We can only make this investment because we have put the country’s finances in order and turned the economy around. We have halved the deficit and created nearly two million jobs.

Liberal Democrats in Government have created a stronger, greener economy in order to underwrite a fairer society, so that there is opportunity for everyone.

We have taken millions of people on low wages out of tax, benefitting many in Hastings & Rye, and we aim to take everyone earning the Minimum Wage out of tax altogether.

We have spent £2.5bn each year of this Parliament targeting money at school children from disadvantaged backgrounds. If elected, I will make my priority the provision of excellent local schools across our constituency, helping to protect education spending from cradle to college.

I will also campaign for a change of direction in our regeneration efforts away from building empty office space to investing in homes and people and regenerating the sports and community facilities of Hastings, St Leonards and Rye.

I will continue to fight for a fairer deal for the fishermen of our towns and I will deliver the improvement of our public transport infrastructure that we all want to see, demanding the electrification of the railway to Ashford sooner than the HS1 extension and the creation of a South Coast Mainline Railway.

I will be a skilled and an independent-minded advocate for our constituency at Westminster, bringing to the job of MP a wealth of experience from a working life outside of politics, dedicated to the most vulnerable in our society.

I hope you will consider supporting me on May 7.