WHOEVER wins today, it’s going to be a long tough haul for Britain. Wyre Forest is going to need an MP with some fairly extraordinary talents to get us through.

It’s going to require ideas, dynamism and the intelligence to win the argument. It demands some nifty lateral thinking to resolve the many problems which local people have brought to me – education, jobs, crime, social cohesion, immigration, care, health, environment, housing, business, transport.

It also requires someone who is going to go down to Westminster and punch above Wyre Forest’s weight to get things done, to attract investment, to get us noticed.

It’s a daunting task but one I want to take on.

Of course, I have a wish list far longer than my arm – more teachers, police officers, GPs and nurses (both clinical and caring); an all-day London rail service; a shuttle train from Bewdley to Kidderminster stopping at an overspill carpark by the Safari Park and Foley Park halt; total transformation of the bus service; a relief road that helps get freight to the motorway faster; the regeneration of our town centres; a Stourport boat show; a theatre to replace the Civic Centre; new council and social housing; stronger connections between businesses, college and schools; rebuild the youth centres; more allotments at fair rents; a debating league for schools; a tree sponsorship scheme for school children; expanding the Youth Cafe in Bewdley and similar facilities in Stourport and the villages; more care beds to end bed-blocking at Kidderminster Hospital; permanent GP services in the emergency unit and a long-term goal for proper emergency services; a midwife-run birthing unit; rescuing Dial-a-Ride; settling the taxi issue to everyone’s benefit; rebuilding Sladen as the vocational education annex of the college it was supposed to be; getting local banks more involved in business development; a local enterprise fund; school pools re-instated on the Building Schools for The Future plans; agricultural apprenticeships; proper local markets for local produce; a Wyre Forest quality chartermark for local goods; visual improvement of closed shops; a campaign to save our pubs...

For now, we can’t afford all of this but if you don’t have dreams, you go nowhere.

I want to be part of Wyre Forest’s positive future so I hope today you’ll vote for me, work with me and we can get a few of these things started.