Delivering services in rural areas is more expensive and should be reflected in central Government funding. Our Councils are among the lowest funded in the country - Leicestershire is the lowest funded County Council per head in the country.

For too long beautiful rural areas like ours have come second best when it comes to Government investment.

I want to bring fairness back to government funding and make sure here in Rutland and Melton we get all the support we need, so we can give:

- exceptional social care to our older generations,

- protect our environment,

- benefit from decent quality broadband,

- feel safe benefiting from policing that doesn’t forget our villages,

- support for our famers including flood provision,

- ensure schools give our children the best chance in life, and

- that we have roads that get us safely to work and back home again to our families.

But I also want to protect what makes Rutland and Melton so extraordinary; from our local pubs, to the enormous sense of civic duty, friendliness, and our rural way of life that is so very special.

As your MP I will champion Rutland and Melton and protect our rural way of life.