The Liberal Democrats' local manifesto

Thursday is polling day not only in the General Election, but also in the local council elections. I very much hope that we Lib Dems win lots more councillors here in our borough of Barnet and here is our local manifesto, which I strongly endorse. Here's an interesting thing. Some people think that when you become the local MP for Hendon, you are somehow put in charge of delivering local services. The reality is different. I would be the local area's representative in the House of Commons, looking at national issues on local people's behalf, but I wouldn't have any control over services that are delivered locally.

So, if, as a Parliamentary candidate, I claimed to be able to deliver lots of local improvements, I would be being dishonest, and I don't want to do that. Our local area would benefit from the Liberal Democrats' national policies and I would strongly fight for those policies to be implemented nationwide including here, for the benefit of people living in Hendon. So my top three local priorities as MP for Hendon would be:

1. As a community campaigner, I would hold deliverers of public services to account, as I have already done in my Thameslink campaign - cutting through bureaucracy on your behalf, so you don't have to
2. I would fight hard for Hendon to get its fair share of national resources
3. I would scrutinise legislation for things that might be bad for Hendon, so that they can be amended or removed.