Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant has been laying out his election pledges.
His comments come as Prime Minister Gordon Brown headed to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament ahead of a May 6 General Election.
And Mr Fabricant who first went to Parliament as the Mid-Staffordshire MP in 1992, is bidding to continue his post as Lichfield’s MP – a seat he has held since 1997.
He explained:
“If I am re-elected, I will continue to work hard locally for all the people living in the Lichfield Parliamentary constituency. This includes not only Lichfield, Burntwood and surrounding villages, but will also include Barton under Needwood which moves across from Burton at this general election.
“I shall continue to be honest, open, and transparent in the House of Commons. Despite new rules being applied retrospectively, I have remained untouched by any of the expenses scandals surrounding Parliament.”
Among the issues Mr Fabricant is hoping will win him the vote are the environment and tourism.
He explained:
“I shall continue to fight to preserve the local environment. Whether it be opposition to over-development – such as the Fradley eco-town and building on the green belt – or Labour’s preferred route for the High Speed Train, or excessive gravel extraction from Staffordshire’s countryside.
“And with boom turned to bust, I am campaigning hard to promote Lichfield, Burntwood and south Staffordshire’s economy as a tourist, business and conference destination.
“I believe our country has had enough of Gordon Brown who constantly said ‘there will be no return to boom and bust’ and who consequently made no provision for bust when it inevitably came. I think it is now time for change.”
Labour have already announced that Steve Hyden will be their candidate to challenge Mr Fabricant in Lichfield, while the Liberal Democrats have installed Ian Jackson as their Parliamentary candidate.
Mr Jackson, who is currently a Lichfield District Councillor for the Leomansley Ward, said:
“The Liberal Democrats are not in the pockets of vested interests in big business and the unions. In Vince Cable we have a potential Chancellor who is widely regarded as the only spokesman to have a real grasp of the problem. The Liberal Democrats, for example, are the only party to recognise the need to split the High Street banking functions off from Investment Banking. The taxpayer can no longer be expected to bail out the speculators.
“We will continue to campaign for serious constitutional reform where the Liberal Democrats are the only party that can be trusted to make the real changes that are needed.
“In the county council elections in 2009 we polled more votes than Labour within the constituency. We are now the only viable alternative to the Conservatives in Lichfield.”
Mr Hyden has been unavailable comment.
“I shall continue to be honest, open, and transparent in the House of Commons. Despite new rules being applied retrospectively, I have remained untouched by any of the expenses scandals surrounding Parliament.
“I shall continue to fight to preserve the local environment. Whether it be opposition to over-development – such as the Fradley eco-town and building on the green belt – or Labour’s preferred route for the High Speed Train, or excessive gravel extraction from Staffordshire’s countryside.
has Mr fabricant repaid his charges for accountants from his expenses