LETTER: Smoke and mirrors

The latest announcement from Maria Caulfield on the A27 '“ £3 million to be devoted to a study on dualling the Polegate to Lewes stretch '“ is another case of Tory smoke and mirrors.

The £3 million is not an additional sum, but is taken from funds already promised some time ago, and the timing of the announcement is transparently intended to give a boost to Maria Caulfield’s campaign. Tory promises on road improvements tend not be implemented anyway. Witness the recent pulling of plans for the Arundel and Chichester by-pass.

The Conservatives have been trying for years to promote plans for a major dual carriageway to be driven through one of the most beautiful and iconic landscapes in the country, creating noise, pollution and scarring the countryside for ever. The Lib Dems are absolutely right to point out that the real need is for junctions along this stretch of the A27 to be made safer. Astonishingly the sum of £13 million obtained by the previous MP Norman Baker for just this purpose has not been spent.

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The people of the Lewes constituency are too canny to be taken in by the sudden appearance of the Secretary of State for Transport at Maria Caulfield’s side and the game of smoke and mirrors played with illusory sums of money. We deserve better – an MP who actually lives in the constituency, who is immensely hard-working and focused on serving her future constituents rather than on furthering her own political ambitions. We deserve an MP who really does share the interests and concerns of the constituency – it has to be Kelly-Marie Blundell.

V. Smith

Manor Cottages

Heighton Road, South Heighton