LETTER: MP should publish hospital material

Is this arrogance or ignorance on behalf of our MP?

The County Times has published many letters from Ray Battersby over years. Mr Battersby has constantly questioned Francis Maude’s commitment to delivering a new hospital.

Carol Hayton has done likewise and I am sure there are many more residents who raise their eyebrows in disbelief every time Mr Maude raises the subject of a new hospital.

It is not that I don’t want a new acute hospital in Horsham but while we have hospitals in Crawley, Redhill, Chichester, Worthing and Haywards Heath, it is surely unlikely that money will be found to build an NHS facility here in Horsham?

Members of Horsham Labour Party know this, and we contest that Mr Maude also knows this, but he finds it politically expedient to constantly call for a new acute hospital.

I suspect that the level of effort that Mr Maude has put into delivering a new acute hospital for the people of Horsham is no greater than commissioning a report at our expense, adding a line to a Tory newsletter and election address and asking it to be raised in his column every so often.

To ensure that our MP does not contribute further to the already dangerous disconnect between the electorate and those at Westminster, I am requesting that Mr Maude publish in detail, in the pages of the County Times, all of the meetings undertaken, papers written, emails and letters sent in pursuit of a new acute hospital so that we can judge for ourselves the extent of his efforts.

Failure to publish will only increase the suspicion of some that his efforts are more related to getting himself and Henry Smith elected than delivering a new acute hospital for the people of Horsham and Crawley.

DAVID HIDE

Chair, Horsham Labour Party, Clarence Road, Horsham