POLITICAL OPINION: Andrew Griffith MP - People leaving London do not simply disappear
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Sometimes it’s easy to think of ourselves as far removed from the throbbing metropolis at the end of the main line but the news last week that London’s population is now shrinking for the first time since the pandemic — and only the fourth time in most of our lifetimes - should worry all of us.
London is not shrinking because the overall population is doing so - far from it. Some of the record number who are leaving London will be fleeing abroad but most will be seeking to live in our part of the world — putting more pressure on housing, GPs, dentists, and roads in West Sussex. The people leaving London do not simply disappear.
Much of that demand is transferred elsewhere, increasing competition for homes and public services in counties like ours which are already under considerable pressure.
London has a 24/7 infrastructure and could easily accommodate far more housing, but lack of pro-building policies, rising crime and government attacks on landlords leading to a restriction on rental supply are all driving people out. London already has the transport, hospitals, schools and employment centres needed to support growth. By contrast, every additional development in rural areas brings new demands for roads, surgeries and other infrastructure.
I have also been thinking this week of Lissie Harper, the brave wife of PC Andrew Harper who I met in 2021. Her husband was brutally killed in 2019 by two criminals now serving barely adequate sentences for manslaughter. The prospect that these men, whose remorseless, grinning faces have adorned front pages up and down the country, could now be released early by this government is completely sickening. Early release also forces victims and their families to relive crimes they had every right to believe had already been properly dealt with by the courts. Like most Conservative MPs I will be doing all I can to ensure the PM does not get away with this terrible slap in the face for victims and law abiding citizens