October kicked off with a visit to the Conservatives Party Conference in Birmingham where I spoke to Heart Gloucestershire about the great news that the Severn Bridge tolls were being axed ahead of schedule.
I also caught up with the Leader of Gloucestershire County Council, Cllr Mark Hawthorne, and Cllr Brian Robinson who represents the Mitcheldean division, and was pleased to hear that GCC are delivering on their pledge to spend £150million on upgrading our roads. We have seen some great projects already delivered here in the Forest of Dean.
I was also happy to support the outstanding Chairman of the Forest of Dean District Council, Cllr Marrilyn Smart, with her Cream Tea charity event on the Dean Forest Railway.
Cllr Smart is a longstanding Forest of Dean District Councillor and I was pleased to see her elected as the Council’s Chairman in 2018. She nominated the Forest Mental Health Carers Support Group as her chosen charity for her time in office.
In UK Parliament I was able to raise a question at PMQs on 31st October and I first took the opportunity to pay tribute to 1st Battalion The Rifles ahead of Armistice Day. I then welcomed the tax cut for 32 million people that the Chancellor announced in the Budget earlier in the week.
You don't help families with their cost of living by raising their taxes, so these tax cuts are great news, but we must continue to cut taxes and spend money on our priorities in a balanced way that works for everyone.