Last week, Jeremy Corbyn announced that a future Labour Government would pay 16 and 17 year-olds a £10 hourly minimum wage. A decade ago, when youth unemployment had soared under the last Labour Government, such a proposal would have been rightly criticised by everyone as stopping young people getting into work. Now, a decade later and with youth unemployment having halved under the Conservatives, such a proposal may be seen as eye-catching by those too young to remember the economic damage that Labour always do when in government. This ‘policy’ is of course a cynical bribe (with non-existent money) to get a few more votes and has no sound basis in economics whatsoever. As well as obviously hiking up youth unemployment, it seriously risks the viability of much sought-after apprenticeships. The numbers are just made up as they go along.

Henry Smith MP has welcomed a total of £290,000 for local rail passenger improvement projects following disruption endured by train users at Three Bridges, Crawley, Ifield and Gatwick Airport stations, as part of a £15 million Passenger Benefit Fund.

Crawley MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Heart & Circulatory Diseases, Henry Smith, has launched the APPG’s new report highlighting the potential impact of artificial intelligence technologies for patients.

On behalf of all of our candidates in last week’s whole council election, I would like to say a huge thank to everyone who voted Conservative in Crawley. We achieved a fantastic set of Crawley results, which were all the more remarkable when nationally our party had its worst set of local election results since 1995.

Henry Smith MP has welcomed new figures released this week showing that 720 families in Crawley have been able to realise their dream of home ownership thanks to the Government’s Help to Buy schemes.

On Thursday of this week, Crawley Borough Council has a whole Council election of all 36 seats following a boundary review. This creates a big opportunity for change and my colleagues and I are offering a positive alternative to the current Labour Administration at the town hall, which I believe is being taken over by the far-left and extremist Momentum organisation. Our manifesto leaflet that sets out our policies should have been delivered to every household and is easily available to view on our Crawley Conservatives website.

Crawley MP Henry Smith has expressed his condolences and solidarity with the victims of the Sri Lanka terrorist attack on Easter Sunday, and has questioned the Ministry of Justice in the House of Commons (on Tuesday, 23rd April) over the support provided for victims of such incidents.

Next week, Crawley Borough Council has a one-off whole Council election to elect all 36 Councillors. This opportunity will significantly shape the Council for several years. We have had a positive campaign and have set out in our local manifesto how we will improve the running of our local Council for the benefit of Crawley. For example, it is only Conservatives who are committed to improving Crawley’s residential neighbourhood parking.

Henry Smith MP has welcomed new figures which show that in the south east of England, there are 4.6 million people in work – meaning that over 410,000 more people since 2010 have the security of a job.