We are now well underway in delivering our Plan for Change. Already we have restored stability to our public finances, with interest rates cut three times. Our public services are also being rebuilt, with NHS waiting lists having fallen for 5 months in a row. Locally, waiting lists have fallen by 11% since the election.
The Government are ensuring we deliver for working people, by increasing the National Living Wage which will come into effect this week, and delivering a pay rise to 3 million people – a pay rise worth up to £1,600 a year for thousands of people across East Worthing and Shoreham. We will also be investing £1.4bn into programmes to support people back into work. Pensions will also increase by £472 this week.
In the constituency, residents continually raise issues of potholes which plague many streets across East Worthing and Shoreham - as they are dangerous and costly to both drivers and cyclists. I am pleased that the Government have invested £1.6 billion, including £27 million for West Sussex, to repair our roads and fix millions of potholes.
It is essential that West Sussex County Council acts on repairing potholes to unlock additional funding to repair our roads. For the first time, they will have to publish how many potholes they have filled, and I will continue to push WSCC on this to ensure we can improve the state of our roads.