On Saturday Jason launched the Conservative’s campaign for the Town Council By-Election.

The local Conservative candidate Dave Neave is well known to many people of Newhaven through running his car repair business D & M Motor Company in Quarry Road Newhaven, for the last 25 years. He is also secretary of Newhaven Shore Angling Club.

Dave said “For as long as people can remember Newhaven has been run by the Liberal Democrats at Town and District Councils and what have they achieved? I will be campaigning to re-open the breakwater and sandy beach as I know personally how much these contribute to the local economy by attracting visitors from outside the area. They also were a great source of enjoyment to disabled persons”

“I also feel very strongly about the regeneration plans for Newhaven and I want to be part of the process. I want improvements for local businesses and shops and I also want more jobs for Newhaven residents”

Jason added “I am delighted that Dave is standing in this by-election. He is a great candidate and after only one mornings’ campaigning it is obvious to me how desperate Newhaven is for a change from the present political stranglehold. One Conservative will not change the situation overnight but it will allow residents to see the different, more effective approach that we can introduce to the Town Council and I hope that if Dave is successful on 5th June it will help us create a landslide at the next programmed election”

The by-election will be held on Thursday 5th June in the Meeching Ward and is caused because a liberal democrat former Councillor failed to turn up for any Council meeting for over 6 months and was therefore excluded as a Councillor.

Gray’s primary school in Newhaven was visited recently by Jason and Jim Paice MP, the shadow Agriculture Minister.

They had come particularly to see the vegetables, flowers and herbs grown by the children, in tractor tyres supplied by Roger Foxwell, a local farmer. The tyres are a convenient and safe way of holding the earth in sufficient quantity to grow plants.

Roger also highlighted the publication provided for schools by the NFU which encourages schools to source local ingredients and promote healthy eating.

Jim said: “All too often, children believe that food is produced in plastic bags in supermarkets. These children loved getting their hands dirty and also enjoyed eating the crops that they’d grown.” Jason added “It’s great seeing local farmers taking the time and trouble to help in school projects. Gray’s is an attractive and dynamic place to learn, and our local farmers are helping to make these children’s education even more outward looking and inter-active.”

Sad news from Newhaven. Parker Pens plans to lay off 200 people from its Newhaven factory. It’s another blow to Newhaven and is very bad news for the families affected.

That many of these jobs are moving out of Newhaven to Birmingham is also disappointing. Action is urgently needed to ensure Newhaven continues to keep jobs and attract new employers and that’s why I want to see a Newhaven Development Corporation created. This corporation would help revive the town economically.

I just hope some way can be found to keep the jobs in Newhaven during Parker’s 90-day consultation on its plans.

Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth paid a visit to the constituency last weekend and it was great to get his backing.

In a speech to party members he noted how my “strong campaign on the Newhaven Incinerator proves Jason’s commitment to protecting the local environment”. It’s a great boost to get such support from the shadow cabinet.

Some really bad local news is the plans to shut several Post Offices across the constituency. Post Offices in Landport, North Chailey, Polegate, Newhaven and Seaford are all set to go. It’s an outrage and will hurt older and disabled people.

These closures could of been avoided if the Labour government didn’t repeatedly block Conservative efforts to give Post Offices more freedom so they could stay profitable and open.

I find it particularly hypocritical of Norman Baker to start moaning about these closures when he voted with Labour stop the reforms our Post Offices need. Norman Baker should be ashamed of the role he played in Parliament in killing off our local Post Offices.

We held the first of what I hope will be many Conservative Action Days on Saturday. We’ve already done a few smaller action days - including one against Labour’s NHS cuts - but this was event was on a different scale with more than 30 activists taking to the streets of Lewes and Newhaven.

We spent the morning in Lewes, distributing leaflets in Landport as well as meeting and greeting people in the town centre. We also gathered signatures for a new petition calling for improvements to the parking regime in the town - something that gained widespread support from the people we met. Our mobile campaign unit was also out in the town and got lots of interest.

In the afternoon we headed to the centre of Newhaven and to Denton, where the focus was on my call for the creation of a Newhaven Development Corporation to bring more investment into the town. You can read more about this in our latest In Touch magazine, which is being distributed across the constituency as we speak.

It was a great day and signalled the official start of our campaign to get results for our area. Norman Baker and the Lib Dems have had more than a decade now to get results for our area but have failed to deliver. Where are our flood defences? Why aren’t our roads safer? Why is Lib Dem Lewes District Council still missing its recycling targets year after year? Our area deserves so much better. It’s time for results. It’s time for an end to Lib Dem failure.