Henry Smith, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Crawley, has welcomed commitments made in the party’s 2017 general election manifesto which will improve rail services.

As Member of Parliament for Crawley this is a topic Henry continued to campaign on during his time as the local MP, both in the House of Commons as well as in direct discussions with the Transport Secretary and the Prime Minister.

Henry said;

“As a Crawley commuter I’ve seen at first hand the problems faced by Southern rail passengers. The Transport Secretary came to meet me at Three Bridges Station a fortnight ago and among the issues we discussed was the Government’s new £300 million investment for engineering upgrades and improvements on the London to Brighton Mainline.

“The Conservative Party Manifesto includes a commitment to stand up for rail users through the introduction of a passenger ombudsman. If re-elected the Government will also review rail ticketing procedures.

“A Conservative Government will work with train companies and staff to agree minimum service levels during periods of industrial dispute. If these can’t be found the Government will bring forward legislation.

“If I’m re-elected to serve Crawley in the House of Commons this is an issue I’ll continue to pursue. Last year I secured and led a House of Commons debate on local train services. This was meant to be a cross-party effort, however no Labour MPs chose to take part. Nonetheless I’ve continued to follow up with the Transport Secretary and his ministerial team.

“It’s telling that a month after my debate in the Commons, Crawley Labour councillors opposed a motion which called on the RMT union to end their strikes affecting Southern services. Among them was Jeremy Corbyn’s parliamentary candidate for our town.”