Article For Folkestone Herald

4 November 2004

By the time you read this you should know the results of the American Presidential election. I say “should” because, as I write, the outcome looks very uncertain and very close. It is possible that we may see a repeat of the legal wrangles which were such a feature of the last Presidential election 4 years ago. So we may have a little longer to wait.

Fortunately these legal challenges have not so far been a feature of British General Elections. I hope they never will be. But we cannot afford to be complacent. The experiment of all postal ballots in which we can only vote by post which was used in parts of the country at the elections in June, is not generally regarded as a great success. There were many reports of fraud and irregularity. The same system is being used for the referendum on an elected assembly for the North-East which is taking place later this week. I hope it is the last time this system is used in this country.

Closer to home, and of crucial importance to Shepway, I welcomed the announcement last week that, at last, the new trains for the High Speed Rail Link have been ordered. But the delay is deplorable and it almost certainly means that the service will not now start until 2009.

What is worse we are still waiting for a decision on the routes and the stations that will serve these routes. As readers will know I have been pressing for this decision for a very long time. Last week, the Transport Secretary assured me the decision would be announced within weeks. I shall do my best to hold him to this and to make sure that Folkestone is included among the stations that will be on the route.

Finally, I had the very pleasant duty, after my Elham Valley advice centres, of opening the Yew and Ewe, a new public house in Brookland. It used to be The Royal Oak but has been closed for some years. Good luck to Philip and Faith Cowell and David and Lynda Wynder in their exciting new venture.