A big congratulations to Cllr Luke Stubbs for being re-elected, he is an excellent ward councillor and works hard for Eastney and Craneswater. In fact, he is my councillor too so I will be keeping him busy.

This is a great time to get involved with the Conservatives so please contact us if you want to help.

The team leaving the office to meet others to canvass in Fratton

I have really enjoyed canvassing over the last two and half years and have met over 15,000 people on the doorstep with my ever increasing team of helpers. Many of you have been out but I think it is really important to actually knock on doors and listen to people and we have been in many streets 2-3 times. Endless leaflets mean nothing if you can’t see the candidate. 20 of my fantastic team finally finished canvassing with me this evening in Fratton and we are looking forward to making sure everyone gets out to vote tomorrow.

Portsmouth South is an incredibly important seat, we are 70 out of 117 seats that the Conservatives have to win to get rid of Gordon Brown and his failing government. While I hate negative campaigning, the thought of him being still there on Friday with a mandate to carry on fills me with horror.

So why vote for me and the Conservative team of councillors here.

I have now lived here for just over 2 years. I could have commuted from Winchester which had been my home since 1988, but I feel very strongly that to be committed to an area you have to live here, pay council tax and put up with the same problems and issues that every other constituent has to. As you can imagine, that has been a huge financial commitment but we love living in Southsea and have made many friends.

I want to be a full time MP, Portsmouth needs a lot of investment and I see that as one of my main roles. Fighting for more investment from government and bringing more businesses to our great city. I am very interested in high tech industry which suits our employment needs and am pleased that we are centre of excellence in the defence industry. We are completely committed to the dockyard and keeping the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and I am looking forward to working with them.

Our education is improving but we need to work further to make sure that it continues along that path and I am looking forward to Building Schools for the Future being a success here and schools receiving more power under a Conservative Government.

Immigration has been a big issue on the doorstep and I think we have the best policy which combines a point system with a cap on the numbers. The cap will be flexible depending on what we need but we won’t be having immigration in the hundreds of thousands again.

There are many other issues and lots of individual and group ones which, if elected, I will work hard to solve. We have some very able people standing as local councillors and I look forward to working with them when we get elected and I hope we will have a Conservative run council on Friday. It is important to work with everyone in the interest of Portsmouth and I will work with any party or individual that has good ideas and can make a difference to our city.

Please get out and vote tomorrow, this is one of the most exciting elections for some time and your vote could make a huge difference.

David Willetts

We are very lucky to have David Willetts as a local MP in Havant and we were grateful to have him canvassing today in Old Portsmouth. He then spent the whole day in various target seats around Hampshire to give us support. Issues on the doorstep were immigration and the economy and it is always useful to have a member of the shadow cabinet to answer questions.

Some of the team continued with delivering letters while others accompanied me to St Mary’s Fair which was huge and very well attended. It must have raised loads of money. We had a hot dog lunch listening to the Portsmouth City Band which is exceptional and spent money on tombolas and biscuits for the hardworking team in the office. On the way back, we stopped at the British Legion’s fete near the station, you could hear the music from our offices in Fratton.

The campaign has been going very well and I am incredibly grateful for the ever growing team of volunteers, most of which have given up a lovely Bank holiday to work on getting rid of Mr Brown.

The clinic is also used by students and people whose own GP cannot see them immediately or if it is out of hours. The Guildhall Clinic is open from 8am – 8pm seven days a week so is useful for workers.

We went on to the Beneficial Foundation Café which I am a great fan of. It is very well priced and they do delicious baked potatoes. They also have a craft shop open to the public which is well stocked. The Beneficial Foundation helps people with learning difficulties to find employment and teaches them how to live independently.

Dr Fox talked about what capabilities we need on the aircraft carriers and how flexible they need to be to accommodate different types of aircraft. He also spoke positively about the future of the navy and the number of ships we need to maintain our maritime commitments. As he said, ‘Nelson would be turning in his grave’ with the reduced number of ships that we have at the moment. Dr Fox has already said that the Conservative Party are committed to three navy bases so the future of Portsmouth as the home of the Royal Navy is assured under a Conservative Government.

This is a press release from them and you can find out more about the trip and how to donate any money at http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/cockleshell_heroes.html

‘Having had the opportunity to visit the wounded at Headley Court Tri-service Rehabilitation Centre we were profoundly humbled to meet some extraordinary people there. And so our aim is to re-trace the route taken by these brave men of WW2 to help the brave men and women of today by raising as much money as we can in aid of Help for Heroes/RNLI. We will be canoeing 70 miles up the Gironde River from out at sea, through its famous tidal races, stopping at 3 pre-planned LUP’s to Bordeaux Harbour where we will lay a wreath for all those who have given so much, then canoe 20 miles down to the extraction point where we will then get on pushbikes to continue our route 100miles in land taking the ‘Frankton Trail’ where the few that were left escaped and evaded the Germans to reach the resistance at Ruffec.’

Jeremy Hunt came down to wave goodbye to the Lib Dems and Labour Government

Thank you to all who have written to me and I am sorry if there is a delay in responding but as you may know from a previous blog, we were recently burgled and I am now reliant on my 6 year old desktop when I finally get home and which often crashes. It also means that I haven’t always got time to blog on all our many activities.

Our campaign is very positive and it helps that we started canvassing two years ago and are now going round to some streets that we have visited 3 times. We are trying to make sure that we have visited every street but some people are out and you may not see us. Please give us a ring or email me if you do want to meet us and we will try and put it into our timetable.

It is definitely time for a change of government. We need a new refreshed team with some good ideas and we have certainly got both. You can find out more about our manifesto at www.conservatives.com. We need to win 117 seats to change this failing government and Portsmouth South is no 70 on that list so you can see that every vote is going to count.

You should have all received some leaflets about some of issues that I am campaigning on and my pledges.

In case you haven’t received one yet, here are my key campaign pledges:

1. Portsmouth First – put the interests of Portsmouth people first in any decisions in Westminster

2. One Job - being an MP is a huge responsibility and Portsmouth South deserves a full time representative fighting for your interests. I will take on no other paid employment.

3. Work Hard – to attract investment, make Portsmouth environmentally friendly with an excellent education for everyone

4. Live here – continue to have the family home in Southsea and claim only for accommodation and travel in Westminster.

My vision for Portsmouth is a city of high tech industry, a leader in ‘green’ living with an excellent education system. I believe this is achievable with strong leadership and, with the community spirit that already exists in Portsmouth, we can work together to make our city the envy of Britain.

Penny in Portsmouth North and I have signed a clean campaign pledge