I recently received through my letterbox a leaflet from Richard Harrington, Watford’s Conservative MP, called My Plan for Watford. However, I really feel that some of the claims he makes in it need to be challenged.

He writes “I’ve secured two new units and six new wards in Watford General Hospital”. Somehow, I think that other people and/ or other factors may have been involved in that expansion.

He also writes “I’ve secured over £60m in investment for new and existing schools”. Is he claiming that this has been down to him?

He continues “I’ve also increased frequency on the Overground by 25 per cent”. Is he actually saying that London Overground has put on more services because of him? I would be interested to see the evidence to support these grandiose claims, because I for one am very sceptical.

And then there are the things his leaflet of course doesn’t mention. There is no mention of the Conservatives’ policy of austerity. No mention of their huge cuts to local authority spending. He doesn’t mention that all the local schools he lists as having received investment are either academies or free schools.

Never mind these Tory pet projects, the reality is many schools are facing serious cuts in funding. There is no mention of the rise in the number of food banks.

There is no mention of improving the affordability of Watford’s buses to make them more like London’s, which could reduce traffic, and help tackle the public health emergency of poor air quality.

There is no mention of the fact that the NHS has been struggling with a lack of funding, or that there is a pay cap on NHS staff. No mention of the fact that while key workers on which we depend are being squeezed, the UK’s wealth divide is getting worse, with the richest one per cent now owning 23 per cent of the country’s wealth.

Until recently, Mr Harrington’s party was going to be in government for years.

Now, with this snap election, we have an excellent opportunity to dump them before they do any more damage - and to vote to have a country that is run more in the interests of all of us.

Kevin Gannon, Watford