The Government needs to get a grip, Chesham and Amersham MP Sarah Green writes in her column from Westminster. 

 "As Parliament returns for the New Year, many people across our communities will be asking what the government is doing to address the serious issues within the economy. The latest data from the Office of National Statistic is dispiriting and shows that, far from the long-promised growth, the economy shrank between July and September, yet again placing our country at risk of recession.

"The longer the UK economy stagnates the greater the negative effect it will have on public life, whether that is through households’ income, or on there being less funds that government can dedicate to health, education or even foreign affairs. Unless we are able to get our economy moving again, instead of wasting the precious remaining time we have in this parliament debating the absurd idea of opening yet more oil fields, we are going to find that we have ever less to go round. The Government needs to get a grip instead of trying to spin their way out of political trouble.

"On a local level, we are seeing the effects of a lack of resources as our Constabulary does its best with already stretched budgets. One of the effects of this is that response times to repeatedly dangerous actions on the part of some mean that dangerous and illegal activities are over before Police can arrive. An example of this is illegal street racing. This practice sees participants driving round urban areas at speed whilst weaving in and out of traffic. Needless to say, such behaviour places the safety of both pedestrians and road users at risk whilst the associated noise is a blight on local communities.

"Each new Year is an opportunity for change. I look forward to the opportunities 2024 will bring."