Village Voice December 2012/January 2013 | Page 13

FROM STEVE
BRINE MP
Hard as it is to believe, the Christmas lights
are up again, Winchester’s Christmas
Market is open and the opportunity for an
MP to fall flat on the ice in Cathedral Close
is there for all to see!
In my last column for Village Voice I said I
wanted the economy to return to growth so
we can safeguard local jobs – and you know
what, it did. There is still a long way to go,
and no-one in this Government has a jot of
complacency about them, but recent figures
taking us out of recession show we are on
the right track, I believe. This is another sign
that the economy is healing: we’ve cut the
deficit by a quarter, over a million new jobs
have been created in the private sector,
inflation is down, and the economy is
growing again.
For me, the challenge of this Government
remains the same; to re-balance our
economy away from one that is largely
reliant on London and the financial services
sector for its success. That sector is of
course important, and many people locally
work in this area, but we have to ensure the
whole economy is lean, fit,