WORKING across party and across Whitehall to start getting some real results for Taunton and Wellington has been key to my work in recent weeks.

When I tackled the Chancellor on her Spending Review statement in the chamber of the House of Commons last week, I pushed again for the funding we need for the reopening of stations at Wellington and Cullompton.

I was, therefore, delighted to have it confirmed in my discussions with Treasury officials later in the day that “the Spending Review also provides funding to support the reopening of stations at Wellington and Cullompton.”

It is a major win for the wider Wellington community, residents and local businesses who have worked side by side with me to get it. Tens of thousands of people will get public transport access to colleges, jobs and opportunities they didn’t have previously.

It’s a project every MP for our area has worked for since my Lib Dem predecessor Jeremy Browne was the first to raise the idea in Parliament back in 2014.

However, funding is one thing and full funding may be another so I also wrote immediately to the Chancellor and the Transport Secretary to make the point that the full funding is needed for this project.

In any event, the winning of government funding support for this project remains a massive milestone and thank you to all those who have supported and responded to my campaign for that to happen.

A new station notwithstanding, my top priority remains the need to rescue our NHS from the state it was left in by the last government and, in particular, to ensure Musgrove Park Hospital gets the new maternity and children’s unit it desperately needs.

I’ve been able to work with my Lib Dem MP colleagues across Somerset to ensure we will now see an action plan to reopen Yeovil’s maternity services – its closure puts almost impossible pressures on staff and patients in Taunton.

That was one of the topics at the well-attended public meeting which Taunton and Wellington Liberal Democrats held recently.

But perhaps the biggest topic was the results from the 2,000-plus people who filled in my survey on NHS dentistry.

We all knew what a state this was in but I was genuinely shocked to find that only a third of children in the constituency can access an NHS dentist, even fewer than the average for Somerset.

That means parents are paying around £100 per child every year for children’s dental treatment which is meant to be freely provided on the NHS. And some parents are paying a whole lot more. A staggering £4-million over the five-year period is being paid in Taunton and Wellington alone.

Funding the comeback of NHS dentistry won’t be simple. Maybe it’s time children and vulnerable people got priority access to NHS appointments as many are taken up by people who are better off.

But, fundamentally, everyone should be able to expect a minimum level of NHS dental provision which simply isn’t there at present.