We can’t just go back to how things were before the pandemic with constant cuts to local services and tax rises with a focus on the transactional relationship between public services and taxation. There has got to be a new vision for the future which seeks to break the rut we have been in for the past decade. The County Council elections coming up in May give us a great opportunity to do just that for Hampshire.

As I became more involved in campaigns that spanned multiple towns and villages in the New Forest, I became ever more aware of how difficult it is for those people who do not have a car – the young, the elderly, the disabled, to get from one place to another in the New Forest.

Today the Conservative Chancellor made many believe that he was giving social care a much-needed boost but don’t be deceived.

Instead, there will still be a huge £2billion black hole in social care funding next year alone