PROVIDING the best medical services possible, with the maximum provided as close to home as possible is my aim.

I've battled over the past three years to support Kidderminster Hospital and have worked closely with the working doctors. Up to 90 per cent of patients are now being treated at Kidderminster, far higher than the original plans, and new services like a renal unit are coming.

We've secured £14m investment from the Labour Government for Kidderminster, investment Richard Taylor wants to cancel and would be lost in Tory cuts. Meanwhile, a brand new £100m hospital, serving the whole county, opens in Worcester early next year.

Local doctors have loudly supported the changes at Kidderminster and say it's not safe to bring back emergency services. In a dramatic u-turn even Richard Taylor now accepts that it is not realistic to bring blue light emergencies back to Kidderminster, however much we might all want that.

The NHS was never safe in Tory hands and only Labour will carry on improving it.

WE have a major problem with waste in this country. We generate more and more rubbish each year and cannot carry on tipping 95 per cent of it into holes in the ground. That is unsustainable and environmentally destructive. I am working on ways to help us all to improve our recycling and reducing the waste we generate in the first place. Whilst there may be a place for some "waste from energy" plants, Stourport Road was wholly unsuitable and I opposed it.

The site was too close to houses and schools, would have generated traffic congestion along an already busy road and the plans raised legitimate fears from local people about emissions.

I fought a long campaign with SKI to oppose this plant, had a special debate in Parliament and even managed to persuade the site owners, British Sugar, to oppose the incinerator.

Every Labour councillor on the planning committee voted against the incinerator. If the company appeals, this area will need an MP who carries weight and credibility with the Government to continue the opposition.

TORY County Councils let down our children for decades but under Labour spending per pupil in our county has risen from £1,754 per child per year to £2237, an increase of 27.5 per cent or £483 per pupil in just four years. Capital funding has increased five-fold and the Standards Fund has channelled money directly from government into schools. In contrast, Tories at County Hall proposed cutting £4m away from schools this year. They never learn.

Today, thanks to Labour's investment in education, we have smaller class sizes, more nurseries, suites of computers, and the exam results are rising at all Key Stages, for GCSE and A levels. Labour was committed to getting rid of class sizes of more than 30 for five, six and seven-year-olds over five years, and we've kept that promise. Today, there are 11,000 more teachers and 44,000 more classroom assistants than in 1997, all delivering higher standards. Education has been Labour's number one priority in the last Parliament and remains our number one priority.

The unfair SSA system for funding local government, inherited from the Tories, will be reformed early in the new Parliament, cutting the link with the days of low-spending Conservative councils, to give an even better deal for our children.

DRUG addicts commit crimes to get money to feed their habit. We're all victims, directly or in higher insurance premiums. We'll only continue to cut crime by reducing the number of addicts. That means a carrot and stick approach - treatment for those who'll benefit, long spells in prison for the rest.

Compulsory drug testing in prisons, with treatment for those testing positive, has led to a 50 per cent drop in prisoners using drugs. Under Labour, no offender will leave the prison or supervision until testing drug free. Convicted drug dealers will be required to register with the police.

A Criminal Assets Recovery Agency will be established to tackle the massive profits of the dealers, with tough confiscation laws, following money around the world. Under Labour, drug treatment is expanding and local crime fighting partnerships will get £200m over the next three years. We must invest today if we are to deliver effective action against drugs in our local communities for the next generation.

BRITAIN'S roads are the safest in Europe but Labour's ambitious £180bn transport plan is committed to cutting deaths by 40 per cent over 10 years.

Nearly every community wants traffic calming for its streets. Labour are responding by investing in local calming schemes and cycle routes to protect our children at Offmore, Marlpool and Wribbenhall. More are planned including Birchen Coppice and Bewdley, as we protect more residential areas.

Traffic calming is irritating for motorists but children's lives rate higher than letting cars speed around estates. Labour will pioneer Home Zones - traffic-free neighbourhoods where children can play in the streets again.

Environmentally damaging major road schemes have been scrapped but I'm committed to cutting congestion in Stourport by introducing a bypass. After years of delay, work is now underway to plan Stourport's bypass but its investment that would certainly be cut under Tory plans to slash public spending.