FOR the elderly and the sick in Wiltshire, the Autumn statement from Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, is not good news.
It did not mention even once the need for increased funding for the NHS and social care.
With no extra funding, hospitals, including the RUH in Bath and the GWH in Swindon, may topple into crisis this winter, with black alerts called where there are simply no beds available for incoming patients, when beds are being effectively blocked because there are not available care packages to allow elderly people to go home, or to be moved into suitable accommodation.
So much for the statements about £350 million a week extra for the NHS that were plastered all over the Brexit red bus, all lies which were successful in their purpose, but now look devastating to our National Health Service and our economy. 
The Liberal Democrats’ Norman Lamb offered a way forward during the coalition government with an integrated plan for social care and the NHS, which has not been taken up and the situation, as a result, is only likely to get worse.
While the policy of the triple lock introduced by Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb under the coalition is continuing to protect the value of pensions, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Office for Budget Responsibility both issued reports last week that real incomes for working people are likely to remain frozen for many more years, with falls in living standards as inflation starts to bite into the value of the pound in our pockets.
With the 20 per cent drop in the value of the pound post Brexit, we have already seen fuel and food prices start to climb, and this situation too seems set to deteriorate, especially if Theresa May’s terms for our leaving the EU results in the UK leaving the single market. 
That is why my leader Tim Farron is demanding that the people are given a say once they know what the terms are, with an emergency ‘parachute’ clause allowing a return to the EU in a second referendum if the people are not satisfied.
Despite James Gray’s protestations to the contrary, North Wiltshire voted narrowly to stay in the EU, and if a General Election is called next year, this is a fact I will constantly remind the electorate of.
DR BRIAN MATHEW
Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for North Wiltshire