I WAS more than a little surprised to read last week’s (March 28) letter from Dave Woodcock regarding a supposed lack of government support for Salisbury. I have spent much of the past 13 months lobbying my government colleagues to ensure that the city is at the front of the queue for funding and investment.

We have now received £14 million of investment in Wiltshire College, over £7.5 million of support for our emergency services, business community and tourism sector. Just last week, over half a million pounds of new funding for Fisherton Street and transport improvements was also announced by SWLEP.

I am very confident that this investment will help us with our expression of interest for up to £25 million from the government’s Future High Streets Fund. On top of this, in a series of meetings last year, I pushed Openreach to make sure that Salisbury was chosen to be their first entire city in the UK to have 1Gbps full fibre broadband.

As for his accusation that I’m guilty of toeing the party line, I’m obviously a government minister bound by collective responsibility. I realise that it has not always been immediately apparent recently, but collective responsibility is a key doctrine of how the British political system is supposed to work!

It would be impossible for anyone to be a government minister if they just did exactly what they wanted all the time and ignored the collective decision-making process. Would Mr Woodcock prefer it if I was on the backbenches with reduced influence to fight for Salisbury?

John Glen MP for Salisbury and South Wiltshire