Andrew Murrison, MP for West Wiltshire - A rail issue for our economy (From This Is Wiltshire)

We need electrification of the mainline to Westbury and now is the time to lobby hard for it.

With high speed rail in the offing, the South West is in danger of being left behind.

A fast, frequent and reliable service to London and good connections from Westbury to Bath and Bristol will do a great deal for the economy of our neck of the woods.

Well done, West Wiltshire Rail Users Group and Wiltshire Council for championing the cause.

I would be very pleased to hear from residents and businesses in the area who have a view on this.

I was out of the country on duty on budget day so missed all the annual excitement.

To date, there had not been the fevered speculation that often attends these events.

The chief bone of contention appeared to be whether we should impose a minimum price on alcohol.

I suspect racking up the price of alcohol may cut consumption by some people and thus have some small impact on alcohol-related illness.

The downside of course would be another unhealthy step taken in the direction of the nanny state and costs piled on social drinkers of modest means.

Although I do have a record of being unhelpful to the tobacco industry, having seen the awful consequences of smoking, I am by instinct wary of prescribing how grown-ups should live their lives.

It was a great pleasure to visit the Woodlands Trust site in West Knoyle recently and to learn about similar properties locally, such as Clanger and Picket Woods along the A350 between Westbury and Trowbridge.

Careful stewardship has done much to preserve the last vestiges of the ancient forest that was once such a dominant feature of the Wiltshire/Somerset border.