In East Hampshire, as elsewhere, we are paying the price for the arrogant mismanagement of governments past and present.

Tax rises, crumbling services and fewer amenities have become the norm, all signed off by leaders who carelessly spend public money while refusing to recognise the benefits of living within our means.

It is evident that, at all levels, government is increasingly out of touch with the people.

They are not listening.

The year 2026 presents some very specific problems.

We are facing a “housing crisis” in East Hampshire, not because too few homes are being built, but because the wrong homes are being built in the wrong places.

Readers will be aware that central government has mandated outrageous numbers of new dwellings. The majority, around 15,000, are to be built in the approximately 43 percent of the constituency that falls outside the South Downs National Park.

This combination of high housing quotas, which could be worsened further if we are required to assist Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant, alongside creaking infrastructure and inadequate services, is both terrifying and very real.

In Alton, Four Marks, Medstead and elsewhere, new estates are under construction or applications are progressing. The so-called “A31 corridor” faces a very real danger of becoming what planners describe as a “continuous conurbation”.

Do we really want our countryside suffocated by a sea of concrete and tarmac stretching from Wrecclesham to Ropley? Is it right to blight our green and pleasant land with estates from Medstead to Ellisfield?

I suggest Westminster does not care. Homes are needed to mitigate the effects of an urban-centric agenda. Cities are full, so rural communities are readily thrown under the bulldozer.

They are not listening.

Then there is local government reorganisation, another Westminster mandate.

In theory, removing a tier of local government should reduce bureaucracy and staffing costs, allowing more money to be spent on services. But when have public sector reorganisations ever delivered that outcome?

I fear this costly and hurried reorganisation will lead to no improvement. Instead, the proposed “Mid-North” unitary authority risks seeing East Hampshire’s unique character subsumed by its urban neighbours. There is a real danger our voice will be drowned out by Basingstoke, Winchester, Rushmoor and Hart.

Rather than being empowered, we risk becoming an ignored backwater.

I am not alone in these concerns and know many residents submitted responses to consultations. Yet councils push on regardless.

They are not listening.

Finally, consultations themselves. It is my view, perhaps an idealistic one, that politicians should listen carefully to the people before making decisions.

How can we claim to represent residents while being unwilling to consider public opinion? Anyone with such a closed and rigid mindset should find a different job.

Too often, public consultations are treated as inconvenient, box-ticking exercises that can be ignored because they are non-binding. The deplorable “we know best” mentality is widespread.

They are not listening.

However disenchanted you may feel, I urge you to contact your political representatives and make your views known. If the responses you receive are unsatisfactory, challenge them.

If you remain unhappy, you have another option: remove them at the next election — if they allow one.

You deserve better representation, and we are committed to providing it, both locally and nationally.

I wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Matthew Kellermann, Chairman, Reform UK - East Hampshire.