North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen is writing a monthly column for Ashby Nub News.

Here, Mr Bridgen gives his views on public transport in the region, the 'white elephant' of HS2 and his optimism for the future of the UK when the country finally leaves the European Union this week.

• MP Andrew Bridgen says that transport focus on London is 'insulting'

• He says HS2 is what happens 'When people in London tell the Midlands and the north that they know what is best for them'

• Believes the proposed Ivanhoe Line could be reopened for passengers for around 1000th of the current estimated cost of HS2.

• He says investment is needed in our regions, and that investment needs to be decided locally

One of the key themes of the election campaign was investment in infrastructure and I have recently spoken in the Queen's Speech debate in Parliament about the importance of connectivity and below I would like to share with you part of that speech.

"As a region, the East Midlands is doing well, but we could be doing much better. While the counties appear to be thriving, I am unsure whether the same could be said for our three cities, with their much higher levels

of deprivation and unemployment.

"My constituency has thousands of jobs coming on stream—more than 10 times more jobs in the next three years than I have total unemployed in my constituency - but we do not have an extensive public transport network to get the unemployed from Nottingham, which we have just heard about, from Derby and from Leicester to the employment hub around East Midlands airport and the East Midlands gateway.

"Local road connectivity through the M1, the M42, the A50 and the A453 has stimulated significant economic growth in this district, and we have the highest economic growth outside London and the south-east.

"The election was proof not only that the majority of the country is fed up with rich Remainers telling them what is good for them, but that those outside London are fed up with the metropolitan, southern-based Department for Transport telling them that there is not enough money or a case for their local transport projects - projects that would have a genuinely transformational effect on people's lives.

"At the same time, however, the Department wants to commit more than £100 billion to HS2 to get a tiny proportion of our population from nearly London to nearly Birmingham, and perhaps beyond, some day in the far future.

"HS2 is what happens when people in London tell the Midlands and the north that they know what is best for them. To suggest that all we need to be happier and wealthier is to get to London faster is, frankly, insulting.

"No-one has ever said to me that their transport problems will be solved by getting to London 20 minutes faster, but they do tell me that they need a train line or improved public transport to get a job and to get to work.

"This district does not have a railway station, and Coalville is the fifth largest town in the country without one.

"But the existing railway line between Burton and Leicester that passes through Coalville, which would serve hundreds of thousands of people, cannot obtain funding for a mere fraction of the cost of HS2.

"I have calculated that the Ivanhoe Line could be reopened for passengers for around one thousandth of the current estimated cost of HS2.

"To deliver for the vast majority of people in the Midlands and the north, we need to scrap that white elephant project and concentrate the resources on local connectivity, which will have an impact and benefit for the many and not just for the few.

"Connectivity within our regions is key to levelling them up and reducing the UK's dependence on London. We need to see investment in our regions, and that investment needs to be decided locally rather than in Whitehall".

• By the time you read this we will either be hours away from leaving the EU or will have left, and what a battle it has been to get to this point.

The UK is now in a strong position to realise the benefits of Brexit, with a Prime Minister who believes in the opportunities it presents.

Recent figures from the ONS show that, in the last 12 months, UK exports outside the EU grew by 6.3%, while exports to the European Union grew by only 1.3%.

Those figures are being achieved before we have even negotiated our own free trade deals. We know there are huge opportunities with the USA, and those talks have already been opened up.

Optimism is also soaring among Britain's leading companies and employers. It is clear that business, freed from the shackles of the uncertainty that the previous Parliament created, is now in a position to invest in a post-Brexit Britain with a Government who believe in business and believe in our country's future.

I am sure that however you voted in the 2016 Referendum and in the two General Elections since, that the majority of you will be filled with an overwhelming feeling of relief that we have finally "Got Brexit done".