The news today is dominated by Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. In Parliament yesterday I asked the Prime Minister what we can do to reassure our friends elsewhere in Eastern Europe where there are Russian minorities whom Putin may try to use as a pretext for further aggression.
During my time at the Royal College of Defence Studies, we looked at various scenarios with Russia as the aggressor but always stopped before an actual invasion.
It is very sad for the people of Ukraine and the security of Europe that President Putin has taken this course of action. He was not threatened by NATO or Ukraine so this is purely on Putin and history will treat him harshly.
Further sanctions will be forthcoming and I am pleased that nearly everyone is united on our condemnation apart from 14 Labour MPs, whose response I find astonishing. We have to be totally united against an aggressor like Putin who will see any division as a weakness. British Embassies and High Commissions around the world are flying the Ukrainian flag alongside our own as a sign of solidarity - including in Fiji as you can see here.
On Wednesday, I attended an event promoting a rocket competition for schools. Last year Cowplain School won the MARS Balloon award so I hope that one of our secondary schools takes up this challenge.
It is a great way of getting young people into engineering. All the young people that attended the event were interested in an engineering career.
The same day was the celebration of 175 years of Catholic Education Service and I was delighted to welcome Canon PJ Smith from the Portsmouth Catholic Diocese to Westminster to the event. The Portsmouth Catholic diocese stretches to Hungerford in the north and Bournemouth to the west and there are 75 schools in it so it is a busy job for Father PJ.
Keeping up my work on Waterlooville, this week I had a meeting with the "Levelling Up" Minister, Neil O'Brien, and showed him a video that I had taken of Waterlooville.
He was very concerned and is going to look into various new funds that are coming to see whether we can access those. I do feel that Waterlooville has been neglected historically, and I will continue to work with Havant Borough Council to help put a plan forward for Waterlooville.
Neither or I nor HBC can dictate to the private owners of much of the town centre, but I am convinced that if they see a good plan, they will want to be part of a redevelopment.
I also attended a meeting with Michael Gove who will be producing new planning guidance that I think will help. Local residents will have more input and he would like developments that are in keeping with the environment and neighbourhood. The housing numbers and how they are calculated is also being looked at which will please many communities.
In Parliament several Bills have reached their final stages. On Monday, we passed the remaining stages of the Skills and Post 16 Education Bill which will help develop skills for the future. On Tuesday, the remaining stages of the Charities Bill came to the Chamber. It is designed to give a clearer steer for trustees who have a huge legal responsibility.
I sat on a Delegated Legislation Committee to increase the lump sum payments by 3.1% for people suffering from Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma. A lot of legislation gets passed in smaller committee rooms really out of the public eye but it is important work.
On a lighter note, I am a member of a Parliamentary book club and we are lucky to work with the Publishers Association who recommends books that I would not normally read.
The latest was a pre-publication book called Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and we met her on Wednesday evening to talk about her debut novel. It has already been signed up by Apple TV to make a film series and is going to be a big success. It is a privilege to talk to authors about how they construct their books and a great escape from the usual mounds of reading.
I have an in-person surgery today as we are back to normal, so contact my office if there is an issue you would like to discuss with me, although we have found that problems get solved very quickly by email and phone.
Have a great weekend.
