Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope that you had as good a Christmas as possible under what I know were difficult circumstances. So much has happened since my last update, so please let me fill you in.
Firstly, on Christmas Eve, we had the confirmation of the long-awaited Brexit deal. I am delighted we were able not just to avoid a no-deal scenario but produce a trade deal that will have many benefits for the UK. Much credit must go to the Prime Minister and his negotiating team who have achieved something huge in a timeframe many said was impossible.
Parliament was recalled to vote for the deal on 30th December, so I spent most of the time around Christmas reading it fully (around 1800 pages including the annexes!) The deal will protect our trading relationship with Europe while also allowing us to strike deals with the rest of the world. Our exporters – and you would be surprised how many there are in Meon Valley – will now have more opportunities to ship their products around the world. I talk about more of the benefits on my website.
Secondly, we had the reintroduction of lockdown, for which Parliament was again called back to vote. No-one wants these restrictions, but sadly they are necessary. The new variant of Covid-19 is spreading faster than anyone expected and hospitals are quickly filling up, far above their normal winter levels. The PM was clear that, without action, hospitals could be overwhelmed towards the end of this month.
I know how hard these lockdowns are for businesses and for people who cannot see friends and family. We had to make the difficult decision to close schools, something that I know causes disruption to parents, teachers and pupils, but which will help stop the spread. There is lots of support in place – do please get in touch if you need help accessing it. In brief, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled £4.6 billion of new Government lockdown support to help this week. Businesses can apply for one-off grants of up to £9,000. The money is in addition to business rates relief and furlough – which has now been extended until the end of April. Importantly, another £594m is going to councils to help enterprises outside these badly hit sectors who might need extra help. This should ensure that these firms will now be able to access support by contacting the Meon Valley’s three authorities depending where the business is based.
Thirdly, to end on a very much more positive note, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was approved by independent regulators for use and the great British vaccine rollout is commencing as I write. Last week, my team and I called every care home in Meon Valley and I was pleased to learn that a third will have received their first jabs for staff and residents by the end of this weekend. The roll-out has only recently begun, so this is an encouraging start.
The PM has set an ambitious target of 13 million people vaccinated in the top four priority groups - residents in care homes, over 70s, health and care workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable by the end of the February half term. This is our path out of lockdown and the Covid’s grip. Over 3 million people have already had the jab and numbers are increasing fast.
I have also been pushing for teachers to get vaccinated early so that schools can open properly again. I asked Gavin Williamson about this just after Christmas and I made the point again in a speech in Parliament this week. Teachers have been absolutely brilliant and now have the tough job of both in-person and online lessons. The sooner we get them vaccinated, the sooner they will be protected and our young people will get the quality education they deserve.
I really believe the vaccine will let us turn a corner in the coming weeks and months despite these dark days. In the meantime, we all need to follow the rules to keep people safe. Take care.
