This week has been dominated yet again by parties at No 10 which is incredibly frustrating for those of us MPs who stuck firmly to the rules and want to get on with policy and help our constituents. I completely understand the anger of people, especially those who were unable to see loved ones or who were unable to say goodbyes to those who have died.
It is not acceptable but I will wait to read Sue Gray’s report before I make a final judgement. I do want to thank all of you who did your bit and did not see family or friends over a long period of time, I know how hard that has been.
However, despite unwanted headlines, there has been some great news this week, GDP grew 0.9% in November and is now 0.7% above its pre-pandemic peak. At the same time services grew 0.7% (1.3% above), manufacturing grew 1.1% (2.2% below) and construction grew 3.5% (1.3% above). This makes all the distractions in the media even more irritating as we are achieving some really good things and our economic picture is looking really strong.
I hope that this will mean that we can look again at moving to cutting taxes again, especially for those on lowest pay. I spoke in the Chamber in the opposition debates on how well Meon Valley businesses are doing and across the country. Unfortunately, I had to cram a six-minute speech into three minutes so was not able to mention all our wonderful businesses.
I had a busy week looking at various policy areas. I had an interesting meeting with the Secretary of State for Trade talking through the proposed Australia free trade deal. There is a lot to welcome in it and I am pleased that the independent Trade and Agricultural Commission will be scrutinising the deal to make sure that our farmers are not disadvantaged. I lived in Australia in the 1980s and saw first-hand the impact of tariffs on goods, it made overseas products and food incredibly expensive so I hope that this will open new opportunities for our businesses.
One of the meetings I had on Monday is the forthcoming boundary changes when the Meon Valley constituency disappears and goes back into various different constituencies. The proposal – and it is still only a proposal - is for a new constituency of Hedge End helping to make up the numbers of constituencies. There will be a public meeting in March when constituents can speak up about this. You can find out more about them here.
It is very disappointing for me personally and many constituents have told me that they would prefer to stay as a Meon Valley constituency. We have put an alternative proposal forward with other local MPs which would not be so drastic, the Meon Valley constituency would stay and some wards would be moved around. We are happy to share it with you if you are interested. Please email me if you would like to see them and want to speak at the public hearing.
Apart from DWP meetings, I spent much of the rest of the week on aid and development issues particularly on Afghanistan where many people are now starving, not because of the lack of food but because there are no banking facilities and people have run out of money. I brought this up in the Chamber with the Minister.
I met with the Rapid Relief Team who have been providing food parcels around the UK during the pandemic and am working to see what they can do to help in Afghanistan alongside many other charities. As co-chair of the All-Party Group on Women Peace and Security, I co-hosted a meeting with 70 MPs and the Minister who is responsible for ARAP.
I also attended another meeting with a film called ‘Prosecutors’ about lawyers prosecuting those who had inflicted sexual violence during conflict including Bosnia Herzegovina, Colombia and the Congo. It was very harrowing and we had people from around the world contributing.
Today I had a regular meeting, alongside other local MPs, with Portsmouth Hospital Trust. It has done an incredible job and I was pleased to hear that cancer treatment was above the national average. I think I have mentioned before that Hampshire hospitals have treated more people with cancer than before the pandemic. I am concerned that they are not digitised and still rely on paper going to GPs and around the hospital. This is inefficient and many other trusts have sorted this so I will pursue this.
Have a great weekend.
