It was a short week compared to last week but I managed to pack it full of activities. I had constituents on Monday to show round - always a good start to the week and I know that my diary is filling up for future Mondays, including coach trips, so book early!
I then went on to meet several children who were born at 22 weeks and are doing just fine. I have signed the amendment to bring down the abortion limit to 22 weeks from 24 weeks as babies are increasingly surviving now and we need to consider the life of a child as well as mother. This is not getting rid of abortion but just bringing it into line with modern medicine. The amendment is part of the Criminal Justice Bill. I think I have mentioned before that there is an amendment there which allows abortion to term. I have had a lot of emails on this and will be voting against it.
We had eight votes on the Safety of Rwanda Bill and rejected the Lord’s amendments as you will have heard in the news. It is disappointing as it would be good to have this Bill sorted so we can start sending people to Rwanda. The UNHCR sent a further 91 refugees to Rwanda this week and have sent over 2000 since 2019 so it is a safe place to process refugees. This is what gives me confidence it is the right policy for those who are coming here illegally without a right to remain in the UK. Because of the timings, it will now come back after the Easter recess, starting next week.
On Tuesday we voted on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) membership. This will give UK businesses tariff-free access to over 99 per cent of goods in a market of around 500 million customers. There are other trade deals being worked on.
We looked at the universities lecturers’ strike in the Education Select Committee talking to three Vice Chancellors or representatives from Durham, King's College and Queen’s University Belfast. They all dealt with the issue in different ways and some graduates were able to get their degree certification quicker than others. We will be doing a short report on this inquiry. I had to leave early for a Treasury question where I asked about raising the VAT threshold as I had talked to small businesses after the Budget and they felt that it should be raised to increase productivity and allow small businesses to expand. We all know about the shortage of plumbers, electricians, and other similar jobs where they all work below the threshold so they do not have to pay VAT and all the bureaucracy that entails. I did not get the answer I wanted but I will keep at it.
I asked about UNRWA in the Urgent Question on Gaza. UNRWA provides all the humanitarian aid, education and healthcare to Palestinian refugees around the region, not just in Gaza, and we are about to stop the funding in the next financial year unless things change.
On Wednesday we voted on the second reading of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill. This will provide for the quashing of convictions in England and Wales for certain offences alleged to have been committed while the Horizon system was in use by the Post Office; to make provision about the deletion of cautions given in England and Wales for such offences; and for connected purposes. This should go through very quickly and further compensation is paid.
The Prime Minister talked to backbenchers in the evening and was very upbeat because inflation has fallen, as have long term interest rates and the economy is looking more positive. I hope that people will soon feel happier.
I spoke at a Building Symposium which was held in Lainston House yesterday and talked about our new National Planning Policy Framework which will mean that local authorities and people will have more say about where houses will go. I hope that this will stop more building on our greenfield sites and focus first on brownfield. I have also been out campaigning in the lighter evenings so may be on your doorstep over the next few weeks as it is Easter recess from Tuesday so I will not be sending out a newsletter until we return on 15th April.
Happy Easter and I hope that you all can take a short break.
