Wednesday 27 July 2016

Newspaper column 27 July 2016 - The new Prime Minister and Cabinet

Parliament has now risen for Summer Recess and I look forward to spending the next few weeks out and about across Mid-Cornwall. However before we settle into for what many of us is the busiest time of the year, I want to reflect back on events in the last two weeks, particularly my thoughts on our new Prime Minister and her Cabinet.

I think our new Prime Minister has gotten off to a flying start. She has gotten on with the job of getting a new Cabinet in place, given a formidable performance at her first Prime Minister’s Questions, and most importantly has not shied away from the important answers, giving a firm commitment to Brexit, as well as making an excellent case for the renewal of Trident, which was confirmed following last Monday’s vote.

The new Cabinet, made up of the Secretaries of State who run major Government departments is also proof of the Prime Minister’s commitment in her first speech following her appointment that she wants to govern ‘a Britain that works for everyone and real people that reflect Britain.’

Our new Prime Minister’s Cabinet is 70 per cent state educated. The new Education Secretary, Justine Greening is the first Education Secretary to have attended a comprehensive school and this government has the lowest proportion of privately educated ministers of any political party since 1945. The Prime Minister herself was state educated and as someone who also took this path, I feel this new Cabinet is much more representative of not only the Conservative Parliamentary Party but also the country as a whole.
On top of this, the Prime Minister’s new Cabinet has the most women of any previous Conservative administration, matching the previous record set by the Blair Government. This is another step forward and shows that we are the real progressive party – matching our words with actions and delivering not only the UK’s second female Prime Minister but also the joint highest female representation in the Cabinet.
Finally, I was particularly pleased to see the appointment of so many familiar faces from the Leave Campaign into positions where they will be able to work to affect positive change. It was great to see David Davis appointed as EU Exit Secretary and Liam Fox as International Trade Secretary where they will both be able to work towards our country leaving the EU in good order.

In summary I believe the new Prime Minister and her Cabinet will do well in getting on with business of running the country, taking us through Brexit and beyond. I have already invited members of the new Cabinet down to Cornwall to show them first-hand some of the issues we face and look forward to working with them all in the future for the good of Mid-Cornwall.

As always, my team and I are here to serve the whole constituency and work hard to make a real difference to the lives of everyone needing support. If there is an issue you would like my assistance on then please contact me on either 01726 829379 or office@stevedouble.org.uk. Additionally, I hold regular, appointment only, advice surgeries across the constituency. Dates of these can be found at: www.stevedouble.org.uk/events


Wednesday 20 July 2016

Newspaper column 20 July 2016 - Trident

Speaking at the Nato summit in Warsaw earlier this month, one of the last actions of David Cameron as Prime Minister was his announcement that MPs would vote on 18 July on renewing the UK's Trident nuclear weapons programme.

The Trident nuclear programme covers the development, procurement and operation of the current generation of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them for our country.

The former Prime Minister has said that he believes the vote will confirm support for replacing and upgrading the current systems, calling Trident an "essential deterrent" to both Britain's security and the overall security of NATO.

I believe it is absolutely vital that we maintain a continuous independent nuclear deterrent as the ultimate guarantee of our national security. The Government has consistently set out the case for maintaining our nuclear deterrent. Of course all of us would wish that we could live in a world without nuclear weapons. However, it is clear that the world today is becoming an ever more dangerous and in many ways unstable place to live. I believe firmly that we cannot dismiss the possibility that a major direct nuclear threat to the UK might re-emerge. This alone is a powerful reason for the retention and renewal of Trident.

There are various claims about the cost of renewing Trident. This current commitment represents a cost of £31billion over 35 years. This is 0.2% of our overall defence spending and the full cost of the Trident programme is only 6% of our defence budget. I believe this puts the cost of this piece of our military capability into perspective and represents value for money for the tax payer.

Despite successes over recent decades in limiting the number of states with nuclear capabilities, we still cannot rule out, particularly in these turbulent times, a major shift in the international security situation which would put us under grave threat. We should not abdicate our roll in the world and ‘outsource’ this part of our defence to other nations with nuclear capabilities. We need to stand together with our allies and demonstrated out commitment. That is why I do not believe, particularly under the current circumstances, that it would be right to give up this capability.

The Government's policy has been to retain the Trident continuous nuclear deterrent, where there is always one of our four nuclear submarines armed and at sea, to provide the ultimate deterrent to anyone threatening the UK. This will also secure thousands of highly-skilled engineering jobs in the UK.

I fully support the renewal of our nation’s own nuclear deterrent in the form of the Trident missile system and voted for this on Monday. This is the only sensible policy for ensuring our country’s future security. This I believe is the first priority of any government.


As always, my team and I are here to serve the whole constituency and work hard to make a real difference to the lives of everyone needing support. If there is an issue you would like my assistance on then please contact me on either 01726 829379 or office@stevedouble.org.uk. Additionally, I hold regular, appointment only, advice surgeries across the constituency. Dates of these can be found at: www.stevedouble.org.uk/events

Monday 18 July 2016

Statement on the vote on Trident - 18 July 2016

I believe it is absolutely vital that we maintain a continuous independent nuclear deterrent as the ultimate guarantee of our national security. The Government has consistently set out the case for maintaining our nuclear deterrent. Of course all of us would wish that we could live in a world without nuclear weapons. However, it is clear that the world today is becoming an ever more dangerous and in many ways unstable place to live. I believe firmly that we cannot dismiss the possibility that a major direct nuclear threat to the UK might re-emerge. This alone is a powerful reason for the retention and renewal of Trident.

There are various claims about the cost of renewing Trident. This current commitment represents a cost of £31 billion over 35 years. This is 0.2% of our overall defence spending and the full cost of the Trident programme is only 6% of our defence budget. I believe this puts the cost of this piece of our military capability into perspective and represents value for money for the tax payer.

Despite successes over recent decades in limiting the number of states with nuclear capabilities, we still cannot rule out, particularly in these turbulent times, a major shift in the international security situation which would put us under grave threat. We should not abdicate our roll in the world and ‘outsource’ this part of our defence to other nations with nuclear capabilities. We need to stand together with our allies and demonstrated out commitment. That is why I do not believe, particularly under the current circumstances, that it would be right to give up this capability.

The Government's policy has been to retain the Trident continuous nuclear deterrent, where there is always one of our four nuclear submarines armed and at sea, to provide the ultimate deterrent to anyone threatening the UK. This will also secure thousands of highly-skilled engineering jobs in the UK.

I fully support the renewal of our nations own nuclear deterrent in the form of the Trident missile system and will be voting for this on Monday. This is the only sensible policy for ensuring our country’s future security. This I believe is the first priority of any government. 

Wednesday 13 July 2016

Newspaper column 13 July 2016 - The conclusion of the Conservative

We are certainly living in very interesting times at the moment. There is an old saying that a week is a very long time in politics, and I feel that this has never been truer than now. What a week we have had.

In my column last week I wrote about my support for Stephen Crabb in the first round of the leadership contest to decide not only the new leader for the Conservative Party, but also our next Prime Minister.

However Stephen dropped out of the race mid-week and I subsequently declared my support for Andrea Leadsom, who by Friday was one of two candidates remaining from the original five.
Along with several other MPs I had, over the weekend written to Conservative party chairman Lord Feldman, asking him to fast track the leadership contest. We stated that the country is living through unprecedented times and that ongoing instability on the markets caused by the uncertainty around the leadership race risked causing real damage to the country. With just two candidates remaining so early in the process, it seemed ridiculous to wait two months before coming to a decision.

However, as I write this column on Monday morning, the breaking news was Andrea has also withdrawn from the competition and put her support behind the sole remaining candidate, Theresa May.

I am obviously disappointed that Andrea has taken this decision but entirely respect her reasons for doing so. I believe that Andrea’s actions have been brave and selfless, and in taking this step she has put the wellbeing of the country ahead of her personal ambitions, of which I applaud.

I have always said that all of the candidates for the leadership post would have made an excellent Prime Minister and am sure that Theresa, with her many years of Cabinet experience, will do a good job for the country.

Following the EU Referendum the people and businesses of the UK need strong leadership to move quickly to set out what an independent United Kingdom’s life outside the EU looks like.
Theresa May has promised to implement Article 50, the mechanism for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, as soon as possible, and it is now our job to form a strong and united Government behind her to ensure that this process takes place and the people of the UK get the best possible outcome.

The Conservative party was elected in 2015 with a strong manifesto, of which a major part, the EU referendum, has now been fulfilled. We all now need a new Prime Minister in place as soon as possible, who will fulfil that manifesto as well as implementing the clear democratic instructions from the British people, who spoke so strongly at the referendum.

I look forward to working with Theresa May and her team to ensure the best interests of Cornwall and its people are kept at the heart of this Government as we go forward.

As always, my team and I are here to serve the whole constituency and work hard to make a real difference to the lives of everyone needing support. If there is an issue you would like my assistance on then please contact me on either 01726 829379 or office@stevedouble.org.uk. Additionally, I hold regular, appointment only, advice surgeries across the constituency. Dates of these can be found at: www.stevedouble.org.uk/events


Wednesday 6 July 2016

Newspaper column 6 July 2016 - EU funding and the next PM

As we move on from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, one of the things most raised with me is how Cornwall will be impacted by the eventual cessation of funding formerly provided by the EU.

As I recently said in Parliament, the funding we have received from the EU is not really EU money. The EU does not actually have any money—there is no magic EU money tree. It is our money, which we gave to the EU. It converted it into euros, then converted that into sterling to give back to us, except that it gave it back with a whole load of strings, bureaucracy and red tape attached about how we can spend it.

The money was meant to create 10,000 new jobs in Cornwall. In fact it has created around a third of that number. The funding is not raising wages or the standard of living and is essentially a failed endeavour. A major reason for this failure is that we were not able to spend the aid on what we need to in Cornwall. How we should spend it was dictated by the EU. The requirements were designed for a Europe-wide programme that does not fit the Cornish economy.

In fact, just last week the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed that out of the current £500m EU grant funding that has been made available for Cornwall, only £36m has been spent. This is not a failure of civil servants in Whitehall but rather the criteria and regulations imposed by the EU are putting off the private sector from risking investing. The only projects currently on the table are all public sector. This is not what we need and I will be surprised if we manage to spend half the current funding available. It is also highly unlikely that Cornwall would have qualified for the next round of EU funding post 2020 anyway. With our economy growing far quicker than most of the rest of the EU it is very likely we will be out of the picture for the next round.

Now the dust is settling, a major decision we now have to make is who to support in the upcoming Conservative Party leadership contest, which ultimately also decides who will be our next Prime Minister.

There are five candidates and any one of them would make an excellent Prime Minister. However, I have decided to give my support to the current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – Stephen Crabb. I have got to know Stephen well over the past 14 months and believe he has the right qualities to lead our country. He represents a rural coastal constituency that faces many of the same challenges we face in Cornwall. He has also confirmed to me that should be become PM he will continue to provide support for investment in our county’s infrastructure and economic support when we lose the EU funding.

There is a long road ahead but both myself and the Cornish MPs are committed to getting the best deal for Cornwall whether the funding comes from the EU, as was the case in the past, or solely from Westminster as will be the case in the future.
As always, my team and I are here to serve the whole constituency and work hard to make a real difference to the lives of everyone needing support. If there is an issue you would like my assistance on then please contact me on either 01726 829379 or office@stevedouble.org.uk. Additionally, I hold regular, appointment only, advice surgeries across the constituency. Dates of these can be found at: www.stevedouble.org.uk/events