Newspaper column 20 January 2021 - G7 announcement

This past weekend saw the Prime Minister announce that Cornwall will be the venue for the G7 Summit that the UK is hosting later this year.

The G7 (or Group of Seven) is an organisation made up of the world's seven largest so-called advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Attendees of the summit include the G7 nations' heads of government plus the president of the European Commission and the president of the European Council. The Leaders of Australia, South Korea and India will also be invited to this year’s G7.

In past years the G7 has taken action to strengthen the global economy, save 27 million lives from Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and supported the education of millions of children in the poorest countries. In 2016 its members led the way in helping secure the historic Paris Climate Agreement to limit global emissions.

As well as the annual gathering of leaders, G7 ministers meet to discuss shared challenges in areas such as global economics, health, technology foreign policy and national security.

As the presidency holder, the UK will direct the agenda for the G7 in 2021, choosing to focus on issues that matter and will help the UK and the world build back better from coronavirus.

The Presidency is a unique opportunity for the UK to lead the international recovery effort from the COVID-19 crisis. We will create an agenda for the Presidency that tackles the biggest issues facing the world, building a global coalition that delivers economic opportunities and growth, while also protecting our planet.

Bringing such an important international event to Cornwall is an incredible opportunity for our Duchy. This is something that Prime Minister first discussed with us as local MPs back in April 2020, so there has been a huge degree of planning and preparation gone into it already to ensure it goes as well as it can possibly go.

This is likely to be the first global in-person event of this kind since the pandemic and I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for choosing to host this event in our Duchy, which shows we are very much at the heart of the government’s levelling up agenda.

It will really put Cornwall front and centre at a pivotal moment in the world’s history and will be an incredible opportunity to showcase all Cornwall has to offer the world, not only our stunning natural beauty, but also our unique heritage and culture, our world class food and drink and our world leading creativity and innovation.

For a start, Visit Cornwall estimates that the Summit will bring over £50m of economic growth to Cornwall - £24m during the event itself, and over £26m of future growth in the international tourist market over the next five years. A real opportunity and a big boost for our economy at the time we need it most.

I look forward to doing all I can to ensure that Cornwall shines at this historic event and that the heads of state who visit return to their countries at its conclusion having seen what a wonderful place Cornwall is to live, work and grow up in.

Newspaper column 6 January 2021 - The Brexit Trade Deal

Let me begin by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Whilst I am sure we are all aware that we have some huge challenges to get through in the coming months, with the rollout of the new vaccine we know that we can see an end to the current situation. I have every faith that as we emerge from this crisis, we will see a return to more normal times in the coming months and we can begin to rebuild from the effects we have all felt from this pandemic. In the meantime, it is vital everyone plays their part and keeps to the restrictions in place.

Of course, we began this year with the historic deal with the EU as we left the transition phase of Brexit on 1^st January. This new arrangement sets our future relationship on trade and cooperation with the EU for the years ahead.

Against all the odds, and despite being told by political opponents it could not be achieved, the Prime Minister was able to reach an agreement on Christmas Eve and the legislation required was then passed by Parliament on 30^th December. It was always likely that these negotiations would be pushed to the wire and so it proved. Huge credit must go to Boris Johnson for sticking to the deadline and not extending the transition period as many were calling for him to do. I had always stated I thought a deal would be agreed but we needed to be prepared to go to the deadline with a willingness to walk away in order to get a deal that was acceptable.

Of course, the deal we reached isn’t perfect. Compromises had to be made by both sides. But crucially the agreement recognises the UK as an independent country, free from the jurisdiction of the EU courts and regulations and re-establishes our sovereignty. Our laws will now once again be made by the UK Parliament, directly elected by the people of this country who can be held to account for their decisions. This was always in my view the heart of the vote to leave the EU and I am delighted, after four and half years of struggle, to deliver on this democratic decision.

Even the most ardent Eurosceptics have accepted that this agreement delivers on the key elements needed to restore our national sovereignty. I was pleased to vote to pass this deal in Parliament in order for us to be able to leave the single market, customs union and all EU regulation from 1^st January. We can now make decisions on our own laws and regulations that suit our own country rather than 27 other nations.

It is pleasing to see that the government has already used this new freedom to implement decisions we have been held back from taking by EU laws. We immediately scrapped VAT on female sanitary products, the so called Tampon Tax. This is something we have wanted to do for more than two years and while the EU were discussing allowing this they hadn’t taken action to do so. It is good to see the government implement this decision at the first opportunity.

One area where I acknowledge we did not get everything we had hoped for was on fisheries. I share the disappointment of many of our local fishermen with the immediate changes to fishing quotas and access to our 12 mile waters.

It is clear that fisheries was one of the main areas of contention in reaching agreement with the EU. Although compromises had to be made, I am pleased that the Prime Minister held out on the unreasonable demands of the EU for us to continue to allow EU vessels unrestricted access to our waters indefinitely. We are now out of the Common Fisheries Policy and have control of our waters.

What was agreed is a big step in the right directions in a 25% uplift in quota for our fleet while laying out a clear path after a 5 ½ year adjustment period for us to take back more quota. Additionally, the government has agreed to an initial £100m fund to invest in our fishing industry to enable them to gear up to be ready to handle more quota in the future.

It is important to consider in this that we will now control access to waters out to our 12 mile limit. While we have agreed to allow EU boats some access it will be on our terms. It will be by way of license which we will issue and we will be able to set the regulations and restrictions on these vessels. So although ideally we would not have allowed EU boats access at all, it is important to understand the access allowed is under our terms.

The first sign of this is that we have immediately banned pulse fishing (a method of fishing that uses electric pulses to stun fish to make them easier to catch). This is again something we have wanted to ban for some time, but was not allowed under current EU regulations. From 1^st January we have taken steps to prevent EU boats from using pulse fishing in our waters. This is an important step and shows this government is prepared to use the new powers we have.