The past week ended with St Piran’s Day, Cornwall’s day to celebrate our identity, heritage and history, and I will come back to what I got up to mark this occasion later in the column. Cornwall’s motto is ‘Onen hag oll’ (One and All), and this apt description of our community spirit was in evidence like never before in the past week as communities from across the Duchy rallied to support the people of Ukraine following the continued invasion of their country by the Putin regime.
In Mid-Cornwall residents came together to provide donations of items to help displaced Ukrainians and these items were collected in Newquay from where they will be dispatched to Poland. My office has been helping to enable a smooth journey across Europe. However, Poland has now asked for donations of items to cease, due to cost and logistical issues with transporting and distributing it.
People are of course very welcome to donate towards the disaster relief efforts and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), 15 leading UK aid charities, have launched their Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. The Government will match pound-for-pound the public’s first £20 million and look to increase this over time. This is our largest ever aid-match contribution. You can donate via this link: https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal
A huge thank you to everyone who has worked to mobilise this support from our constituency. Once again demonstrating the generosity and big heartedness of people in Cornwall.
Away from the Ukraine situation, last week was a busy one for me. On Monday along with my Cornish MP colleagues I met with the Health Secretary to discuss a variety of health issues that impact on Cornwall. In particular we discussed NHS dental care and waiting lists, which I recently conducted a survey on, as well as access to GP services, ambulance waiting times and the particular pressures that are on Treliske Hospital. It is always good to be able to feedback issues reported to me to the very top of Government and I look forward to doing all I can to working locally and in Westminster to resolve them.
Keeping Cornwall connected is also still top of my priority list and last week I caught up with senior officers from GWR, Network Rail and Cornwall Council in Parliament to discuss the latest updates on the return of the London night sleeper, the upgrade of the Newquay Station and the exciting proposals for the Mid Cornwall Metro direct service from Newquay to Falmouth.
I also attended a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) reception hosted by
the Renewable Transport Fuel Association in Parliament. SAF is fuel produced
from sustainable feedstocks (such as commercial waste or biomass) that can be
used in commercial and civilian aircraft with the potential of reducing carbon
emissions by up to 70%.
SAF will play a crucial role in making flying greener in the coming decades. The Government wants to see SAF make up 10% of aviation fuel by 2030 and is investing to support the fast-growing SAF industry, an excellent way to make this method of travel greener.
Finally, back to St Piran’s Day, and on Saturday I was delighted to join the World Pasty Championships at the Eden Project as a Pasty Judge. Well done to St Columb Major’s Cornish Premier Pasties who won both Gold and Silver in the Company Cornish Pasty category as well as to all of the other amateur and professional entrants for taking part. After having to celebrate St Piran’s Day virtually last year because of the pandemic, this year it was brilliant to see everyone celebrating together in person again, the sun shone and it was a brilliant showcase for everything Cornish, once again our ‘One and All’ motto serving us well, at times of celebration as well as at times of crisis.
If I can be of any further assistance, my office is always available for
any constituents needing help, advice or guidance. Please do get in touch if I
can help – tel. 01726 829379, email – office@stevedouble.org.uk
