The level of UK defence spendin

I wholeheartedly agree with you that the defence of the realm, our overseas territories and our interests around the globe, is the first priority of any government. As a leading global power, the UK has a responsibility to sustain our armed forces so that they can carry out this vital task.

I was re-elected in 2017 to represent the people of St Austell and Newquay on a manifesto that binds the Government to not only meet the NATO commitment to spend at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence, but also increase the defence budget by at least 0.5 per cent above inflation in every year of the 2017-19 Parliament.

We currently have the biggest annual defence budget in Europe, the second largest in NATO, and the fifth largest in the world.

Between 2016 and 2026, the Ministry of Defence has been allocated £178 billion to planned expenditure on equipment and support, including £44 billion on submarines and trident missiles, £24.6 billion on combat and support aircrafts, £19 billion on ships and £13.5 billion on weapons. New equipment to cope with 21st century threats include nuclear Dreadnought submarines to maintain continuous at sea patrols, digital armoured vehicles, and two new aircraft carriers - the most powerful ships ever built in Britain – with 5th generation F-35s to fly from them.

As your local MP I will continue to support the Government on bills and measures in Parliament that will strengthen our armed forces and defence capabilities, and speak up and vote against any proposals aiming to achieve the opposite.

Early Day Motion (EDM) 66

Thank you for your recent email asking me to sign Early Day Motion (EDM) 66, which calls for a rigorous and fair public scientific debate, between scientists, about best practice in medical research.

As a rule I do not sign Early Day Motions as they have no legislative affect and I believe change can be driven better through the other democratic processes available to us in Parliament.

I will certainly bear your comments during future debates and discussion on this subject in Parliament in the future.

I hope this is helpful and thanks once more for getting in touch.

Third runway at Heathrow

Few matters I can recall have seen greater scrutiny and consideration. The time and effort in reviewing these matters have been exhaustive and whilst strong feelings are held by both sides of the argument the consensus has proven to be in favour by some margin in Parliament and also overwhelmingly in the immediate location of the airport. The vast majority there support it.

I gave the matter careful thought and supported the third runway. People have concerns and it has been right and proper that everyone should have their views aired and considered. Even now the project has to go through the planning process. I remain confident that this will further tighten and enhance the project to ensure the impact it may have will be a measured one whilst  the benefits to the UK are secured.

The new runway  is a once-in-a-generation private infrastructure project. It will bring gains across the UK and more so to The Duchy with flights possible between here and Heathrow itself. It will greatly help business and tourism.

With the advent of rapidly changing technologies seen already with the explosion of ultra clean cars with sales booming – such good news for the environment – we will see equal progress in the air too. We must harness these latest technologies in due course to ensure the future wellbeing of our environment whilst not neglecting to provide the much needed runway at Heathrow.

Campaign - I want a publicly owned NHS, do you?/NHS Birthday present

Thank you for your recent email as part of the campaign ‘I want a publicly owned NHS, do you?’

I want an NHS that delivers for its patients and staff and one that provides good value for money for the taxpayer.

Because of this I was pleased that in June, the Prime Minister announced an extra £20 billion a year in real terms for the National Health Service by 2023/24, ensuring patients receive world-class care, as part of our long-term plan for the NHS.

This funding in their 70th birthday year is part of a five-year budget settlement for the NHS.

Crucially, the extra funding will come in part from the ‘Brexit dividend’ – money we will no longer send to the European Union after we have left – and the country will be asked to contribute a bit more for the NHS in a fair and balanced way.

The Government has increased the NHS budget every year we have been in power. This further historic long term funding boost will secure the future of this vital service for generations to come, meaning patients will benefit from improved cancer survival rates, there will be better mental health care, and more doctors and nurses in our hospitals.

In return, the NHS will produce a new, clinically led, long-term plan – setting out how the money will be used to deliver our vision for the health service and to ensure every penny is well spent.

Of course, in recent years we have already seen increased general funding for the NHS in Cornwall, with a year on year increase since the Government came into power.

We have also recently seen work start on the construction of the long-needed mental health inpatient facility for young people in Cornwall, another £4m investment to Cornwall from the Government.

With my Cornish MP colleagues I lobbied the Government for additional funding for Adult Social Care and was very pleased to see announcement of the Improved Better Care Fund in March 2017.

The Government granted Cornwall Council an additional £24m over the next three years for adult social care to go towards improving social care in Cornwall.

Furthermore, Royal Cornwall Hospital is one of 74 sites from around the country that has been offered £30m as part of the ‘Core 24’ standard for mental health liaison, meaning a fully-staffed team will be operating 24/7 in the hospital, offering a one-hour response to emergency mental health referrals in A&E.

So this is great news for the NHS nationally and locally. I will now be working with the other Cornish MPs and NHS services in Cornwall to ensure that we get the right amount of funds for our county.

I hope this outlines my position on this matter and thanks once more for getting in touch.

Lord’s Amendment 19 to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Thank you for writing to me regarding my vote on the Lord’s Amendment 19 to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

I voted to leave the European Union in the June 2016 referendum. Since becoming your Member of Parliament in 2015, I have always made my Eurosceptic views clear.

I am of the view that by leaving the European Union, the British people will be taking back control of our own borders, laws, trade policy, and avoid being part of an ever-closing union, which has yield nothing but social and economic disaster for many of its members.

I believe that adding my name to this amendment would have undermined the public’s trust in our nation’s democratic institutions to deliver the referendum results, tie the Prime Minister’s hands in her negotiations with the EU, and add further unwanted uncertainty to an already uncertain situation.

  

The EU Withdrawal Act has now received Royal Assent, requiring the UK to leave the European Union on Friday 29 March 2019.

In the scenario that no deal is reached by 21 January 2019, the Government would have to make a statement to Parliament setting out what its next course of action is, and Parliament will then have an opportunity to vote on those plans, on a motion that would be expressed in either neutral or non-neutral terms, as determined by the Speaker of the House of Commons.

I am afraid this is an issue that we may well have to agree to disagree on. Nonetheless, I would like to thank you for taking the time to write to me.

Brexit and the Environment

Thank you for writing to me about my vote for the Lords’ Amendment 3 to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

I am well aware that Amendment 3 was supported by many of my constituents who care deeply about the environment, and I can assure you that I would like to see the UK maintain its high standards when it comes to environmental protection after we leave the EU.

While I agree that we need to maintaining environmental principles similar to the EU’s after Brexit, I voted against Amendment 3 in its original form as it would have prevented the Government from acting quickly to update environmental regulations and constraining its ability to deliver an effective functioning statute after we leave the EU. Not only does it create legal uncertainty; it does not take into account that a significant proportion of environmental legislation and policy in the UK is devolved.

I and many of my Parliamentary colleague however, expressed our support for amendment (c) in lieu of Amendment 3, which sets out the same EU environmental principles including ‘polluters pay’ and ‘precautionary principle’, should be included in a new environment bill, Environmental Principles and Governance Bill, and thus embedding it in UK law. The bill will also create a world-leading, independent environmental watchdog to hold the Government to account.

This bill is a cornerstone of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ 25 Year Environment. Consultation on the government’s white paper is open until 2 August 2018 and you can take part in the consultation on https://consult.defra.gov.uk/eu/environmental-principles-and-governance/

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has announced that the Government will bring forward this bill in the autumn to deliver those proposals.

The Government has been consistently clear on the need to ensure that our environment is protected after we leave the EU. In addition to maintaining EU environmental principles, the EU Withdrawal Act, which has now received Royal Assent, will also convert all existing EU environmental laws into UK law when we finally leave the Union next year.

Whether you voted Leave or Remain, we can all be united in our desire to protect and preserve our wildlife, our rivers, our seas, our beaches and our forests. 

The manifesto on which all Conservative MPs were elected in 2017 promised that we should be the ‘first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we inherited it in.’ As your MP, I will work hard to ensure that the Government is able to deliver this manifesto pledge that I was elected on after we leave the EU, in order that our future generations may enjoy a greener, more sustainable future.

Questions at the FairFuel UK APPG

Thank you for your email and I have received a good number on this topic. That does not surprise me in the least as I represent a rural constituency where car usage is higher than elsewhere simply because of the rural area we live in.

Further because we still lag behind in terms of the wages earned compared with other more prosperous parts of the country our car pool tends to be older and often more polluting than newer more expensive models which are out of reach of modest wage earners. These things concern me greatly already so the prospect of any further move to make life more difficult or expensive causes me alarm.

Fuel duties and car taxation are high, although comparisons to other countries are difficult as other taxes here are lower. The UK remains one of the lowest overall tax raising thresholds in Europe.

The UK, a world leading developer and manufacturer of ultra clean vehicles is already seeing a huge uplift in the sale of these vehicles. The switch to them is happening at a pace no one could have predicted even a year or so ago. They of course have very low running and taxing costs and as the switch gathers pace the real debate will be on how the government of the day maintains its’ revenue streams. New techniques technologies must be adopted whilst at the same time not hitting traditional transport with extra costs.

We all want to look after the environment and breath clean air wherever we live or work and there are legal obligations on the UK government to achieve that. So it is a problem to be tackled but in a fair and balanced way.

I note the dates of the three forthcoming meetings but with my diary already oversubscribed between now and the summer recess I will struggle to get to any of the meetings. However I do have on my staff an assistant who has been interested in transport matters for many years and if at all possible I will see if we can get him along so he can report back.

It is a real hot topic for me because I don’t want to see a region like ours further burdened – and  I often say as much when the opportunity arises being a member of the Transport committee.

Thanks again for writing. Your contact and that of others always helps me make the case that this issue  is one that is firmly in the public domain and as such needs careful consideration.