Campaign response - Will you stand up for road justice on 20th November?

There has been, as we all know some high profile court cases involving cyclists and serious injury and deaths not just to cyclists themselves but also as a result of collisions with other road users and pedestrians. It has in part led to the government looking afresh at the laws around cycling. Some of our current regulation is very old.

All road users in the UK have to contend with some of the busiest roads in the World. That in itself is a factor in the current debate. Add in the inevitable frustrations over road use and congestion and it can lead to accidents or actions and reactions that are unhelpful at best and downright dangerous. Whilst recognising these and other factors it is also worth noting that we still have one of the best road accident rates in the World. Road deaths have seen a steady decline over many years albeit with some blips. The trend is down and whilst that is to be welcomed we all want to see that figure continue to fall. Cyclists, whilst there has been a huge resurgence in popularity still represent a tiny proportion of traffic on our roads and yet are involved in a disproportionality high number of accidents. This needs addressing as every death or injury is a tragedy.

Part of the process in improving road safety is ensuring that all road users show and have respect for other road users. The more crowded it is the greater the need. There is also the vital role of taking personal responsibility. Drivers using mobile phones are now heavily punished to the extent that those who have passed their driving test within the last two years lose their licence on first offence if caught using a phone. There are seat belt laws too - a factor that has greatly aided safety. Cyclists must be encouraged (I am reticent about legislation on this) to take their own personal safety as a given: high viz clothing, helmets and also adherence to the high way code.

The logic is that whilst  improving provision for cyclists with road design, cycle lanes and priority at traffic lights and more, there must also be a clear recognition that all road users, regardless of their chosen transport method, must take responsibility firstly for themselves and then for others on the road. I believe government plans on legislation will reflect that.

Campaign response - Request for attendance at asylum accommodation debate

Last month a number of my constituents asked if I could attend a Westminster Hall debate on accommodation contracts for asylum seekers.

I regret to inform them that I was unable to attend the debate as I was in Strasbourg for the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly sitting on the day.

This is an priority for the Immigration Minister who said at the debate that she has engaged in discussions with local authorities and civil society leaders on how best to improve asylum accommodation condition and ensure that new contracts can adequately meet the needs of asylum seekers as well as interests of the communities within which they are housed.

I would like to thank my constituents for bringing this issue to my attention and I look forward to future opportunities to speak on this important issue.

Campaign response - Please act now to save solar

I am grateful to my constituents for drawing my attention to the government’s plans for solar energy and proposals to end export tariff and feed-in tariff subsidies for small scale solar installations.

I fully understand their concerns. Achieving clean growth, while ensuring an affordable energy supply for businesses and consumers, is at the heart of the UK’s Industrial Strategy.

As set out in the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, that means nurturing low-carbon technologies, processes and systems that protect our businesses and households from high energy costs, and secure an industrial and economic advantage from the global transition to a low-carbon economy.

Our country generates electricity from increasingly low carbon sources and the electricity powering the UK's homes and businesses in 2017 was the greenest ever, with 50% coming from clean sources - up from 19% in 2010.

Alongside the Renewables Obligation and the Contract for Difference regime, the Feed-In Tariffs (FIT) scheme has played a significant part in this effort.

The FIT scheme was introduced to support the widespread adoption of proven small-scale (up to 5MW) low-carbon electricity generating technologies. The scheme was intended to give the wider public a stake in the transition to a low-carbon economy and in turn foster behavioural change that would support the development of local supply chains and reductions in energy costs.

The FIT scheme is funded through levies on suppliers, and ultimately consumers, regardless of whether or not they directly participate in the scheme. That is why controlling costs was paramount in the reviews of the scheme in 2012 and 2015, the latter of which provided consumers and industry with clarity on levels of small-scale renewable electricity support until March 2019 with a fixed budget of £100m.

Since the start of the FIT scheme the cost of small-scale low-carbon electricity generation has reduced significantly.

As costs continue to fall and deployment without direct subsidy becomes increasingly possible for parts of the sector, it is right that government acts to ensure continued value for money for bill payers over the longer term. That is why government took the decision in 2015 to close the export tariff alongside the generation tariff from end of March 2019.

I know that the Government is keen to listen to sector leaders and FIT scheme participants and indeed a consultation on closure of the FITs scheme to new applications after 31 March 2019 ran from 19 July to 13 September this year. A call for evidence on the future for small-scale low-carbon generation also ran from 19 July to 30 August.

Responses to the consultation and call for evidence are now being analysed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who will be setting out their response in due course.

I will be seeking to engage with the views of other colleagues when Parliament is presented with an opportunity to debate this matter.

On the future of solar power in the UK more broadly, in September 2017 the Government announced a £1 billion programme which will help more than 800,000 low-income UK households access cheap solar electricity in the following five years. The firm providing the panels, Solarplicity, is working with more than 40 social landlords, including local authorities across England and Wales, to roll out installations nationally. Tenants will not pay anything towards the installation of the panels and their energy bills will be reduced by an average of £240 per year.

Campaign response - Please stand up for nature

I am grateful to my constituents who have taken the time to contact me about my support for the Government’s Agriculture Bill.

In September the Government introduced the Agriculture Bill, which has had its Second Reading on 10 October and is currently under scrutiny by MPs in the bill committee.

Food and farming is a bedrock of our economy and environment, generating £112 billion a year and helping shape some of our finest habitats and landscapes. Cornwall in particular is an agri-food powerhouse, with 30% of those of working age employed in agri-food and food retail, compared to the UK average of 15%. The Government will continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of this Parliament in 2022. Once we have the freedom to move away from the Common Agricultural Policy as a result of our leaving of the European Union, the proposal is for an 'agricultural transition' period in England, allowing farmers to prepare for a new system.

Brexit creates a once in a generation opportunity to design a domestic agricultural policy that will stand the test of time. Starting from first principles we can bring in innovative new ideas to support investment in healthy, sustainable British food production and do much better for farming, the environment and animal welfare. The Government proposes to move to a system of paying farmers public money for public goods: principally environmental enhancement.

Ministers have consulted widely with farmers and others, and have published the Agriculture Bill alongside their response; it focuses mostly on England because they recognise that devolution provides each administration with the powers to decide its own priorities. They are keenly aware of the importance of seasonal labour, so will work with the industry to ensure it has the right people with the right skills.

We must take this opportunity to use public money to reward environmentally-responsible land use, as well as maintaining and enhancing high standards of animal welfare. We will harness this opportunity and ensure that our best days as a food and farming nation lie ahead of us.

Campaign response - Help deliver a world-leading Environment Bill

I have recently received a number of emails from my constituents regarding the Environment Bill, which will set out a legal framework for the government’s promise to leave the environment in a better state over the next 25 years.

The Government’s 25-Year Plan to Improve the Environment is available on: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan/25-year-environment-plan-our-targets-at-a-glance

The Prime Minister has made clear on many occasions that we will not weaken environmental protections when we leave the EU.

This Bill is another key step towards achieving a Green Brexit and it will help to ensure Britain can be cleaner and greener for future generations.

Details of the bill’s contents will be brought forward in due course. I will be supporting this and other legislations in Parliament which will allow us to be better stewards of our environment.

We have a great track record on the environment to be proud of. For example, the Government has already:

·         Planted more than 11 million trees, including one million trees in our towns and cities. England’s woodland cover is now expanding at a rate that hasn’t been seen since the fourteenth century.

·         Cleaned up 10,000 miles of rivers and waterways – more than the length of the Amazon and the Nile combined.

·         Published the National Ecosystem Assessment, the Natural Environment White Paper and the Biodiversity Strategy, setting out the Government’s plans for protecting ecosystems, wildlife and natural habitats. £7.5 million has been provided to establish 12 Nature Improvement Areas, providing space for wildlife to thrive, plus a further 148,000 acres of priority habitats.

·         Committed up to £720 million to the Green Climate Fund to help developing countries adapt to climate change and transition to a low carbon economy.

·         Published the UK’s first Solar Strategy which sets out the ambition to see solar rolled out more widely across the country. Since 2010, half a million homes have chosen to install solar technology.

·         Invested in renewables. Since 2010, the amount of money invested each year in renewable electricity production has doubled compared with the previous Parliament. As a result, 2017 was the cleanest and greenest year ever for electricity when we had the first full day without coal power since the Industrial Revolution.  The rise of renewable energy also helped to break 13 clean energy records in 2017.

·         Introduced the 5p charge for plastic bags which has drastically reduced the number of plastic bags distributed. Our 5p plastic bag has seen nine billion fewer carrier bags being distributed since the charge was introduced. This has led to a reduction of 83 per cent and £95 million has been donated to environmental, educational, and other good causes.

·         Legislated to ban microbeads. A ban on the manufacture and sale of products containing microbeads came into force earlier this year. We have asked a specialist committee to review evidence on the use of microplastics in a range of products, and their chances of reaching the seas, and we are commissioning further research to better understand the impact of microplastics in the marine environment.  Ministers are also consulting on plans to ban the sale of plastic straws, drinks stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. This, alongside the forthcoming consultation on a deposit return scheme for single use drinks containers, should lessen the potential for material to become microplastic in the long term.

·         Reduced carbon emissions by 6 percent since 2010 contributing to a 27 per cent reduction since 1990. Ministers are determined to ensure we become a world leader in the new green economy.

·         The recent publication of the Agriculture Bill sets out how farmers and land managers will in future be paid for "public goods", such as better air and water quality, improved soil health, higher animal welfare standards, public access to the countryside and measures to reduce flooding.

Furthermore, the Chancellor announced at the Budget this week that the government will be introducing a world-leading new tax on produced or imported plastic packaging. Alongside already planned reforms to the Packaging Producer Responsibility System, this new measure will encourage businesses to ensure that far more packaging can be recycled and to use more recycled plastic in their packaging. Consultation on both reforms will be launched soon.

The decision to leave the European Union has created an historic opportunity to review our environmental policies. Outside the EU we can develop global gold standard environmental policies, not just to halt or slow environmental deterioration, but to raise our ambitions, restoring nature and reversing decline. We can, and I believe we will, be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we inherited it.

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Campaign response - 38 Degrees Universal Credit

I have recently been contacted by a number of constituents as part of a 38 Degrees campaign on Universal Credit.

I have spent a lot of time meeting with both claimants and staff who at the Department for Work and Pensions offices in St Austell and Newquay about Universal Credit and the impact its rollout is having in Mid-Cornwall.

I recently spoke at length about the experiences with Universal Credit I have been told about during a debate in Parliament

I have included a link to my speech below which I hope you will find of interest.

https://www.facebook.com/720477027977910/posts/2717357471623179/

I was also pleased that following my calls to increase the work allowance for Universal Credit the Chancellor announced at the recent Budget Statement a £1000 increase that will give all households in work and claiming Universal Credit an additional £630 per year.

I am always happy to support individual cases who need assistance with their claims should they wish to get in touch.

I will continue to work within the Government to ensure the benefits system we have is fit for purpose and fair for all.

Campaign response - Let's bring Dubs children to the UK before the end of the year

Last month I received a number of emails from my constituents asking for my support in ensuring that safe passage be given to the 480 unaccompanied refugee children under the so called “Dubs Amendment”.

MPs and Peers have been assured by the Government that ministers remain “fully committed to delivering our commitment to transfer the specified number of 480 children under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 and are working very closely with Member States, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGO partners to identify and transfer children to the UK in line with each individual Member State’s national laws.”

According to a recent response to a parliamentary question on the progress of resettling unaccompanied child refugees, ministers said that over 220 children are already resettled in the UK and “transfers are ongoing”.

In addition to intake from the Dubs Amendment scheme, the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS) resettles at-risk refugee children from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including their families. The scheme does not solely target unaccompanied children, but on UNHCR’s advice also extends to vulnerable ‘children at risk’, such as those threatened with child labour, child marriage and other forms of abuse or exploitation. It is open to all at risk groups and nationalities within the region.

The Government aims to resettle up to 3,000 people (children and families, where the child at risk is part of a family unit) through the scheme by 2020 through VCRS, which is the largest resettlement effort aimed specifically at children at risk from the MENA region. This programme in addition to the Government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees from Syria under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS).

It is important that the Government fulfil its current commitment and continues to make safe humanitarian pathways to resettlement available for the most vulnerable refugees, especially unaccompanied minors. I will be seeking to raise this with the Minister for Immigration when I next see her.