This continues to be a very difficult time for us all. I know many within our community are shielding and all of us are anxious about the threat of the virus and what the future holds. As your representative, my first duty is always to ensure that the most vulnerable within our area are protected. We must continue to be vigilant and follow the rules set out by the Government to contain the virus.

In the long-term, however, we have to learn to live with this virus. Here in Mid Norfolk we have seen this year both how damaging to our local economy, charities and to the health of many sick and elderly patients who have been denied treatment this Covid lockdown has been.  We have also seen how much better faster and more effectively our LOCAL Public Health and Councils can react than the Whitehall bureaucracy to tackle local outbreaks.  

I believe this autumn and winter we need a clearer Strategy based on the principles of: 

- protecting the most medically vulnerable 

- permitting as much economic activity as possible 

- targeting Testing and Tracing at the most essential Vulnerable and Key Workers 

- allowing LOCAL authorities to manage local outbreaks as far as possible before national measures

We can’t continue the cycle of lockdown, lifting restrictions and then locking down again indefinitely. As a former entrepreneur, I know all local businesses need as much certainty as possible. They have to know if they can stay open without the risk of being closed down again at a moment’s notice.

That’s why we need proper parliamentary scrutiny of new laws that affect all our lives. It is why I have put my name to the Brady Amendment. Brexit was about taking back control and making Parliament sovereign. It’s crucial that we start to show that promise was real. Laws restricting all our basic liberties need to be scrutinised properly in the House of Commons. That’s what MPs are for and that’s what the Brady Amendment is trying to achieve.

Many have also criticised the Government’s response. I absolutely understand the frustration and anger at the restrictions that have been imposed on our daily lives. However, in a time of national emergency, I believe we do need to work together. Armchair critics benefit no one. In January this was all new. Now we have learned. Norfolk did really well to avoid a crisis in our Care Homes. Everyone is doing their best. This has to be a team effort in order to pull through and get things back to normal.

This autumn, however, I believe we do need to find a new approach. We need as much social and economic freedom as we can safely have while looking after the most vulnerable. We cannot continue to lock students down in their rooms, close off the economy and risk mass unemployment for a generation. Together with other MPs, I am calling on the Government to put in place a response that protects the vulnerable but is also proportionate with the risks.

Rest assured, I will always continue to fight for your concerns and raise all issues with the relevant Ministers and Departments. I also want to praise our NHS staff, emergency workers and police for all they are doing to help protect us.

To see the latest and most up to date Covid guidelines, please visit the Government website here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus 

Great news! The Government has confirmed Norwich received £32 million from the Transforming Cities Fund.

The funds will be used for a variety of transport infrastructure improvements in and around the city – positive steps as we look to ensure the region has the transport network it needs to thrive in the 21st century.

There remains much more to be done, but please be assured that I (along with parliamentary colleagues, councillors, officials, businesses and resident groups) continue to actively lobby hard for the transport improvements our part of the world needs if it is to unlock its true potential.

(To see the EDP article on the announcement, please click here)

While I have long argued that our planning system is broken (and am therefore very pleased indeed to see the Government’s recognition that it needs significant reform), I am concerned with the reforms proposed in the Government’s ‘Changes to the Current Planning System’.

The public rightly expect planning to be just that: the co-ordination of the location, layout, design, mix – and associated physical and public service infrastructure – of housing and commercial development.  

There is widespread public anger about the lack of real local planning in recent years and the move to a system in which local council control and discretion is reduced, infrastructure funding is cut, and large scale out-of-town volume housebuilders are able to make billions from lazily dumping large scale commuter housing on the outskirts of villages and towns with wholly insufficient infrastructure. 

Whilst the proposed reforms contain *some* good measures – especially on design codes and trees – the disproportionate concentration of massive numbers of houses in rural areas, on greenfield farmland, AND the removal of the local infrastructure levy, is a recipe for infrastructure chaos.  

These reforms, I believe, serve to strengthen the hand of those aggressive development companies and fail to address the fundamental issues that the current planning system perpetuates, and which have been/continue to be the basis on which I, and so many others, have called for proper reform.

That’s why I have taken the time to submit my views to the consultation – and why I continue to lobby Government hard on this issue.

To read my full submission to the consultation, please do click here.

Great news for all of us who have been campaigning for the access issues at Platform 2 of Wymondham Station to be solved!

I welcome the Government’s confirmation of £32 million for Norwich, and the surrounding area, from the Transforming Cities Fund – of which £600,000 has been committed to making access at Platform 2 of Wymondham Station step-free.

This is a massive boost for Wymondham and its hinterland – and I look forward to hearing more about how this project will be brought forward and completed in the near future.

As the Southern North Sea becomes the world’s largest centre for offshore wind infrastructure, East Anglia is in danger of being ruined by the dozens of Wembley-sized substations and thousands of miles of underground cabling required to connect these new wind farms to our National Grid.

That’s why I, along with a core group of Norfolk and Suffolk MPs, campaigners and industry experts, have been lobbying Government hard over the past year or so – calling for, and then securing from the Energy Minister, a Review into how we connect offshore wind infrastructure to the National Grid onshore.

Today, National Grid ESO have outlined the initial findings of that Review – highlighting that offshore wind farms should be integrated, rather than a new connection being created onshore for each one (exactly what those of us campaigning on this issue have been calling for).

Their report also suggests UK consumers would save 18% or roughly £6 billion too if this integrated approach is adopted – with the East of England benefitting more than any other region: with savings of 30% = £2.3 billion.

This is hugely promising.

It is clear that, if we are to meet (and exceed) the Government’s ‘Green’ commitments, prevent the unnecessary damage to our rural and coastal landscapes and the economic and social disruption that comes from the current ramshackle approach to delivering this infrastructure, we need a proper Strategic Plan – and our campaign believes that an integrated offshore approach is the best way forward.

Tomorrow, as part of our efforts to hold this Review to account and bring about the change required for such an approach to be implemented, I will be joining our core group of Norfolk and Suffolk MPs in a meeting with National Grid ESO officials to go through the findings in their report in even greater detail.

Rest assured, I remain firmly committed to pursuing this in the weeks and months ahead – and look forward to providing another update soon.

To see today’s EDP article, please click here

Is it really okay for universities to encourage hundreds of thousands of students to cross the country to a university campus – to be locked down, but expected to pay:

• £9,000 a year in course fees; and
• £10,000 more in accommodation and living costs

…with very little chance of earning any money (particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors that have traditionally employed so many part time university students).

No it’s not.

See my full views as expressed on Sky News below…

Q: How are we going to make Covid-19 a catalyst for a more entrepreneurial ‘Rural Renaissance’ in East Anglia?

A: By putting the voice of local SME businesses at the heart of it!

That’s why, as one of its co-founders, I am delighted the Norfolk Enterprise Festival is this year teaming up with the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership to deliver the RESTART Festival – this Tuesday and Wednesday (29th and 30th September).

In the age of Covid, the Festival will be taking place virtually – delivering two days of free, informative and exciting sessions to give Norfolk and Suffolk’s businesses the support they need to kickstart and consolidate their recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

With a vast array of speakers and presentations, as well as our third annual Angels Den (with £10,000 of business support from our sponsors), the event is one not to be missed.

To learn more and to watch the talks live, please visit the website here: RESTART website

To see the full Festival Programme, please click here: Festival Programme

Watch George Freeman’s latest video message.

Since the Energy Minister’s announcement of the full Review into improving offshore wind connectivity, my parliamentary colleagues here in the East and I have continued our campaign – with the aim of holding the Review to account and doing our utmost to get a proper strategic Plan for the delivery of this vital technology.

That’s why, today, a group of us met again to discuss with industry analysts how an offshore connection system might be possible – one that would then require just one connection point onshore.

The discussions were positive and productive, and will be continuing over the coming weeks – with a view to them aiding our work to ensure the full Review is held to account and not missing key evidence that may show an offshore solution is viable.

Rest assured, we remain committed to pursuing this both in Westminster and here in Norfolk.

The NHS has launched a service where anyone in the UK aged 18 or over can register to receive information about taking part in COVID-19 vaccine trials.

The more people who sign up, the easier it is for our NHS research teams to find people who'd like to volunteer to take part.

Joining the registry does not mean you are automatically signed up to a trial though, it just means you can be contacted to find out more about what taking part in one could involve.

To find out more visit bepartofresearch.uk or to sign up now go to NHS.UK/researchcontact.