That’s why I was delighted to support my colleague Robert Halfon MP, Chair of the Education Select Committee, and Marcus Rashford in the campaign to extend Free School Meal vouchers through the summer.
This is an unprecedented crisis – and it has been right that the Prime Minister and Chancellor have taken unprecedented steps to help shield the most vulnerable.
Free School Meals are a lifeline for many very low income families and therefore had to be continued through the summer as we move through this crisis.
I’m glad the Government has now done the right thing and confirmed an extension to the Free School Meals scheme.
To read more about my views on this issue, please visit my Twitter page here and the EDP articles here and here.
The lockdown has hit our local economy VERY hard, and many businesses have had to close for 3 months.
No sector has been hit harder than hospitality and tourism (still Norfolk’s No 1 revenue generator and employer).
That’s why it is vital that we help our tourism and hospitality sector back on its feet with a clear Plan and Timetable for reopening.
Businesses need to clarity so that they can unfurlough/hire staff and plan for opening.
I think we should be looking at:
- Removing the 2m rule and replacing it with a 1m rule
- Allowing all tourist and hospitality sites to reopen provided they can enforce 1m – with facemasks for staff and as much hospitality OUTSIDE as possible
With close monitoring of the infection Rate so local public health officials can spot any localised spike and allow councils to move to impose local restrictions where necessary.
If pubs and restaurants and venues know they could be shut down or restricted if there is a local spike in infections they are likely to be very careful to avoid that.
Please be assured that I will continue to follow this very closely.
We need to get our schools reopened and our children back into them as soon as possible.
Missing school is very damaging for children’s life prospects – especially the most vulnerable. And for many working couples the lack of school makes it impossible for them to return to work and deepens the risk of family difficulties with finances and home schooling, which as we know is very difficult for many families.
We can’t allow a Covid Generation of children to fall behind in life because of missed learning.
This crisis has called for unprecedented measures in finance and public health, and I think we need to see the same in education.
With an openness to innovation we could help pupils, schools, teachers and parents.
So, I would like to see a big move by the Government to tackle this with:
- Removing the 2m rule for children under 16
- Access to testing for all school staff as key workers
- Schools reopened now for an extra summer term running to end July
Then, a digital “summer school” programme for children to log on to digital learning modules and laptops provided for children who don’t have them so they can access it. (I know a number of schools in our area are already providing laptops to children who do not currently have one).
We cannot allow our vulnerable children to fall behind.
With a big push we can make this a moment of educational innovation to make sure no child is left behind.
Great news to see the UK leading the global race for a treatment for Covid-19!
This is a huge tribute to the importance of our world class Life Science sector – both here in Norfolk at the NRP (and elsewhere) and nationwide.
And a reminder of the tremendous value of repurposed medicines.
Let’s hear it for the local volunteers! Well done to the Dereham Cares team!
Set up by local district councillor, Alison Webb, the volunteering scheme has been a lifeline to so many vulnerable people in Dereham and Toftwood during this Coronavirus crisis – delivering prescriptions and food parcels, as well as spending time on the phone talking to lonely people.
In these difficult times, it’s heart-warming to see the efforts of local communities to support their most vulnerable and I’m proud to see them get the local recognition they deserve.
To learn more, please do visit the great EDP article on their work: here
As non-essential shops reopen their doors this week, it is vital that we do all we can to shop with confidence and support our local Norfolk economy.
That’s why I was delighted to back the EDPs ‘Love Local’ campaign – encouraging everyone to spend their hard-earned pounds within the region and give our small and independent business sectors a massive boost in these difficult times.
As we know, our market towns in Mid Norfolk – Attleborough, Dereham, Watton and Wymondham – are the hubs of our local communities and economy. All of us who value local high streets and high quality local produce now need to use them or lose them.
If we all buy local, we can make a real difference.
To see the local EDP campaign, please click here
Having grown up in a farming family, worked in the past for the NFU, been the UK’s first ever Minister for Life Sciences and played a key role in the UK’s first ever Agri-Tech Industrial Strategy, I completely understand how vitally important Food Hygiene and Farming Welfare Standards are to this country.
That’s why I have:
- Always campaigned hard as part of my long-standing commitment to these crucial sectors in our Norfolk, and national, economy.
- Led policy work as a backbencher and in my various Government roles – and welcomed the Government’s Manifesto Pledge to protect our high food hygiene and farming welfare standards going forward.
- Spoken with Ministers and officials four times in the last month alone to seek reassurances and insist on these proper protections being in the new Agriculture Bill and in any future free trade deals.
- Abstained from voting on Clause 2 of the Agriculture Bill to signal strongly to the Government that I was not prepared to back them unless those reassurances and protections were in writing.
- Tweeted regularly and highlighted in the Press the need to protect and strengthen our food hygiene and farming welfare values and standards, and use these free trade negotiations to raise standards abroad.
I am 100% opposed to selling out UK farming and food producers on the altar of cheap food from producers of low value and low welfare products around the world.
Rest assured, I shall continue lobbying Government hard on this issue.
To learn more, please visit my web-story on the recent Agriculture Bill here and my Twitter here
As a long-time advocate of the move towards renewable energy, I am a major supporter of Offshore Wind Energy – and have previously worked with local communities to ensure that the associated onshore infrastructure is located in the right place.
As the Southern North Sea becomes the world’s largest centre for offshore wind infrastructure however, 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 have been leading the charge in Norfolk and in Westminster – calling for a proper strategic Plan to deliver this vital infrastructure. I (along with my parliamentary colleagues here in the East) want to see these new wind farms delivered in a way that doesn’t unnecessarily damage our rural and coastal landscapes, as well as negatively impact on local tourism, business and residents.
As part of my ongoing campaign, myself, Duncan Baker and Jerome Mayhew participated in a Zoom Call with the Energy Minister, the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, to make the case for a full Review of the options to deliver this key infrastructure – reiterating our belief that an Offshore Ring Main is the best one.
I am delighted to report that Kwasi Kwarteng sympathised enormously with us and has agreed to get OFGEM to carry out a feasibility study to look at the ORM option. This is hugely positive news – and a great step forward.
It comes on the same day that the Secretary of State at BEIS, the Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, agreed to postpone his decision on the Norfolk Vanguard and Hornsea Project Three Offshore Wind Farm applications for another month – responding to calls from MPs like myself and countless others across the East. (And follows his decision to postpone a decision on the Norfolk Boreas application until October).
Rest assured, I will continue to follow this matter closely. Next stop – OFGEM. Duncan, Jerome and I will take our campaign to them and ensure the feasibility is carried out as swiftly and thoroughly as possible.
To learn more about this campaign, please click here.
To read the EDP article, please click here.
Every week, a farmer dies by suicide.
There’s a tsunami of anxiety in the rural industries – a vital component of our wider Norfolk and Eastern economies.
That’s why I was delighted to participate in the ‘Exploring Mental Health in Agriculture’ webinar (organised by Archant and Lloyds Banking Group) on Friday to help shine a light on this hugely important issue and discuss what more can be done to provide support.
Every death by suicide is one too many. And there are so many more suffering in silence.
Rest assured, I shall continue to follow this issue closely – and I look forward to seeing Archant and Lloyds Banking Group’s joint campaign going from strength to strength.
To catch up on the webinar, you can see it here:
The Agriculture Bill and the matter of food standards in this country are two vitally important issues for our area.
That’s why, having had a number of recent meetings and conversations with Ministers to seek reassurances and insist on protections for our high food hygiene welfare standards, I abstained from voting on Clause 2 of the Agriculture Bill to signal that I was not prepared to support the Government on the Bill without the reassurances in writing.
I support free trade and am pleased to see the UK signing trade deals with new countries, but we do also need to make sure we:
1. Secure a trade deal with the EU to ensure continuity of trade and business for UK companies and consumers;
2. Maintain our food, farming and consumer production and import standards;
3. Achieve much better labelling so that all consumers can see the country of origin and standards of production for every product at the point of purchase.
I am 100% opposed to selling out UK farming and food producers on the altar of cheap food from producers of low value and low welfare products around the world.
One of the many lessons and legacies from Covid should be the security of our core supply chains – and the risks to public health from other countries, like China, with dirty “wet markets”.
The post-Covid recovery is no time to abandon our domestic food and farming sector – which is of course especially important to the Mid Norfolk economy.
Rest assured, I will always go on fighting the corner of our local farmers and farming industry – and I will always feed in the views of my constituents on this to the Secretary of State and his Ministers.