This PM, Chancellor and Government is unashamedly pro-business.

It’s in our DNA 🧬

Fantastic turnout of c250 leaders of businesses small and large at Monday’s Business Connect with PM Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Great to join Ministers Kemi Badenoch, Gillian Keegan, Graham Stuart and Lucy Frazer on stage to set out our vision and plans on:

🔬Science
📲Technology
🎭Creative Industries
🔋Energy
🧑‍🔧Skills
🏦Finance

And how we are pulling every lever…

💷Tax
📑Regulation
🤝Procurement
🧑‍🔬Talent
🌇Clusters

… to drive UK #InnovationNation 

Having worked in business for over fifteen years before becoming MP for Mid Norfolk, and served as a Business Minister on three separate occasions, I know just how important local businesses are. They really are the engine of our local and national economies.

That’s why I have long gone out of my way to visit, promote and communicate with as many local businesses as possible – something I am continuing to do even more so now in my current role as Minister of State at the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology given the vibrant Norfolk Innovation Economy that Mid Norfolk is very much part of.

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of returning to Mirus Aircraft Seating in Hingham to officially open their new M-TEST facility – the largest commercially available and most technologically advanced crash test facility in the UK.

One of the country’s leading commercial aircraft seating manufacturers and part of a rapidly growing cluster of world class engineering and advanced manufacturing companies here on the Cambridge-Norwich Innovation Corridor (linked to the Lotus and Norwich Research Park Research and Development Hubs), Mirus is on the frontline of the Net Zero Green Industrial Revolution – reducing emissions and driving green growth through its R&D investment in innovation lightweight aircraft seats and equipment.

Having participated in the ground breaking ceremony for M-TEST back in 2021 (see here) and previously visited the company for the first time in 2018 (see here), it was wonderful to visit Ben McGuire (CEO of Mirus) and the team again to formally launch M-TEST – which boasts the latest testing technology, will allow Mirus to develop new technologies at a much faster pace and enable greater innovation and speed to market for the company’s products. M-TEST will also be available to other companies in the both the domestic and international aerospace, automotive, motorsport and rail industries who wish to test their own products – speeding up their own innovation and success too.

Mirus is a brilliant, pioneering Mid Norfolk success story – with M-TEST a huge milestone for the company AND for the wider Norfolk and New Anglia Innovation Economy.

As a constituency MP and Government Minister who has often spoken about the world class science, innovation and research going on in our part of the world and the very real potential for that to “spin out” companies (small, medium and large) into our towns and villages, I am delighted to see Mirus as an example of exactly that. In the years to come, we will see so many more businesses like this emerging in our area, spreading the prosperity, creating exciting new jobs for our communities and pioneering the science and innovation that will help shape the world.

I look forward to continuing to support Mirus in the years to come – and remain committed to doing all I can to support our Norfolk and New Anglia Innovation Economy.

To find out more about Mirus, please visit their website here

To see the official M-TEST launch trailer, please click here

To see the EDP article on the launch, please click here

To find out more about all my work supporting the Norfolk Innovation Economy (including my recent Norfolk and New Anglia Cluster visit as Science Minister), please click here 

Having recently been made aware of the case of Apostle Accounting, I was very concerned to learn that a number of Norfolk and Suffolk constituents had been affected – including a number here in Mid Norfolk.

That’s why I began to look into the situation more closely and why I have been supporting affected Mid Norfolk constituents by raising their correspondence with HMRC via the MP’s Hotline to see what more information and assistance can be provided to them at this very difficult time.

(See my webstory update last month here)

Following further correspondence from concerned constituents, I have now co-signed a joint-letter to HMRC with several of my fellow Norfolk and Suffolk MP colleagues who also have affected constituents.

Together we have reaffirmed our individual concerns and strongly called for HMRC to examine and investigate the case – asking for details of any investigation that is already underway. We have also requested that:

• HMRC end the final payment demands to affected constituents while an investigation into the practices and operations of Apostle Accounting is undertaken.
• HMRC does not apply back-dated interest on the monies reportedly owed.
• HMRC confirm they agree with our belief that prosecution of those that engaged with Apostle Accounting in good faith would not be appropriate.
• HMRC exclude the 24% fee taken by Apostle Accounting from the original HMRC repayments made to affected constituents – as these customers never received that money and were genuinely unaware that they were ineligible for the monies the fee was drawn from, and which Apostle Accounting had apparently advised they could claim on their behalf.

While, as an MP, I am limited in the influence that I have in such cases and cannot directly intervene to resolve them, I am committed to doing what I can within my role to support those in Mid Norfolk affected by this case.

As soon as I have further information, I will provide additional updates.

To see the EDP article on our letter to HMRC, please click here

The Norfolk Urban Search and Rescue team has become a highly effective and much respected local asset in our region.

Based at Dereham (right here in the heart of Mid Norfolk), and being one of twenty specialist urban search and rescue teams established across the country following the September 11th terror attacks, it has brought much valued additional expertise and capacity to our local emergency services over recent years – strengthening the resilience of our emergency responses on a wide variety of issues including chemical leaks, flooding, water rescues, traffic accidents, coastal erosion, building collapses, body recovery and more.

That’s why I was so concerned to hear the news that it was one of five urban search and rescue teams that could be cut in the near future, and why I personally wrote to the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire earlier this year to highlight the strategic importance and value of the Dereham team, ask for clarification about any decisions that may have been made and ask that they look again to ensure everything that could be done to safeguard the Norfolk team service was done.

I also co-signed a joint-letter with several of my fellow Norfolk MPs to reiterate the importance of safeguarding the future of this vital local asset.

(To see more about that work, please click here)

I am delighted therefore to have received a response from the Minister explaining that, in light of representations from myself and those fellow Norfolk MPs, as well as MPs, Chief Fire Officers and the fire and rescue sector across the country, he has agreed to defer the proposed reduction of USAR teams for at least another year – to April 2025. The USAR grant will remain unchanged for both 2023/24 and 2024/25.

This is extremely positive news – and I understand that Home Office officials visited the team in Dereham just the other day, spending several hours with USAR staff and learning more about the vital work they do to support our local emergency services.

Rest assured, I will continue to work with Norfolk County Council, the Norfolk Urban Search and Rescue team and fellow Norfolk MPs and officials to ensure the value of this service is recognised at the very highest levels.

I look forward to visiting the Dereham team this summer as part of that work.

UPDATE – 24th April 2023

Further to my post on 5th April 2023, I am delighted to be able to share the below Op-Ed I recently wrote for the Dereham Times – outlining in further detail why I am opposing the idea of a Garden Town to the north of Dereham.

(To see my earlier, detailed webstory of 5th April 2023, please see below the Op-Ed).

5th APRIL 2023 WEBSTORY

For decades now, our planning system hasn’t been delivering the housing we need, in the places we need it, for the people who need it. For too long, the system appears to have been driven by the national volume house builders who too often make their money from land banking and high density commuter housing estates on the edge of existing developments – rather than through a proper planning system run to deliver for the people who need planning to work for them, instead of being done TO them.

I’ve long been concerned by the amount of development coming to areas like our own in rural Mid Norfolk – which is often inappropriate, “industrial” in scale and unsustainable. While most of our villages can take and are indeed up for (when properly asked) taking some additional new housing (without which our communities will gradually fade away), I fundamentally believe that more needs to be done to give local communities a greater say in how they develop in the years to come (with greater protections), which is why I have been so vocal in my opposition to the way so many large national developers abuse and take advantage of the planning system to dump such inappropriate and unsustainable developments on our towns and villages.
 
That’s why, through The Norfolk Way project I set up before I became an MP, I have been so vocal in advocating for a better model of growth and development that places greater emphasis on delivering small pockets of housing of the type and aesthetic desired by local communities, and in the places they earmark. I truly believe the spirit of Localism enshrined in the 2011 Localism Act should be enhanced, with the Act itself strengthened to remove some of the loopholes we’ve seen exploited. (To read more about my views in full, please visit my ‘Planning and Protecting Our Rural Heritage and Landscape’ campaign page here) I was delighted to see the NPPF reformed in the autumn by Michael Gove to give more power to local planners.

I continue to make the case I have long made that the right way to plan housing is to give local councils, democratically accountable to the local residents they serve, the freedoms and incentives to plan properly for the right sort of housing and growth where it is needed ie:

• around hotspots of economic growth
• on brownfield sites in areas needing regeneration
• around growth towns with the infrastructure and services available to sustain further growth
• in villages with a Neighbourhood Plan setting out the amount of housing they are happy/able to take and which ensures affordable & appropriate local housing for local workers and residents

That’s what the Breckland and South Norfolk Council Local Plans rightly aim to do. What we don’t need in rural Norfolk is massive commuter estate “New Towns” dumped in the middle of rural mud Norfolk without proper infrastructure, facilities, sustainable transport links or fit with the existing pattern of development.

The North Elmham New Town

The North Elmham New Town would also represent massive development of the precious River Wensum chalk stream habitats (not to mention a Site of Specific Scientific Interest).

That’s why I was delighted to chair a meeting on Friday in North Elmham with local parish councils and local councillors Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge to make clear that the idea of a new town in the area will NOT be supported by ourselves as elected local  representatives.

Bill and Gordon confirmed that Breckland Council are NOT zoning this area for major housebuilding, and will oppose a re-application of the New Town as we did successfully last time it was proposed.

New Towns and Garden Villages

Whilst there are places in the UK where there may be a strong case for a new generation of garden towns and villages, with all of the necessary infrastructure and transport links (either to drive regeneration as in parts of the post-industrial North, or to alleviate the pressure around major growth hits spots like Cambridge), North Elmham is not a sustainable location.

I can think of several possible sites in East Anglia that could perhaps take such a garden town or village: specifically the dilapidated station sites on the Cambridge-Ely-Brandon-Thetford-Attleborough-Wymondham-Norwich railway line – as part of the Oxford-Cambridge East-West Railway Development Company I have championed over the years, and especially during my time as Minister for the Future of Transport at the DfT.
 
However, I’ve also been very clear that, for any such development, we need to be sure that:

1. Any such developments must avoid the loss of ancient woodland and high quality farmland
2. We see a serious commitment to Net Zero and building into the plans a higher quality, cleaner, greener standard of life – not continuing to same old, lazy model of house dumping that sees thousands of additional vehicles tearing through old country lanes and causing more congestion and rat-running
3. There is serious investment into public and private infrastructure – with proper road, rail, cycle and walking routes
4. Any such development is planned appropriately and sustainably, and that it makes sense in the wider community context.

 
I have not seen any evidence to suggest that a garden town or village would be appropriate in this part of Mid Norfolk, and given the rural and inaccessible nature of North Elmham and the surrounding villages, the already serious congestion on the nearby road network and the nationally significant environmental and habitat importance of the Wensum Valley, I cannot envisage any circumstances in which this idea could be taken seriously.

To my mind, it would make far more sense for such a significant level of growth to be focussed down closer to the A11 Corridor – which Breckland Council themselves have, rightly, recognised is the key growth artery in our region and have tried to focus the bulk of the district’s future growth. I know the Leader of Breckland Council, Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, and both Cllr Bill Borrett and Cllr Gordon Bambridge strongly support this.

That’s why I was delighted to join the c12 local parish councils representing the areas that would be affected by this idea to make clear my opposition.

Next Steps

At the meeting we agreed some important Next Steps:

• To reconvene a meeting of ALL the parish councils in the affected area after the forthcoming local elections on May 4th to make sure all write to Breckland Council formally to express their concerns.
• Bill and Gordon and I will liaise to ensure all the local residents who object have their objections properly acknowledged by BDC.
• I will invite my neighbouring MP, Jerome Mayhew, to join that follow-up meeting given a number of his Broadland communities are in close proximity to the site around North Elmham and would also be affected.
• I will write to Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and the Minister for Housing to make clear why any New Towns and Garden Villages should only be  delivered in the right locations with the associated connectivity, infrastructure and services required) and not in inappropriate locations with the obvious environmental, sustainability and transport issues this scale of development would inevitably threaten.

 Please be assured that I will keep on this in the weeks and months ahead.

Have an interest in the Vattenfall onshore substation works at Necton?

Vattenfall will be at Necton Community Centre TOMORROW – Tuesday 18th April – between 12noon and 7pm to share more information about their construction plans.

Topics on the agenda include:

Traffic Management

Substation Design Review and Construction

Principal Contractors

Community Benefit Fund

Skills and Employment Opportunities

While permission for the applications has been granted, it is still vital that the local community are involved in the discussions and have their say. I remain firmly committed to helping local residents, businesses and community groups be heard – especially on the topic of Community Benefits. The areas most impacted by the works MUST get the largest share of the benefits, and have the strongest voice in how the funds are spent.

If YOU are available to drop in tomorrow, please do so.

Alternatively, you can set up a virtual appointment with the Vattenfall project team via the link here: https://vattenfallnorfolk.simplybook.it/v2/

To stay up to date with all my work on this application and the wider Offshore Wind campaign that I set up, please click here. 

Anyone familiar with Mid Norfolk knows that our area is home to a much loved sense of spirit and community that binds us all together. There is so much positive work being done by and for the local community.

That’s why I take every opportunity I can to help promote that great progress – and why I am delighted to be able to draw attention to the National Lottery’s work here in Mid Norfolk over the past few months.

The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK and, between 26th November 2022 and 24th February 2023, awarded over £28,000 to community projects in our area – including £10,000 for the Rocklands Community Shop.

Rocklands Community Shop is just one of a number of vital community assets here in Mid Norfolk that I have supported throughout my time as MP – and the money provided by the National Lottery here will go towards funding the staff that ensure this fantastic local hub can continue to act as lifeline for so many in Rocklands and the surrounding communities. For those familiar with Rocklands and the wonderful community spirit that permeates every aspect of village life, the role the Community Shop plays at its heart will be well known.

To find out more about Rocklands Community Shop, please click here

To find out more about the National Lottery Community Fund, please click here

To find out more about my work supporting local Mid Norfolk community assets (such as the White Swan at Gressenhall and the Beeston Ploughshare), please click here 

If YOU are involved with a local community group, sports club or other local initiative doing great work, please do get in touch. I relish any opportunity I can to offer my support and/or help raise awareness.

65yrs today since Dad won the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in 1958 riding the little Irish gelding #MrWhat to a famous Irish win 🏆

36yrs since Dads untimely death🙏 a broken man after a two decades grappling with head injury induced depression, addiction & gambling culminating in the all too familiar cycle of bankruptcy, divorce & family trauma.

5yrs since I launched the Bridge of Hope Careers in 2018 in his memory with
🤝The Racing Foundation
🤝my childhood buddy James Fellowes (who had suffered a mid-life collapse from undiagnosed bipolar disorder) and
🤝 Prosper 4 Group

to help others 🤝who’ve had a fall in life with a leg-up back into the saddle of fulfilling work.

Thanks to all those who backed us, over 60,000 people have now found work through our digital jobs portal:

ℹ️ Bridge of Hope Careers

https://lnkd.in/eQcVEEBg

RIP dad 🙏🤝

British Horseracing Authority
The Racing Foundation
Prosper 4 Group

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness
#neurodiversity #inclusiveemployment
#equinetherapy

A busy Constituency Friday in Parliamentary Recess – starting with the regular Norfolk County Council briefing with local MPs this morning.

Too few policy makers in Whitehall are aware of the breadth of innovation, expertise and enterprise driving huge economic opportunities in our part of the world.

That’s why one of my central missions since being elected as MP for Mid Norfolk back in 2010 has been to do all I can to help put the Norfolk Innovation Economy firmly on the map.

Over recent years, Norfolk and the wider New Anglia region has become a cluster of so many world class hubs of science, innovation and enterprise.

It was a pleasure therefore to be introduced to innovative Norfolk seaweed and bio-plastic start-up initiatives and entrepreneurs on Friday’s call – all of whom are doing pioneering work in two highly exciting and rapidly growing sectors that could see our region leading the way, shaping the world of tomorrow, tackling some of the fundamental global challenges we face AND creating the jobs and opportunities that will boost prosperity here in our region.

Rest assured, I will continue to work with colleagues across the East, as well as in Government, to showcase and unlock Norfolk’s vast potential.

To learn more about my work promoting the Norfolk Innovation Economy, please click here

To learn more about my recent New Anglia Cluster visit as Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, please click here 

Digital Connectivity isn’t an optional extra in today’s society – which is why, yesterday, we set out:

• Wireless Infrastructure Plan
• £50m for 5G roll out
• UK Spectrum Statement
• Rural Connectivity Grant to enable use of One Web satellites for rural connectivity
• £100m for 6G Research and Development

To find out more, click here.