Norfolk is a hub of innovation, such as the HethelEngineering Centre and John Innes Centre, as well as the Norwich Research Park, Easton Food Hub and smaller entrepreneurial sites like the Hingham and Scottow Business Parks.
Throughout my time as an MP and Minister, I have secured significant investment in Norfolk’s Innovation Economy – including almost £1 billion into the NRP which sits at its heart – helping to create thousands of highly skilled, well paid jobs for local people in sectors ranging from:
• Agri-tech
• Bio-tech
• Med-tech
• Clean-tech
• Green Energy
That’s why I was pleased to use my newfound freedom as a backbencher to confirm that the Government is very much still committed to driving forwards this growth and innovation – and I look forward to continuing to lobby Ministers for the investment we want and need in Mid Norfolk.
See my question in the House last week below.
To find out more on my work promoting and enhancing Norfolk’s innovation economy, please visit my campaign page here
Brain cancer is a cruel, indiscriminate disease that takes people from us with too little chance of a proper diagnosis, treatment or cure.
Finding a cure has long been a cause which I have supported – even more so since the passing of my childhood friend, Charlie, a few years ago. He was aged just 50 and in the prime of his life.
That’s why I’m delighted to continue my campaign work alongside Brain Tumour Research UK – being quoted in today’s Daily Express article (see below).
To learn more about my historic work (as both a local MP and formerly as a Minister), please visit my campaign page here.
To learn more about Brain Tumour Research UK, please visit their website here.
George Freeman highlights the opportunities for global investment in the UK, especially in life science, quantum, fusion and agritech, and urges the Government to make it easier for global investors to invest in UK science and tech clusters.
Science and Technology Sector: Inward Investment
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)
2. What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to help increase inward investment into the science and technology sector. (901136)
The Minister for Industry and Economic Security (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
My Secretary of State was so savvy that she brought in a science Minister and now, under her stewardship, science and technology is booming in the Department for Business and Trade. The UK has the No. 1 tech ecosystem in Europe, raising more venture capital than France and Germany combined. Science and tech is not just for fans; we have now mainstreamed it with the Office for Investment, which is reaching out to companies around the world to highlight the advantages of investing in the UK, bringing in over £5 billion of investment, as was announced at the global investment summit just last year.
George Freeman
Mr Speaker, you can see that I am using my freedom on the Back Benches to improve my fitness and to make myself as fit as the Department.
May I take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the Secretary of State and the team at the Department for Business and Trade on the work they are doing, particularly with the global investment summit? There is a wall of money out there globally to invest in UK science and tech—in life science, quantum, fusion and agritech—and we are beginning, finally, to attract that money. What plans does the Department have to make it easier for global investors to deploy money at scale in UK clusters?
Ms Ghani
My hon. Friend will know more than most, having had this brief previously. Of course, we are out there sourcing investment for the UK and, as I mentioned, we are already beating France and Germany. Further afield, the UK is the third country, behind the US and China, to reach the landmark of $1 trillion in value. We have the concierge service with the Office for Investment. We have also recently secured £4.5 billion through the advanced manufacturing plan. That, coupled with the research and development budget of around £39.8 billion between 2022-25, shows that we are ready to enable investment in the UK and to manufacture products in this area.
Building enough houses to make sure everyone in our area has the chance for a roof of their own, while also making sure we protect and enhance our rural landscape and way of community life is often a difficult balance.
That’s why I’ve long been a strong advocate of Localism and the importance of giving local communities and councils a greater say in how they grow and develop in the years to come – and why, throughout my time as local MP, I’ve supported many Mid Norfolk towns and villages as they go about developing their own Neighbourhood Plans.
Over the years, I have actively supported and encouraged Watton Town Council and the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group as they have set about developing their own Neighbourhood Plan (meeting with members and attending the first public events way back in 2017 as I helped get the efforts underway – see here).
I am therefore delighted that, following the Referendum last Thursday, the Watton Neighbourhood Plan will be adopted – with 90.9% of those that voted supporting it.
This is a hugely positive step and I look forward to working with the Watton Community to take this key piece of work forward.
The Plan can be viewed in full on the Breckland website here (and below by clicking on the image).
To stay up to date with all of my wider work on ‘Planning and Protecting Our Rural Landscapes and Heritage’, please visit my website here.
I very much look forward to hearing the Referendum’s outcome. In the meantime, to stay up to date with all of my work on ‘Planning and Protecting Our Rural Landscapes and Heritage’, please visit my website here.
Flooding has long been a concern for many in our part of Norfolk – which is why, over the past few years, I have significantly stepped up my campaign efforts on this vital issue for so many of our local towns and villages.
As we know, flooding doesn’t just cause water damage to homes and businesses. It often stops people being able to use their toilets or showers, with raw sewage also rising out of drains – especially as local pumping stations and sewage works become overwhelmed.
That’s why I welcome Anglian Water’s recent announcement that they will be investing £10million into their infrastructure in and around Watton – including, most notably, an expansion of their Watton Road sewage works.
Having already undertaken a number of improvements to their infrastructure around the town, this latest work is a very positive step indeed – and should reduce the risk of the existing sewage network becoming overwhelmed during heavy rainfall and storms.
Rest assured however, I will continue to work with local councillors and community groups through the Mid Norfolk Flood Partnership I helped set up back in 2021 to lobby for further investment and support for our Mid Norfolk communities.
To find out more about Anglian Water’s plans, please see the EDP article here.
To stay up to date with my active Flooding campaign, please visit my campaign page here.
Following on from my question to the Local Government Minister on Monday (see here), and the letter I recently co-signed with 40 MP colleagues (see here), as part of my long-running campaign for fairer rural funding, I welcome the Government announcement yesterday of an additional £600 million to support local councils.
This includes:
- £500 million added to the Social Care Grant, a key investment for areas like Mid Norfolk where we have more elderly residents
- An overall increase in Core Spending Power for Local Government in England of 7.5% in cash terms (£4.5billion) – an above inflation increase
- A minimum 4% increase to the Core Spending Power of our local councils right here in Norfolk
- An extra £15million for the Rural Services Delivery Grant
- The establishment of an expert panel to advise the Government on financial sustainability in Local Government
I am delighted that the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Ministers have recognised the argument I and others have been making that local councils need more funding for local public services. This is a very welcome step.
However, I still recognise that there is more that needs to be done to properly fund and support public services (and households and businesses in general) in rural counties like Norfolk – where we have greater, often more expensive challenges, compared to our urban counterparts – particularly around fuel, transport and energy.
Rest assured, I remain determined to do all I can to be Mid Norfolk’s strongest voice on these key issues and ensure Government makes that right.
To learn more about my ongoing campaign, please visit my ‘Fighting for a Rural Premium and Fairer Funding for Rural Public Services’ campaign page here.
To read more about the Government announcement yesterday, please click here.
- Access to cash on our high streets
- Face to face high street banking
- £10bn extra lending capacity
- Up to 20,000 more mortgages
- Business banking services so that small businesses can continue to take cash
- Banking hubs for under-served communities
These are just some of the reasons why I am backing the Nationwide Banking Bill in Parliament – having helped secure a community banking hub for Watton, and having long campaigned on the importance of Access to Cash and local banking (for example, through my work with Nationwide in Dereham).
I was delighted to be able to use my new freedom as a backbench MP to speak up for my Mid Norfolk communities including Attleborough, Wymondham, Watton, Dereham and Hingham, as well as the 114 villages I represent.
Headlines from my speech during Friday’s debate in the House can be seen in the video above.
To see my full speech, please click the link here.
See more here.
Rural counties like Norfolk face much higher costs than urban areas – which are seldom reflected in the Whitehall funding formulas.
The extra costs of transport and heating have long hit rural public services disproportionately hard – as have the growing needs of an ageing demographic. However, the Cost of Living Crisis, post-pandemic labour shortages and energy price inflation caused by the War in Ukraine have significantly added to those pressures and now mean we are facing the perfect storm.
That’s why, further to writing to the Prime Minister and DLUHC Secretary of State alongside 40 MP colleagues and the County APPG (see my webstory on Monday here), I took the opportunity earlier this week to use my new freedom as a backbench MP to stand up in the House and raise this vitally important issue with the Minister for Local Government Simon Hoare and insist on fairer funding for rural areas.
See the video below.
I will be following up on the Minister’s offer of a meeting to discuss his further – and look forward to providing updates.
In the meantime, to learn more about my campaign ‘Fighting for a Rural Premium and Fairer Funding for Rural Public Service’, please visit my campaign page here.
Rural counties like Norfolk face much higher costs than urban areas – which are seldom reflected in the Whitehall funding formulas.
The extra costs of transport and heating have long hit rural households, businesses and public services disproportionately hard – as have the growing needs of an ageing demographic. However, the Cost of Living Crisis, post-pandemic labour shortages and energy price inflation caused by the War in Ukraine have significantly added to those pressures and now mean we are facing the perfect storm.
That’s why I’m using my new freedom as a backbench MP to step up my long ongoing campaign and lobby the Prime Minister, Chancellor and ministers even harder ahead of the forthcoming Budget and General Election for a Rural Premium and fairer funding for rural public services.
For too long, rural areas have been overlooked by Whitehall officials who focus too much on policies designed for cities and urban communities. I am determined to do all I can to be Mid Norfolk’s strongest voice on these key issues and ensure Government makes that right.
To stay up to date with all of my work on this issue, please regularly visit my campaign page here for updates.
(And check some of my related campaign pages – such as ‘Fairer Rural Schools Funding and Support’ and ‘Backing Local Businesses’ here).
Rural counties like Norfolk have always suffered from disproportionately high energy and fuel costs compared to urban areas – a fact seldom reflected in the Whitehall funding formulas.
However, the sudden energy price inflation caused by Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine has led to a massive increase in fuel and energy costs over the last two years which has significantly added to those pressures and now means we are facing the perfect storm.
For too long, rural areas have been overlooked by Whitehall officials who focus too much on policies designed for cities and urban communities.
That’s why I’m using my new freedom as a backbench MP to step up my long ongoing campaign and lobby the Prime Minister, Chancellor and ministers even harder ahead of the forthcoming Budget and General Election for a Rural Fuel and Energy Premium and Fairer Funding for Rural Public Services.
Ahead of the Budget 2024, I wrote to and met with the Chancellor to directly ask him to include in his Budget measures to help tackle the crippling impact of disproportionately high energy costs on rural communities. (See my letter here)
I also:
- Raised these issues with the Secretary of State at DLUHC OPQs, see here
- Spoke to BBC Radio Norfolk about the importance of the campaign, listen here
- Mobilised c.30 rural MPs, as well a wide variety of high profile rural agencies and organisations, and a number of local Mid Norfolk pubs, GP surgeries, businesses, care homes and community groups, behind my campaign and letter to the Chancellor
I am determined to do all I can to be Mid Norfolk’s strongest voice on these key issues – and will continue to work hard to campaign for greater targeted funding and support.
To stay up to date with my work, please regularly visit my campaign page here for updates. (And check some of my related campaign pages – such as ‘Fairer Rural Schools Funding and Support’ and ‘Backing Local Businesses’ here).