This last 18 months has been so hard for us all as we have battled against this dreadful pandemic , many loved ones have been so cruelly lost. Families have not been able to grieve properly, communities have not been able to gather to remember friends and colleagues.

I was very privileged to be asked to attend a tree planting ceremony in Watton where families gathered and staff from the Thorp Nursing Home were able to go to remember loved ones at Loch Neaton. To see more about the day please click here: https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/health/covid-memorial-unveiled-loch-neaton-watton-8266462

The shocking events in Afghanistan this week raise a number of serious questions - which many constituents have also raised - and which need to be addressed properly. My statement below:

STATEMENT

The scenes which we have all seen this week following the American decision to withdraw military support for the humanitarian mission in Afghanistan are genuinely shocking and appalling: reports of our allies and translators being tortured and killed, helicopter lifts giving shades of the evacuation from Saigon, and people desperately clinging to moving planes to escape the return of a medieval caliphate that practises the stoning of women and exclusion of girls from education.

After twenty years of sacrifice in protection of a moderate Afghan administration against the Taliban we appear to have thrown away all the gains made.

The gradual winding down of the UK and US military presence on the ground in Afghanistan was never going to be straightforward or easy - but like you I am bemused by the way in which the decision by President Biden to withdraw all US military seems to have been taken and implemented unilaterally - without even the most basic proper minimum arrangements to avoid abandoning our local Afghan allies who have helped our humanitarian coalition on the ground from retribution killings, and to avoid the worst chaos of Taliban retribution.

This whole saga raises a number of big questions - about how this decision was taken, why we and the US weren’t better prepared, what “Global Britain” means if we have a nuclear deterrent and two new aircraft carriers but can’t protect or rescue our own people from a theatre we have fought in for 20years, and how UK foreign policy is going to recover its reputation. How do we stand behind UK values and repair our soft power reputation and avoid this Afghan saga playing into the hands of our adversaries in China, Russia and other hostile states and non-state players. These questions all need to be addressed properly.

But right now the urgent priority must be the immediate safety and repatriation of “our people” on the ground: those who have fought and worked alongside us against the Taliban and are now at huge risk of violent retribution. Their safety, and that of our consular and other staff must be our immediate priority.

Like you I am baffled by how this has come about. I well understand and sympathise with the view that we - the Western allies - can’t try and create liberal democracy by military intervention around the world and that we can’t stay forever in Afghanistan to impose a liberal order by force. I respect the argument that we can ’t commit indefinitely to trying to maintain law and order and democracy in a country where these are not accepted norms. We cannot commit to impose our version of a liberal democracy by diktat around the world. Countries have to develop themselves. We can help, but we can ’t force it. But in Afghanistan the power of the Taliban is based on the trade in opium (for the Western heroin market) and funding from Saudi and other countries. We may not be able to police Afghanistan but we are not without influence. Using it well is what our foreign policy is about.

We originally went into Afghanistan to disrupt Al Qaeda and Bin Laden (both aims successfully achieved) and then to try and stabilise the country to handover to a moderate and democratic Government. But given Afghanistan’s history, this was always a very ambitious goal. The “handover” was always going to be a huge moment of danger and instability.

But how it came to the scenes this week is baffling. I’m not a Minister and am genuinely bemused by how this all happened so suddenly without more prior planning. President Biden and other Western Governments have had months to prepare a departure and avoid the chaotic scenes we have seen this week. I’m not a military man but I cannot understand why we couldn’t have implemented a more gradual withdrawal with at least continuing air power to reinforce the Afghan army and police.

We may not be able to ensure law and order on every street in Afghanistan but we surely COULD have and SHOULD have made arrangements for properly looking after our allies, translators and supporters. Not abandoning them. Just as in Iraq - the lack of a proper strategy with clear aims for the post-military phase has been fatal.

Let’s be clear: our Armed Forces have done the job we asked of them over the last two decades. Our forces families - including those based here in Norfolk - have made huge sacrifices. Al Qaeda is disrupted. Bin Laden is dead. We haven ’t had a major terrorist attack for several years.

But if we want Western values to be respected around the world, we need to stand beside those who stood with us.

I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement of the Afghan Citizen’s Resettlement Scheme which will welcome up to 5,000 vulnerable Afghans to the UK this year, and 20,000 in the long-term, with priority being given to women and girls and other minorities who are most at risk. But, the Government needs to move FAST for this to be meaningful. And we surely need to agree a multi-lateral basis for preventing Afghanistan becoming again a training academy of anti-Western terrorist attacks. This week’s events will have done little to help that and much to undermine our authority and credibility in the Middle East.

Serious questions need to be asked about the lessons from our 20 year operation in Afghanistan, the longer term implications for our foreign policy and how we regain a proper voice in our military alliance with the US. Those who gave their lives to disrupt the Al Qaeda and the Taliban axis and defend our shared values of law and order and basic human rights for the majority of Afghan citizens, deserve nothing less.

George Freeman MP

As part of my ongoing efforts to bring about an improved system for responding to, and mitigating for, future flood events, I have also taken a keen interest in water management – an often overlooked issue.

That’s why I have helped raise with DEFRA the response from Anglian Water to the Secretary of State’s statement on reducing water consumption – in which they outline further measures they would like to see implemented so as to reduce the need to extract water from our natural environment, and highlight some of the steps they personally are taking to ensure they remain at the top of their field in this matter.

Despite the increasing flooding issues we have seen in our part of the world, water is not as abundant a resource as we might perceive – with the East of England the driest area of the country. By improving how we capture, manage and consume water, we can reduce the impact on our natural environment, as well as lessen disruption to customers across the region.

Rest assured, I will continue to support Anglian Water, along with other stakeholders like Water Resources East and the Norfolk Rivers Internal Drainage Board, going forward.

Improving connectivity in our part of the world was one of my first pledges when I began campaigning to be the MP for Mid Norfolk back in 2007. However, although infrastructure improvements will represent massive progress for our area, it is vital that we ensure that a proper strategic plan is put in place to ensure they do not come at the detriment of local communities and our rural way of life.

As part of my ongoing work with the South of the A47 Taskforce that I helped convene a couple of years ago to look at likely rat-running issues that would be worsened in this beautiful corner of Mid Norfolk by the A47 dualling and Western Link construction, I was delighted to join a meeting hosted by NCC Highways – which allowed member Parishes to see further traffic modelling that has been carried out and begin to assess which traffic mitigation methods may be best for them and the wider area (this must be looked at in the round and must not be a case of moving one area’s rat-running problems to another!)

More work lies ahead, but the conversations continue to be positive, and I am firmly committed to supporting the local communities concerned on this issue, as well as the associated matter of local access (which I know is hugely important to so many!)

To read more about my work on this campaign, please click here

Proper planning requires proper consideration of a communities ‘Green’ needs – in order to preserve their rural identity in our part of the world and, more generally, preserve local physical and mental wellbeing.

Having supported the local community previously in raising their concerns about the lack of green space in the town, I am therefore delighted to see Breckland Council, Dereham Town Council and the aboutDereham Partnership, along with partners, spearheading a marvellous ‘Green Revolution’ to combat the town’s historic lack of such spaces.

Our children need space to play, and our communities a strong connection to the natural environment.

To see the recent EDP article, please click here

To see some of my previous work on this issue, please click here 

Old Buckenham Airshow is one of THE highlights of the Norfolk summer calendar. A golden trip back to a golden age of aviation!

That’s why it was an absolute delight to see the Airshow back after a Covid affected 2020 –with the aircraft back wowing us in the crowd once again.

A great day for all the family, and I am looking forward to next year’s edition already!

Today is Norfolk Day, the day when we all come together to celebrate all that’s best about our county! We are a special county of heritage, community, natural beauty, arts and innovation and opportunity.

As we begin our recovery from Covid-19 and begin to get our county fully moving again, now more than ever we need to shout about all the things that make our beautiful part of the world the BEST place in which to live, work and visit – and do all we can to support our local businesses, charities, and community groups.

Happy Norfolk Day

The county’s new police and crime commissioner Giles Orpen-Smellie has called on the people of Norfolk to tell him how he should go about his job.

He has devised a six-point plan to comment on over the course of the next four weeks.

This is the time to put your points forward. To participate in the consultation CLICK HERE.

As the Government’s work on an Offshore Transmission Network continues, I was pleased to join the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s joint webinar with National GridESO, OFGEM and other key stakeholders to hear how the project is developing.

Alongside fellow MPs and community groups, I heard how, of the current “in-flight” offshore wind farm applications taking place, 16 developers “opted-in” to revising their applications and committing to working in a more coordinated fashion to mitigate the level of environmental damage and public disruption that their developments could cause.

Although this does not mean that they will be part of the OTN that is being developed, this is a positive step – and I welcome the news that BEIS are working with OFGEM to further encourage the other developers of current wind farm projects to be far more ambitious and proactive in coordinating their applications.

For those projects that are yet to go into the planning stage, but which have had leases for wind farms pre-2030 granted, I am pleased to hear that a more plan-led approach is being pursued to delivering their offshore and onshore infrastructure. Again, while these are not planned to be included in the OTN, this is a positive step – and an additional step towards the more coordinated, strategic approach we want to see (and which BEIS say will be in place in the form of an OTN from 2030 onwards).

Nevertheless, with parliamentary colleagues and community groups, I continue to actively call for as many projects as possible pre-2030 to be included in the OTN plan. If the OTN can be delivered more quickly, it absolutely should be – to maximise consumer benefits and minimise environmental damage and local disruption.

Rest assured, I remain firmly committed to pursuing this campaign.

It is absolutely vital that public trust is maintained in the services that we all rely on and cherish, and that standards not only improve, but are then upheld.

That’s why I continue to join my fellow parliamentary colleagues in closely monitoring the progress of the East of England Ambulance Service Trust – even more so after the Trust was placed in special measures last year, and in light of the recent announcement that Ofsted recently removed the Trust as a registered provider for apprentices.

On Wednesday, I participated in a call with senior Trust leadership and fellow MPs to find out more about the situation, raise concerns and hold the Trust to account.

Rest assured, I will continue to do all I can to work with partners and ensure standards improve, and quickly.