The new session of Parliament began on Tuesday with the King’s Speech and it was a good reminder of how we do occasions like that probably better than anywhere else in the world. The Houses of Parliament have bad WiFi, leaky roofs and a few mice but they look good on days like that.
The King gave a positive speech and I was particularly pleased to see the focus on economic growth right at the start. It’s something I have been discussing with Government Ministers and others for a long time. Whilst there have been setbacks triggered by the pandemic, war in Ukraine, the awful situation in the Middle East and global supply chain issues, we need to keep our focus on redoubling economic and productivity efforts locally, get the national debt down and most importantly help people get their cost of living down.
The King also spoke about trade and how we can now move really quickly to build links with the fastest growing economies in the world, which is already happening whilst we continue to do business with our friends and neighbours in Europe. There was mention of action to secure the future of football clubs, although it seems that Yeovil Town are doing a good job on their own. Cutting waiting lists for NHS treatment is also a priority as well as doing more to promote skills based education which is something I have been very active in pushing for because of our companies, College and heritage here.
I’m very pleased about the new business park at Bunford whose ground breaking I attended this week and I will continue to be very active encouraging new businesses to come to the area to provide good jobs and investment. I think the Council needs to do much more on that front as they just seem to reel out excuses and head towards bankruptcy. The financial position of the Council has gone down very quickly under the Liberal Democrats. I don’t normally write about party politics but this affects us all. So many things in life big and small are controlled by the local authority and if they don’t know what they are doing it’s hugely damaging.
In Westminster I will be working hard to make sure the Government gets the legislation right on Artificial Intelligence, Data Protection and Digital Markets. These are massively important areas for the coming years and we need to safeguard people’s independence and security. Under Covid civil liberties were deprioritised and it is essential to human flourishing that this does not continue.
As always, if you would like to get in touch, to let me know your views, to ask for help with a local issue or make an appointment at one of my advice surgeries please do email me at [email protected] or call my Yeovil office on 01935314321
