Following the previous week in the Constituency, last week I was back in Westminster, unusually this time I was in London for the full week. Due to the signal upgrades on the East Coast Main Line, I drove down on Monday morning and arrived in time to catch a meeting on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in private schools, where I learned that the proposals by Labour to add VAT on to private school fees would result in even more pressure on Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) demand. They are saying that pupils of private schools would be exempt from VAT if they had an EHCP, meaning any SEND pupil at a private school that wants to save the VAT would need an EHCP. As we are well aware the increased demand for an EHCP already has the process under immense strain. It is imperative that when changes are proposed they are fully thought through with all consequences considered. As I have a constituency covering around 250 square miles, I also took the time to call in at the launch of the Conservative Rural Forums Manifesto (policies to support a thriving rural economy and address some of the barriers faced by those living in rural or remote areas) which I definitely support.
Tuesday, I had a question to the Minister in Justice Orals where I once again was able to raise the case of Zoey McGill and the wholly inappropriate actions of those in prison for her son Jack’s murder being able to post on social media. I stressed that actions like these must have consequences and those consequences should be broadcast as a deterrent to others. I will be following this up further in an Adjournment debate where I will be talking about social media in prison and referencing knife crime significantly. I also had the usual Tuesday meetings with the Treasury team and the Transport select committee.
Wednesday, as usual, included the public Transport Select Committee meeting before I met with the Exchequer Secretary and colleagues and then went to Prime Ministers Questions. I met with representatives of the Women’s Institute to support their campaign on microplastics; listened to a group working to prevent Oesophageal Cancer and called at a reception where the UK Infrastructure Bank were presenting. At this presentation were representatives from Pragmatic, an amazing semiconductor business whose R&D base is on NETPark and I have met many times. Then I chaired the All Party-Parliamentary Group for the Leamside Line. Here our primary presentation was from Transport North Eastand they confirmed that Ferryhill Station was fully funded and the Leamside project was continuing to move forward. I then had a meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and colleagues as part of my Parliamentary Private Secretary role.
Also, on Wednesday the main Chamber saw the major controversy around the Scottish National Party (SNP) Opposition Day debate which led to calls for the Speaker to resign. For context, the SNP only get to choose the business about three times a year compared to seventeen for Labour as the main opposition. This was an extraordinary sequence of events. The normal process for Opposition Day debates is that the Opposition motion would be voted on first and then any amendments, thus allowing the opposition to have their motion considered. The structure of the day imploded because whereas normal precedence would have seen only Government amendments selected for consideration, the Speaker broke with convention and selected both Labour and Government amendments for consideration. This meant that the SNP motion wouldalmost certainly not be put for consideration in an unaltered state. There were strong accusations that the reason for this was pressure put on Mr Speaker by the Labour Party because the motion the SNP were proposing was forecast to create huge fissures in the Labour Party that could have resulted in many resignations. As I write I am unsure as to how this will play out over this week.
Thursday was primarily an Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme Day where I was briefed on global strategic trends. With all that is happening in the world now this is useful background to have. Friday, I had an update with Building Digital UK where I continue to pressure them on supporting broadband roll out in Sedgefield. We have seen some great news recently on the Newton Aycliffe project which includes many other villages from Ferryhill to Fishburn and even Hurworth but continues to exclude the smaller places like Mordon and Killerby and I am pushing for progress on all of these.
This week, week commencing Monday 26 February, will be back to normal with Monday to Wednesday in London then back north for the end of the week where I have sessions at Durham University, South WestDurham Training, The Cornforth Partnership and I will be on BBC Politics North which will be broadcast on Sunday 3 March. Looking forward to seeing many of you when I amout and about but as always if you want to get in touch, you can call me on 01325 790580 or email[email protected]
