WEEKLY UPDATE
As I told you last week, I spent time over the Parliamentary recess visiting the Royal Marines at their base in northern Norway. This was an incredibly informative experience, over four days as we had the opportunity to meet with Marines at all levels.
We met many who were just starting their training and those who had received more advanced training - the RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) and the CO (Commanding Officer) and up to the Brigadier General. We were able to hear about everything from the resources they had, the facilities they were provided and their absolute commitment to the cause.
We also heard from the CO and Brigadier General about the geopolitical context in which they are making their decisions. The weather was anticipated to be -15C to – 20 but in fact it was closer to +4 to +5C meaning that the ice melted then froze overnight creating sheet ice.
The Marines would rather have had it at -15C despite the fact they are in and out of frozen rivers etc!
Arctic nations such as the United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, and Norway, are North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states. There is a long border between Norway and Russia, in the Barents Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. If Norway were attacked by a major aggressor its defence force is too small to protect all its territory against a major aggressor, especially in the north and would require forces from other members of NATO to protect the border.
Norway has an important strategic role, including multilateral cooperation and diplomatic relations, military security (national level and NATO policies), economic consequences (including energy politics as Norway provides energy, gas, and oil to Europe) The war in Ukraine has only increased the important strategic role of Norway.
After posting about this impending visit on Facebook I received some incoming about how I was wasting taxpayers’ money and should just go to Catterick. Let me assure everyone that the motivation for us to visit comes from the Armed Forces, their objective is to get as many backbench advocates from all parties as they can to support their asks of Government and it is only by giving us this in-depth appreciation that we can fully support them. The positive words of the CO and Brigadier as we left only reinforced to me the value of the trip.
As Westminster returned from recess the week included the usual questions to the PM on Wednesday and the Secretaries of State for Levelling Up & Communities, Justice, Scotland and Environment, Food & Rural Affairs were answering this week.
I have not been in Westminster this week, I am in the Constituency with numerous meetings and visits scheduled, these include schools, businesses, individuals, police, councillors and officials at Durham County Council and Durham University hopefully I will see a number of you on my travels.
The early part of the week included discussions about the formation of Forest Park Education on Aycliffe Business Park which will cater for pupils who have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or Looked-after children (LAC) who have a range of complex needs and challenges. I also had a meeting with a lady who is promoting the importance of bees and how to create a National Honey Day.
On Monday afternoon it was my absolute privilege to call and see the team at SecuriCorp loading the donations received in their efforts to help the victims of the Syrian/Turkey earthquake. They have had help from many others including AGI Logistics, Ross Wright and Gilt Edge who were all there when I called. Later I met with constituents in Neasham who were delivering a piano recital to raise funds for the same cause.
It is always amazing to see the range of different ways people can use their talents to help others.
My week also included surgeries in Newton Aycliffe, Ferryhill and Trimdon Station (Deaf Hill) and as always if you want to catch up, please do get in touch.
You can contact my office either by email [email protected] or call 01325 790580.
