MPs’ round-up
This time next year we’ll be in a very different place Without political point scoring, what are your new year wishes for Somerset for 2021? As time’s winged chariot navigates its usual course and 2020 shades into 2021, I’ve found myself – like, I suspect, many of you – reflecting on the year that’s passed. Of course, uppermost in everyone’s mind is the ongoing battle with – and tragic consequences of – the pandemic: an invisible enemy that’s paralysed large parts of our economy, caused us to second-guess the most basic (and best) of our human instincts and wrought havoc across Europe, the US and beyond. Yet I’m also keen to remember the way it has provided room for another virulent infection to grow, too: the incivility, suspicion and loss of trust that’s characterised our political discourse over the last five or so years. There’s no doubt debates on Brexit have provided space for previously marginalised groups – those
Somerton & Frome MP David Warburton who’d thought themselves forgotten – to participate in politics and have their voices heard. But it’s also given room to those (on both sides) who have used the question of whether or not we remain in the EU as a symbol of something different – a shorthand for a world-view that accepts no compromise and regards opposition as a moral failing. Now the Prime Minister has done what many said was impossible – negotiated a deal and had it
approved by Parliament – one hope is that we can return to a more civilised and respectful brand of politics. For me, politics is where aspiration and policy-making meets real life. A process in which the overriding concern is what is desirable and possible. It’s not theology, in which the best outcome is to detect your opponents in some type of ideological heresy. For my own part, I’ll be continuing to argue robustly, but without assuming that those who think differently are malevolently motivated. And that reciprocal civility will be crucial if my other two hopes are to be realised. Firstly, a concerted effort to roll out the two vaccines which have now been approved and, as a consequence, a return to the normality for which we all yearn. Over the last nine months, my team and I have been helping an unprecedented number – tens of thousands – of individuals, organisations and businesses.
The opportunity to help and serve those in our part of Somerset is something for which I’m hugely grateful. But the volume of correspondence is also an index of the damage done to our communities and economy. So as the vaccine finds its way to the most vulnerable and life begins to return to normal, my priority will be to unleash the dynamism of our area. We’ve seen progress on the A303, improved broadband, and my campaign for a new station in the Somerton/Langport area was given initial funding in the Chancellor’s last Spending Review. But the key to rebuilding in our area lies in the bubbling entrepreneurial zeal of our communities: the human capital that constitutes our most precious resource. It’s that unsquashable energy that gives me the greatest optimism that this time next year will see us in a very different place, with Brexit behind us, the economy gathering pace and the virus tamed.
Rejoice! 2020 is gone. Good riddance! Signs for a better 2021 are positive. We’ve got Brexit done and secured a good trade deal. It looks like we will have most of the very vulnerable vaccinated by the end of February. That’s bound to be followed by falling hospital admissions and deaths and the ability of everyone else to get back to something approaching normal. Parliament was recalled from recess primarily to debate and vote on the Prime Minister’s UK-EU trade deal. I welcomed the deal when it was announced on Christmas Eve and I voted for it – alongside 520 of my Conservative and Labour 58
MP for South West Wiltshire Dr Andrew Murrison colleagues. At the very least, this avoids a highly challenging No Deal scenario – something which the SNP and the Lib Dems
would seemingly have preferred, having failed to support the deal. They won’t be allowed to forget that and the businesses that now have certainty, no tariffs and no quotas will carefully note their detachment from the real world. The deal offers the UK an opportunity to trade with the EU on a zero tariff and zero quota basis (the first deal of its kind ever agreed by the EU) while delivering promises to take back control of our money, borders and laws, thus ending jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. It offers us a new beginning of cordial and productive relations with the EU and the
chance to heal domestic wounds and move on from the divisive referendum of 2016. So divisive in fact that nobody in their right mind should be entertaining one on Scottish separatism. It would likely be far worse, more rancorous if the SNP’s preferred way of working is any guide and technically far more difficult. Entering the New Year as a fully sovereign nation, we will have the freedom to forge our own future as a Global Britain. As a trade envoy, I am particularly excited to play my part in this new chapter. I’d like to wish everyone a much happier New Year.
