MPs’ Round-Up

MPs’ round-up We mustn’t allow defence to slip under radar

You don’t need me to remind you that the pandemic has inflicted the greatest economic contraction on the UK in three centuries and the most severe curtailment of liberties in our history. It has eclipsed all else. And before the pandemic, protests and direct action against the spectre of ecological oblivion through climate change was leading headlines around the world. With these two threats to our way of life uppermost in the thinking of governments and policy makers, there’s a deepening risk that the worsening global security situation is crouching below our collective radar. More than at any time since the end of the Cold War, our armed forces, along with our worldleading defence industry supporting them, need to be strengthened and placed at the nucleus of Government planning. On April 12 China launched its largest recorded incursion into Taiwan’s airspace, penetrating the perimeter of the island nation’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) with 25 military aircraft. There is increasing fear in Taiwan, viewed by China as a renegade province, that China is preparing to invade the island nation. Recognising the military threat posed by China, Australia is spending $580 million on upgrading its northern military bases. There would be a moral duty for democracies around the world, and particularly on the United States, to come to Taiwan’s aid if an invasion is launched. Between late March and early April, Russia amassed over 100,000 troops with convoys of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles on the border with Ukraine. Putin has form when it comes to igniting external conflicts to distract from domestic failures, and the pandemic’s damage to the Russian economy may precipitate a conflict with Ukraine or, perhaps of greater geopolitical concern, the Baltic States. Having ascended to NATO in 2004, an attack on the Baltic States would result in the invocation of NATO’s article 5 and conflict between Russia and the West, including the UK. These two situations alone show not only that we must be prepared but recognise the importance of our defence sector and the role it plays in training engineers and scientists whose skills are harnessed elsewhere in the economy. Here in Somerset, Thales sits, nestled in Templecombe, and now home to a vast Maritime and Air Operations business. The site houses over 750 highly skilled employees, inventing, developing and delivering technology to customers around the world. With 24 engineering and manufacturing apprentices, the site adds £210 million to our local GDP, supporting 3,600 jobs directly, indirectly and through the supply chain. Our defence sector, and companies such as Thales, are a shot in the arm for our local economy. And, politically, the defence sector can play a central role in the Government’s levelling up agenda. While our attention is diverted elsewhere, it’s rather important to know that many have their sights on a wider, and equally critical perspective.

Somerton & Frome MP David Warburton

We have to stick to June 21 freedom date

The G7 summit in Cornwall this weekend will be an opportunity for President Biden to explain his welcome assertion ‘America is back.’ I hope it means a clear break with his predecessor’s ‘America First’ isolationism. I’m looking for leadership on green issues, getting people vaccinated and progress on fairly taxing big corporations and digital services providers. Here’s hoping. n On June 14 ministers will make a final decision on their planned lifting of remaining covid restrictions a week later. Various experts have been urging caution. No surprise there. But away from their data and dashboards, in real life we have had days recently in which more people will have lost their lives in road traffic accidents than from or with covid. Nevertheless, countries such as Portugal with similarly low death rates have been put on the amber list and we are told June 21 ‘hangs in the balance’. Experts’ main concern is the Indian or Delta variant and its effects as a consequence of becoming the dominant variant, particularly in under-vaccinated communities. Fortunately, ours is not one of those – our jab rates are high. The answer to the experts’ concerns is to jab more rather than lock down. Countries have reacted similarly to the crisis and will be watching each other for how to respond. Given the desperate unintended consequences we’re only now fully appreciating, I hope we don’t accept lockdowns as the automatic go-to intervention at the first sniff of a virus. The historian Niall Ferguson has recently published Doom, which takes a historical approach to modern catastrophes. He notes the death toll of spring 2020, which, while awful, was lower than the winters of 1969-70, 1975-76 and 1989-90. During those we had no quarantines and lockdowns, or even hands, face, space messaging. Like England’s Chief Medical Officer, I have been comparing deaths from smoking and covid. 90,000 die each year from tobacco – a huge burden on the NHS, but we tolerate these awful, wholly avoidable, deaths or there would surely have been a ban in the 1950s when the dire consequences of smoking became apparent. Variants are a feature of viruses. Always have been. But our remarkably successful vaccination programme,– the fact the NHS plainly won’t be overwhelmed and the penalty of pandemic restrictions, including the impact on mental health, mean I will need a shedload of evidence before supporting divergence from the government’s timetable for the easing of lockdown. In my view, 21 June must stand.

MP for South West Wiltshire Dr Andrew Murrison

MPs’ round-up The UK needs to reassert its marriage vows

May I begin this edition’s ‘offering’ with two requests? First, as 21st June looms ever closer a key piece of the covid jigsaw is within grasp. Please continue to be vigilant and continue to follow the rules –they really are important. Secondly, we are in the season of ticks and many of us who walk dogs or recreationally will more than likely pick up a few in the long grass. Please be mindful of Lyme’s Disease –there are plenty of good online reference sources. It’s a nasty condition and can be fatal. Wearing boots and long trousers does help. n I think we are lucky to live as part of the United Kingdom. We are a quartet of nations sharing so many things –language, culture and values to name but a few. Our collective belief in the Rule of Law, a rules-based international order, a free press, freedom of speech and thought, independence of judiciary and press, equality under the law and a long-lived democratic tradition are all things that unite us and bind us together. That shared world view and common approach to ‘what’s important’ allows us to punch above our weight on the international stage. It cements our role in NATO. It secures our permanent seat at the Security Council of the UN. It is what has made the Commonwealth such an attractive body to be a member of. It is why ‘what does the UK think?’ continues as a pertinent question. And, because we have evolved together, rubbed along together and have done so through peaceful and democratic means, we have not had to trouble ourselves with written constitutions or complicated modus operandi. The UK has just worked, and we have never had to really trouble ourselves to ask why or how? Devolution to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland has been delivered. English Votes for English Laws introduced to provide some sort of English counterbalance. Many thought that was it; job done. But devolution has commenced a process which for many leads ultimately to the break of the UK. A rampant SNP, divided quarrelsome Unionists in NI coupled to the UK-binding nature of the Brexit referendum which neither Scotland or NI voted for is putting the historic fabric of our Union under huge pressure. I know many in England want to give the Celtic fringe a short back and sides. ‘Let them go it alone and see how well they do; think of the £ we’d save’. That will never be the solution for me because it is not the right solution for us as a UK. The Cabinet Office and No10 daily wrestle with the task of holding the Union together and crafting a narrative that sustain and advances our Union. The Internal Market Act allows direct top-up spending by Westminster in areas of devolved competence and this will allow the opportunity for ‘delivered by the UK for the UK’ branding. But, we will need more than that. We need to reassert with clarity and passion our marriage vows. We need to trumpet not just our shared values but their importance and relevance to today rather than just an historical review. We need to herald the differences too and the contribution they make politically and culturally to us all. We need to amplify that we don’t have to be uniform to be united.

MP for North Dorset Simon Hoare

Lack of Dorset TVnews coverage is serious concern

Dorset’s level of radio and television coverage over the last few years has been a serious concern for many. Dorset has a population of over 770,000 people and yet has no dedicated radio station. Rarely do I see West Dorset on Spotlight, which seems to have a heavy Devon/Cornwall focus, nor Points West. When Dorset contributes around £45 million per year to the BBC through the licence fee, this lack of attention to Dorset is not acceptable and it’s time to challenge it. I met with the Chairman of the BBC a few weeks ago and I hope that common sense will prevail. n It was a pleasure to help with deliveries at the Sherborne Community Kitchen need it the most. The work they do is incredible and I pay tribute especially to Jill Warburton. Following this, I was delighted to open a new cheese room at Hollis Mead Organic Dairy in Hooke. Their milk is delicious and gives a real insight into how local farming is done very well and a great example of how sustainable farm businesses can thrive, cut out the supermarkets and remove the plastic use that comes with supermarket provision. n It has been a pleasure to hear the church bells ring out both near my Westminster office and here in West Dorset. It is imperative we can get our churches back up and running to provide the spiritual support that is needed so badly. To do

MP for West Dorset Chris Loder

at the start of the month. I last visited at the end of March to mark their first year of helping local people around Sherborne and the surrounding villages and this week participated in a delivery run taking healthy, nutritious meals to those who my bit to help, I was elected churchwarden at Bishop’s Caundle Church in late May and look forward to helping both there and across West Dorset in getting our churches open and welcoming again. n My belief we should place stricter controls on dogs in the countryside was underscored tragically two weeks ago, with the sad death of Gladis the pregnant cow on Eggardon Hill – the other side of Beaminster – because of a dog chasing. Grazing of chalk downlands like Eggardon is vital to preserve such unique ecosystems and farmers should not have to face the tragedy of losing much loved animals because of negligent and careless members of the public who don’t control their dogs. 61