MPs’ round-up
We’re nearly free! Time for extra mental health help The 21st of June is now dangling tantalisingly before us – a date on which we’ll regain those freedoms which we’ve been forced to abnegate for too long. And in the weeks leading up to that date – and in the months beyond, we’ll see an exponential explosion of growth – physical infrastructure mushrooming, businesses expanding and offices reopening. Goethe once described architecture as ‘frozen music’. And even as we’ll see the aptness of that comparison in the world around us, I’m conscious that there are hidden, unseen problems that have been created or exacerbated by the enormously testing times through which we’ve all lived. Having had the privilege to
Somerton & Frome MP David Warburton help literally thousands of constituents across the course of the pandemic, I know that mental health will have to be a real priority for the post-covid agenda. So it’s about our internal architecture, too, unthawing the internal freeze
so many have felt during this period and ensuring that they can find responsive chords in the world around them. I know from my conversations and correspondence that many in our area have suffered acutely from loneliness, a sense of despair and the appalling emotional wrench of compelled separation from family and friends. And this seems an appropriate time to ensure that physical and mental health finally enjoy parity of esteem. The Government have pledged an additional £2.3 billion for mental health services by 2023-24 – an increased share of the NHS budget – to ensure that the silent suffering we’ve seen can find relief. And it’s worth saying this is not merely a
problem that results from economic hardship, but also hits our young people – those who haven’t been able to see their teachers and friends for months and others whose ambitions have stalled as a result of exam cancellations or fewer employment opportunities. So we’re also going to see a further £1.4 billion to improve accessibility and availability of mental health support for young people. If the aim of building back better is to be realised then it’s about doing so in a holistic sense – ensuring our mental, physical and economic resilience is strengthened. That’s what I’ll be attempting to achieve and support in the weeks and months ahead.
Tide is turning in incinerators argument Back in December, I wrote about proposals for an energy-from-waste (EfW) incinerator in my constituency. In that piece, I wrote: ‘We still have a lot to do in terms of our emissions reductions in Wiltshire, the south west and nationally. Wiltshire Council declared a climate emergency in 2019; Westbury has an Air Quality Management Area; the U.K. is en route to a carbon neutral future and is hosting COP26 next year. More incinerators contradict these policies and ambitions.’ Well, the campaign against Northacre Renewable Energy’s (NRE) incinerator continues with renewed emphasis on these points. This week, we had the first session of COP26 oral parliamentary questions to government ministers - the President, Alok Sharma MP, 62
MP for South West Wiltshire Dr Andrew Murrison and Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP. I was squeezed into proceedings on Wednesday just before PMQs, when I had the opportunity to ask whether the Glasgow summit later this year will provide an opportunity to debate the question of our burning waste. I believe that in this COP presidency year we
should be doing nothing that will encourage old-style incinerators that pump effluent into the great landfill in the sky in places like Westbury. Part of Minister Trevelyan’s response was: “The work that we have done already in the Resources and Waste Strategy is leading the way and we are looking to eliminate all avoidable waste by 2050.” The Strategy in question outlines plans to create greater efficiency from EfW and ensure that ‘all future EfW plants achieve recovery status’. A second strategy – cited earlier in proceedings by Alok Sharma – is the PM’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. Under this, the government sets out plans to increase energy from low carbon hydrogen. NRE’s proposals for a
moving grate old-style incinerator fall well short of being efficient, a recovery facility, or low carbon hydrogen fuelled – as the government’s strategy rightly demands. Indeed, NRE already has permission for a gasification plant at Westbury based on cleaner technology. It seems the tide is turning, however. My comments came just days after Minister Kwasi Kwarteng refused permission for a 390,00 tonne EfW facility in North Kent. The decision for the Westbury incinerator is currently in the hands of the Environment Agency and Wiltshire Council – both of whom have now closed their consultations. Hopefully they will prevent its construction, and with it the need for the Secretary of State to be called upon to rule on this proposal.
