New Stour & Avon, July 9, 2021
MPs’ round-up
Celebrating the freedoms we’ve always had The concepts of freedom and liberty have been much in the news over recent months. In our country, where the Rule of Law, a free Press, independent judiciary, freedom of speech and the right to vote have all followed an uninterrupted wider and longer path we have never really had to consider these matters. Magna Carta and Habeas Corpus provided the foundation stones and the Great Reform Act of 1832 took us along the route to ultimate universal suffrage. We have not seen fit to bother with a written constitution or ‘little red/blue book’ we have just sort of evolved as an United Kingdom. Our rights have never come under serious threat and governments have been benign and responsible on these issues. We are, I believe, a quiet people, prone
MP for North Dorset Simon Hoare neither to extreme right or left in our politics. Whatever happens, or doesn’t, on July 19 regarding covid I fundamentally think it wrong to characterise that date as Liberation or Freedom Day. Those who free themselves from the yolk of despots, military juntas or dictators have a legitimate right to use those terms. Those in forced labour, in refugee camps or living under an occupying
force can legitimately call upon those words to justify a new chapter in their personal or national stories. Someone fleeing domestic abuse and finding refuge, a child rescued cruelty can do likewise and with clear, compelling reason. One of my constituents wrote to me recently chastising me for supporting the covid regulations in Parliament declaring we were living under a dictatorship and that our freedoms had never been so restricted anywhere else in the world. I profoundly disagree with his analysis. Firstly, not many dictatorships take their proposals through a democratically elected Parliament while also securing the support of the Opposition. Not many dictatorships hold themselves to account in
their Parliaments (if they have one) or brief the media and face their forensic cross examination. What we have seen is a broadly national approach to a global problem where the needs of the greater good have been put first. Has that presented challenges? Of course it has. As a country that cherishes liberty it has been awkward, a nuisance and counterintuitive. I don’t think the debate has actually between ‘the free’ and ‘the constrained’ but between the community focussed unselfish and the self absorbed selfish. Our country has of course made ‘sacrifices’ but sacrifices come in many forms. Keep Calm & Carry On is not just a phrase on a mug or poster, it is deep within our DNA and we should celebrate that it is!
How is it right to be able to sing in pubs, but not in church? Why should football fans be free to sing inside pubs while church-goers are denied such a privilege? This question came to the fore again when I attended a memorial service in Christchurch Priory at which the congregation was forbidden from singing the hymns which the family had chosen. As football fever gives way to liberty for all from lockdown, hopefully MPs will be spared from having to justify such anomalies which are a direct result of the exercise of arbitrary power by the Government without proper consultation. Why should a care home employee with many years of devoted service be faced with dismissal for refusing to be double vaccinated? I put this to Helen Whately,
Christchurch & East Dorset: Chris Chope the Minister responsible for Care, at a physical meeting to discuss the implications of new regulations on those working in the care sector due to take effect in October. She neither gave a satisfactory answer nor explained why care home employees are being treated differently from those
working in NHS hospitals. Parity of esteem should be the policy. One of my constituents who is at the top of the medical profession has pointed out that as a vaccinated person can still catch coronavirus and pass it on, there can be no justification for preventing unvaccinated people enjoying the same liberties as those who have been vaccinated. He sees vaccine passports as a sinister means of coercing people to be vaccinated in order to enjoy liberties which should not be conditional upon compulsory medication. Individual constituency case work remains as important as ever. On behalf of a Christchurch couple who have been married for 72 years, I have
sought an answer as to why BCP Council is able to threaten the husband with legal action if he prevents his wife being moved to a care home while also denying the husband the opportunity to join her there. How callous! I have welcomed the commitment given by the Deputy Leader of BCP Council to pay more attention to the views of local people. At a special meeting of the Christchurch Town Council which I attended, he recognised the strength of opposition to contentious policies such as increasing the height of Saxon Square car park or imposing an expensive and unnecessary cycle route on Barrack Road to the detriment of residents and businesses. 23
