I sit down to write this column as we sadly are watching horrific scenes unfold in the Middle East. I joined with a cross-party group of over 300 Parliamentarians to show our solidarity for Israel at this troubling time, affirming Israel’s right to self-defence and condemning the terrorist actions of Hamas. Although these events are a major setback to the peace process, the UK and the international community will continue to strive for peace and shared prosperity across the region.
We have come to the end of the Party Conference season and I was delighted to attend our Conservative Conference in Manchester. From supporting our farmers, helping retain the brilliant teachers that give this country so much, to boosting medical school places to keep the NHS resilient it was a very positive event.
More on that later. Locally, I recently met with pupils and staff from Warcop Church of England Primary School to discuss my role as an MP and hear about the issues important to them; reinforced my support for local business innovators while at the award-winning Appleby Creamery; and held my usual constituent advice surgeries hearing from you about a range of issues such as business support, disabilities, and education.
Back to Conference and I was particularly pleased the Prime Minister has acted on an issue I have been working tirelessly on in Parliament and is bringing forward new measures to tackle youth vaping. Damaging children’s health, educational attainment, and wellbeing – not to mention the environmental and animal impacts of these disposable products – action is rightly being taken and I’m proud to have moved the dial nationally on this concerning issue. This dovetails with our Government’s recent ban on the inappropriate use of nitrous oxide. I know local people are fed up with this drug being abused in public spaces – fuelling antisocial behaviour and leaving folk to clean up their mess. On top of this, we are rightly creating the first ever smokefree generation by making sure children turning 14 this year don’t develop a smoking habit that has such a negative impact on personal health and our NHS.
Conference also gave me the opportunity to discuss another public wellbeing issue I’ve been campaigning on: mental health. I met with leading charities such as Papyrus and Baton of Hope to build on the extensive progress we’ve made in trying to get safe age-appropriate suicide prevention on the national curriculum and to see how we can go further by getting more mental health first aid-trained staff in educational and workplace settings. Government is working hard to improve mental health across the nation with the suicide prevention strategy for England 2023-2028 and announcements on tackling loneliness which is such a pertinent issue to our rural communities.
Another issue that I know people are passionate about locally is better connectivity – both physical and digital. I have campaigned tirelessly for local bus funding and really welcome that our Conservative Government has listened and is delivering for our rural areas with the awarding of £876,873 for services across our county. This funding will protect essential services and enhance transport connections, supporting people to get
where they need to go with public transport they can rely on. With gigabit broadband being rolled out and spades in the ground for several road projects, we are already seeing progress in our region, but we must go further. And that is exactly what the Prime Minister did by announcing a shift away from spiralling infrastructure projects, instead investing in the forms of transport that matter to regions across the UK, a consultation on how we deliver broadband for so-called ‘Very Hard to Reach Premises’; and £2.5 billion for a new fund for local councils to invest in local transport.
I know folk will have also paid attention to the Prime Minister’s new pragmatic approach to Net Zero protecting everyone from undue financial burdens. Put simply, overly rapid boiler and petrol and diesel car bans would be disproportionately crippling for the countryside which faces lack of gas-grid and electric vehicle charging capacity challenges. We are still staying true to our Net Zero pledge but are making sure this delivers for both the environment and the economy.
There were also firm commitments to our brilliant UK farmers. This is welcome news for me and the vibrant farming communities I represent and follows extensive work this month supporting those who work so hard to feed the nation. This has included joining the NFU for Back British Farming Day, speaking at a food security policy event, and speaking in Parliament on the importance of the Border Targeted Operator Model and the Animal and Plant Health Agency to protect the UK’s biosecurity.
With my professional background as the only veterinary MP, I am extremely passionate about animal welfare as I know the public are as a nation of animal lovers. In Prime Minister’s Questions I was humbled therefore to receive personal thanks from Rishi Sunak for my work on animal welfare before he committed to push further and faster on our already world-leading standards. Also, this month I spoke at a training session for professionals to better understand and combat the link between animal abuse and domestic and child abuse; and this week we have our emergency EFRA Parliamentary Inquiry session that I have triggered looking at the very necessary upcoming ban of the dangerous American XL Bully dogs that are posing a real safety concern for people and other animals.
