Craig thanks the entrants of his 2017 Xmas Card Competition

Over the last few weeks, lots of primary school children in South Thanet have been busy drawing Christmas puddings, Christmas trees, snowmen, angels, reindeers, sleighs, stars, robins, bells and all-things-Christmassy for Craig Mackinlay MP’s annual Christmas Card Competition.

Back in the Autumn, Craig asked all primary schools in his constituency to invite their pupils to design the Christmas cards that he will be sending family, friends and other MPs.

Craig presenting his Christmas Card 2017 Competition winner and Christ Church CE Junior School pupil, Darcie, with her winner’s certificate

Craig, ably assisted by the constituency staff in his Broadstairs’ Office, agreed which of the children’s designs should be featured on the card.

The winner of the competition was Darcie from Christ Church CE Junior School in Ramsgate. He visited the school earlier today to present Darcie with her winner’s certificate and also met with the School Council.

The runners up were Natalie from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and Rhiannon of Bromstone Primary School both in Broadstairs.

Darcie’s winning hand-stitched reindeer.

Craig Mackinlay MP, said: 

“I am very grateful to all the children in South Thanet who entered my 2017 Christmas card competition.

“This year, as in previous years, I received so many fantastic designs from primary schools around my constituency.

“The competition is always enjoyable, although, given the depth of artistic talent in South Thanet, choosing a winner is never easy.

“After some thought and consideration, I chose Darcie’s beautiful hand-stitched reindeer. I was also greatly impressed by Natalie’s pretty crayoned Christmas tree and Rhiannon’s dancing penguins so I have chosen these as my runners-up.

“Very well done to Darcie, Natalie and Rhiannon and my sincere thanks and best wishes for Christmas to all who took part.”

The 2017 entrants can all be viewed on Craig’s website

Craig supports Christmas Concert at Holy Trinity Church in Broadstairs in aid of local Scouts and Guides

Thanet Male Voice Choir

Craig Mackinlay MP, South Thanet’s Member of Parliament, attended Thanet Male Voice Choir and Upton Juniors’ Christmas Concert on Sunday, 10 December.

The concert took place at Holy Trinity Church in Albion Street, Broadstairs and this year raised funds for the 14th Broadstairs Scouts and 1st Broadstairs (Holy Trinity) Guides who had previously presented a persuasive application for funds to the Choir Committee.

Craig Mackinlay MP commented:

Upton Juniors' Choir

“I am grateful to the Choir Chairman, Bob Hilditch, for inviting me to this year’s Christmas Concert.

“Both choirs worked very hard to prepare their respective repertoires in the weeks leading up to the event and beautifully sang a variety of our favourite Christmas carols in support of 14th Broadstairs Scouts and 1st Broadstairs (Holy Trinity) Guides.

“The Concert was a lovely way to start the festive season and I congratulate both choirs on a thoroughly enjoyable day.”

My latest thoughts on Brexit, animal welfare and the proposals for our local NHS

Brexit issues dominate as ever, with an initial deal struck by the Prime Minister to allow new year negotiations to advance to future trading relations. This was essential to complete, given that we had, reluctantly, agreed to comply with the three demands of settling the status of EU citizens’ rights, the Irish border conundrum and the dominant item in any divorce – the money before entering phase two. Such ‘deals’ are never going to satisfy everyone, I have my own disquiet in many areas, but the news has been well received by business and from most people I talk to, so I too salute the PM and the Brexit negotiating team in moving discussions ahead.

Co-incidentally I visited Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland just a day before negotiations concluded as part of my duties on the Exiting the EU select committee; a fascinating trip and my first to Northern Ireland.

Issues of animal welfare post-Brexit are very much on the agenda once more and I am delighted that we, as Conservatives are taking the lead on so many fronts – the banning of the Ivory trade, the introduction of CCTV in abattoirs, and the Secretary of State giving ever more clear indications as to his likely measures in future Agriculture and Fisheries Bills which will include the banning of live animal exports and the regaining of our historic fishing grounds. We are going further still on environmental measures – the banning of plastic microbeads and real discussion on the global effects of plastics, particularly on the marine environment. All issues upon which I have been campaigning strongly. I even had an input on local media on the detrimental side of puppy smuggling, very much to the fore at Christmas.

I attended and spoke at a well supported event at Chatham House School, Ramsgate where views were aired on the proposals being put forward by the regional health trust and local Clinical Commissioning Groups as to the future of healthcare in East Kent. This issue will run and run. The health professionals recommend either a ‘where we are plus’ or a radical re-think which could see a downgrading of QEQM and the William Harvey to make way for a Canterbury based super-hospital. Kent County Council have put forward a third option of a three hospital solution with three A&E departments based upon likely future population growth in East Kent. At this stage I would oppose any downgrading of QEQM, not least because of population pressure, geographic isolation and transport links. We do have to appreciate that healthcare is specialising at a rapid rate, and the days of everything, everywhere does not necessarily result in the best survival rates compared to best practice particularly for strokes and cardio-vascular conditions.

The Christmas season for me always starts with the annual Thanet Male Voice Choir and Upton Juniors concert at Holy Trinity Church, Broadstairs. As ever, a fantastic event, and a sell out with the chosen charities being 14th Broadstairs Scouts and 1st Broadstairs (Holy Trinity) Guides. Do enjoy yourselves in the run up to Christmas, and stay warm in this inclement weather.

Craig highlights plight of smuggled puppies imported to fuel the Christmas puppy trade

This week the Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, invited a host of MPs and Peers, including Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet to its annual House of Commons reception, where the charity - who coined the famous slogan ‘A dog is for Life, not just for Christmas’ - asked MPs for their support in the fight against Puppy Smuggling.

Dogs Trust has been investigating the problem since 2014, and through three undercover investigations has found that unscrupulous breeders take advantage of, and profit from, issues with the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS). As a result, underage and poorly cared for puppies are being illegally imported into Great Britain from Central and Eastern Europe, and sold to unsuspecting members of the public.

Dogs Trust has warned that although there is a rise in puppies illegally imported during the festive season, illegally imported puppies is a huge issue all year round. The organisation has issued advice to help anyone thinking of buying a puppy, to know what to look for, in a bid to stop buyers unwittingly fuelling the trade. The charity has also issued a plea to anyone thinking of getting a dog, to do their research or consider re-homing instead.

Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet, said:

“I’m very pleased to support Dogs Trust in raising awareness of the plight of illegally imported puppies, who suffer the most harrowing of journeys at the hands of these unscrupulous dealers.

“It’s imperative that the Government takes immediate action by enforcing proper checks at the ports and on-the-spot fines to deter these breeders and dealers, as well as introducing revised legislation as a priority when the UK leaves the EU.

“I really hope this will help to effectively regulate pet travel.”

Adrian Burder, Dogs Trust CEO, said:

“It’s a shame that we still have to remind people of our slogan, ‘A dog is for Life, not just for Christmas’ nearly 40 years on from its creation. We always encourage responsible rehoming, but as we’ve seen, dealers will go to great lengths to dupe innocent people, making it increasingly difficult for people to spot an illegally smuggled puppy.

“Over the next 12 months, we will continue to push for proper enforcement at UK borders. We will also continue our Puppy Pilot scheme, which rescues puppies seized at borders, funds their quarantine and rehomes them responsibly. So far, this scheme has saved more than 600 puppies.

“We can’t thank Craig Mackinlay MP enough for his support, and we look forward to continuing to work together to tackle this issue, and make some much needed improvements in 2018 and when we leave the EU.”

Craig welcomes England’s best ever reading results

Craig Mackinlay MP has welcomed yesterday’s announcement that reforms to the national curriculum have seen the best reading standards in England for over 15 years.

In 2010 the Government announced that all schools would be required to use phonics to teach children to read and since then England has risen to joint 8th in the world for reading standards – improving the reading level of pupils from all backgrounds.

For South Thanet this means that more children are getting the skills they need to excel later in life.

This follows official statistics, released last week, which show 14,522 children in South Thanet are now attending schools rated good or outstanding – an increase of 3140 since 2010.

Craig Mackinlay MP has welcomed this latest confirmation of rising school standards:

“This is great news for South Thanet as more children are gaining the skills they need to excel in later life.

“Standards in our schools are rising because of the changes the Conservatives have made to the curriculum and the hard work of teachers in my constituency.

“These results show that we are building a Britain fit for the future, and makes sure that every child in South Thanet gets the best start in life.”

Craig calls upon local businesses to take on more under 16s for ‘Saturday jobs’

The Child Permit Registration System, whatever its flaws, does provide data on the number of youngsters employed part-time whether as paper boys and girls or in ‘Saturday jobs’.

The numbers have declined rapidly over recent years with the number of child work permits issued nationally to businesses who want to employ children aged under age 16 falling from 29,498 in 2012 to 23,071 last year – a fall of over 21%.

South Thanet’s MP, Craig Mackinlay, wants to encourage more local businesses to offer this valuable experience to Thanet youngsters.

Craig Mackinlay MP commented:

“Many of my generation worked part-time and benefitted enormously from the discipline and social interaction of these experiences - as well as earning valuable extra money. My father, who ran greengrocers in Medway, took me to work from the age of 10; it gave me the most solid grounding and built self-confidence. I strongly feel that the steady decline of the Saturday job over the last five years is something that should concern us all – Government, employers and parents.

“Achieving good GCSEs and A-levels is important to secure a place at university, but there is no substitute to having good quality, real world work experience at a young age to prepare for later life.

“Of course, strict safeguards need to be in place to prevent the exploitation of young people, but being able to demonstrate a keenness to work is also important to future employers, as well as colleges and universities, and will stand out on any CV.

“Skills learnt at work complement those learnt through formal education and so I call upon businesses to reverse this worrying trend.”

Craig supports Tesco Food Collection 2017 at Westwood Cross

South Thanet MP, Craig Mackinlay, has showed his support for Tesco’s tenth Food Collection which took place between Thursday 30 November and Saturday 2 December by visiting the store at Westwood Cross. 

Thanks to Tesco’s ongoing partnership with The Trussell Trust and FareShare, and the generosity of the supermarket’s customers, they were able to provide nationally more than 3.4 million meals to people in need after their last collection. 

Since Tesco’s first Food Collection in December 2012, the supermarket has donated over 30 million meals to help FareShare and The Trussell Trust support people in need across the UK.

Craig Mackinlay MP commented:
 
“I was very pleased to visit and pay tribute to the hardworking volunteers from Tesco’s, The Trussell Trust and FareShare involved in this year’s Tesco Food Collection.

"There can be a variety of reasons why people turn to food banks for help: family breakdown, a result of addiction or other crises, health problems or benefit delays. We'd all prefer to see an ideal world where food banks are not needed, but we should all pay a tribute to the variety of charities and the army of volunteers who provide this crucial help at times of need.

“The Tesco Food Collection provides an incredibly valuable service to such families providing, as they did, some 3.4 million meals last year.

“That is why I am delighted to trumpet this important community work.”

Craig distances himself from Brexit Committee Report on the progress of the UK’s negotiations on EU withdrawal

In the run-up to the European Council meeting in December, the Committee on Exiting the European Union, on which South Thanet MP and Leave-supporter, Craig Mackinlay MP sits, today publishes a report on the current state of the negotiations.

At next month’s meeting, the EU27 will consider whether sufficient progress has been made to allow talks to progress to phase two negotiations on the future relationship.

The Report, from a very divided Committee comprising of a majority of MPs who voted remain in the June 2016 referendum, claims that it does not see how it will be possible to reconcile there being no border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with the Government’s policy of leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union.

The Brexit Committee urges the Government to publish a white paper on the proposed implementation period as soon as possible after December’s European Council to set out in detail how it plans to meet its objective of avoiding the imposition of a border, including if no withdrawal agreement is reached by 29 March 2019.

However, Committee Member, Craig Mackinlay MP, has sought to distance himself from the Committee’s Report.

Craig Mackinlay MP commented:

“In last year’s referendum, the people instructed the Government to take back control of our laws, borders and trade. As was made clear at the time by both sides of the referendum campaign, to take back control of our laws and borders, we must leave the Single Market. And to take back control of our trade policy, we must leave the Customs Union.

“Nor am I not persuaded that urging the Government to show its hand to the EU by publishing further proposals on the border issue while in the middle of these very important negotiations is in the national interest. Patently the reverse is true.

“Maintaining our strong and historic ties with the Republic of Ireland is important in these negotiations, which is why the Government has said explicitly that there will not be any physical border infrastructure between the Northern Ireland border and the Republic. Of course, there has long been a VAT and currency border.  Goods and services entailing cross border transactions have paperwork and electronic filing to efficiently and effectively handle the different tax regimes. If we end up with the World Trade Organisation model, for instance, I see no reason why it is not possible to add a customs tariff if necessary under a no deal scenario. With political will, clearly lacking by the EU negotiators, all is possible."

The Budget, the impact of drug addiction and Thanet District Council

Just coming out of November and Santa is already making an appearance at the various Christmas Fairs across the constituency – he’s a busy man.

The Budget of last week was not quite as generous as Santa, but there was plenty to be cheerful about. The ‘rabbit out of the hat’, although not entirely unexpected, was the Stamp Duty relief for first time buyers of exemption from charge of  the first £300,000 of value. The average first purchase type of property in Thanet is realistically nearer to £200,000 so the relief in real cash terms is worth £1,500. This was a Budget to get housebuilding into a higher gear, vital if we are to match demand with real affordable homes in the right places. I was also pleased to see that there are to be no duty increases across wine, beer and spirits save for high strength artificially strong ciders. Fuel duty was also frozen – there had been fears that diesel drivers would be penalised at the pumps, so I’m pleased that this did not arise. In addition, there was an increase to the tax-free personal allowance, and an increase to the National Living Wage from April 2018. Put together, this represents a real increase in take home pay for the lowest paid of over £3,000 since 2010. This is great news. Also increases to parts of education spending, the NHS and preparations for Brexit.

All in all a fairly benign Budget that I was pleased with.

I’ve long been interested in the drugs debate, and have always been steadfastly against any form of downgrading and liberalisation. In my mind, the effects on society of abandoning a higher proportion of the population to wasted lives, economic inactivity, mental and physical health problems is a sufficient counter to often heard calls for legalisation. I presented a 90 minute debate in Parliament last week titled “The human and financial cost of drug addiction”. I had become alarmed at the rise of an artificial heroin substitute called Fentanyl now sweeping the USA. The US has experienced a 21% increase in drug deaths from 2015 to 2016, with this new killer at its core. A staggering 64,000 drugs deaths were recorded in the USA last year (vs 2,600 in the UK). I also looked at the effects of cannabis legalisation in Colorado from 2012. The effect has been a rise in cannabis usage and traffic deaths where cannabis intoxication was found to have been a factor. Kent roads are seeing a rise in drug related accidents and deaths too over recent years, so this is a real issue that I wanted to highlight. I’m never one to avoid contentious debate topics.

I continue with my work on the Brexit select committee. One local Brexit dividend will be new freedoms for our local fishing fleet so am working as hard as I can to ensure we have a new domestic fishing policy that breathes new life into this proud local industry.

Lots coming out of Thanet District Council. Talk once more of a three ship ferry service from Ramsgate to Ostend for ‘early in the new year’ but sadly we’ve been here before, I frankly don’t believe it. Crisis in the parking department has been reported to me, and huge disquiet about the local plan that will go to Councillors in January. It is my view that ‘no plan is better than a bad plan’. What is being presented is a bad one and I hope that Councillors across the political spectrum will vote it down. I’m happy to take the case to the Secretary of State that whilst the future of Manston remains undecided, a Thanet with Manston and aviation is a vastly different place from a Thanet with Manston as a bulk housing development. Delay is best – we need to get this right.

A statement on the EU Withdrawal Bill and animal sentience

I am aware that there has been a lot of misinformation making the rounds online regarding the proposed amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill on 15 November and animal sentience. I want to put the record straight for all of you who have been concerned.

Firstly, I am not aware of any MP who believes that animals do not have feelings. This is an issue of great importance to me – I have been battling to end the export of live animals for slaughter from Ramsgate Port for many years, a practice we are unable to outlaw while we remain members of the EU. Many of you will have also seen me out and about around the constituency with my Labrador Libby; it seems incredible that some would believe I consider her or any other animal to be incapable of feeling. The EU protocol on animals being sentient not only allows live exports, but also bullfighting, veal farming, foie gras ‘production’ and cruel fur product imports. I have witnessed most unpleasant slaughter practices in other EU countries, all entirely legal and in accordance with minimum EU standards. EU law is no panacea: you can farm animals in unspeakably cruel conditions without breaking a single EU law. It would be depressing if that were deemed the benchmark, and I believe we should be more ambitious.

The UK has higher standards than any other country in Europe and the Government has presented over recent weeks a huge number of animal welfare initiatives: not least the ivory ban to help end elephant poaching; CCTV in slaughterhouses; increasing maximum sentences for animal cruelty; and banning microbeads and cutting down on single use plastics that harm our fish, birds and sea mammals. In these circumstances, I remain persuaded that UK legislation to provide the necessary and appropriate protection for animals in this country will not be weakened when we leave the EU, and on the contrary, animal welfare will rightly be enhanced.

You need to be aware of the practices of Parliament to understand the nature of the amendment put forward by the Green MP, Caroline Lucas. The use of amendments are widely used as a procedure to highlight an issue and then to make a speech. This is laudable practice, but the EU Withdrawal Bill was not the place to advance the ideals (which I share completely) as to the sentience of animals and the call for high animal welfare standards post Brexit. I can assure you that Government will deliver the same result and more using a different route. There will be a new Agriculture Bill during this Parliament, which will be the opportunity to lay down a new framework, with enhanced animal protection measures. There is no argument; self-evidently animals are sentient.

The Secretary of State has also released a statement today detailing the Government's views, which you can find here: https://www.gov.uk/…/environment-secretary-confirms-sentien…

I hope that this reassures you of my and the Government’s commitment to not only continuing the same provisions for animal welfare we have today, but also improving it.