Just when we thought the long spell of rain, grey and cold had ended with some bright and warm days finally making an appearance over the Easter weekend, as I write this on Bank holiday Monday, as ever with our great British weather, we’re back to square one. This is unfortunate as Greg Hands, the national Party Chairman is joining the Conservative teams across Thanet to support our candidates for the local elections.
I’m taking the Chairman to Manston airport to show him the potential of what this facility could bring to the East Kent economy. All we need is for those who think they know better, notably the local Labour Party and their activists to back the renaissance for our area. I wonder what they think an alternative use of 700 acres of flat land, conveniently close to good road and rail networks would be? A primary guess is that It has to be housing. That much land on a classic brownfield site would not sit there forever, unused as a historic landmark to its former proud military past. You decide what you’d prefer. All local Conservatives want a new airport, the investment and the jobs.
I don’t suppose the antics of the SNP causes great interest in South Thanet but just shows how the fortunes of a seemingly dominant political party can flip in the shortest of times. The proper distinction between Party and government is well established and respected at Westminster. The distinction had become muddied in Scotland. Increased ‘localism’ always sound appealing but the devolution settlement setting up a powerful Scottish Parliament and quasi-government is now found wanting. What a mess.
I had a busy few weeks in Parliament before the Easter recess. I held a Westminster Hall debate on the issue of the transparency (or not) of funding in the charity sector, especially in instances where huge taxpayer grants from government departments are directed to charities. A good deal of the activities of those charities would be eminently worthy; it is the activities of the few that concerns me. Substantial funding also comes from local government grants, available to find but not easily, and from supersized charities who distribute cash to non-charitable bodies who then indulge themselves in political activism. I called for both the Charity Commission and the Electoral Commission to investigate further and regulate more appropriately. It is obvious that most charities, backed up by dedicated volunteers do great work unlikely to be done by government. My concern is where we see charities taking the government that funds them to court, particularly in the field of asylum and immigration and whichever prevalent ‘woke’ agenda, one can’t help but feel that something is going terribly wrong especially when the taxpayer is footing the bill. Since my debate, this very topic is being more widely discussed.
At the second reading of the Finance Bill, I used the opportunity afforded by Parliamentary convention – that is of unlimited time, to make my longest speech as my time as your MP: a full 36 minutes. My concerns about raising the rate of Corporation Tax are well known but my speech also covered dividend taxation and the little known 60% rate of income tax which can apply whose time is long overdue to be scrapped. After six years of badgering successive Financial Secretaries to the Treasury I have achieved a win, however obscure. This is to exempt small Trusts from the burden of formal Trust Tax returns. These would be the smallest Trusts, often grandparents via their Wills leaving a small number of company shares or a little cash for the benefit of grandchildren. In years past these would have been exempt from formal tax returns but with changes to dividend tax and banks ceasing to withhold interest at source these had faced a costly administrative burden or indeed fines if not recognised for requiring a return. A small but significant success.
On the issue of tax, I was sorry to hear of the passing of Lord Nigel Lawson. He was a long serving Chancellor who served with great distinction to help turn the country around from its economic sloth. It was on the issue of Brexit and Net Zero that our paths crossed in recent years. He set up the Global Warming Policy Foundation and wrote widely about the issue of Climate Change. I was fortunate to have a private lunch with him, in his new home of Eastbourne, just 18 months ago. His mind still sharp as a razor despite increasing physical frailty. A great man.