My regular update

A mixture of Kent-wide issues as well as ones relevant to South Thanet have occupied me over the past couple of weeks. 

I’ve written before about the financial pressures that Kent County Council faces as they reach for ill-conceived, low-value savings like the closure of Richborough household waste and recycling centre. The latest thoughts coming from County Hall is whether an elected Mayor for Kent might be a better formula to deliver devolution away from Whitehall decision making and with it greater control of Kent-wide funding? 

Early days in the discussions and I have not yet come to a conclusion myself. Other meetings with Kent MPs have included the Lower Thames crossing. A project that was needed ten years ago to alleviate the bottleneck at the current Dartford crossing but seemingly still at first base with further community consultation required and no prospect of being completed until the 2030s. As a country we are dreadfully slow at getting on with major infrastructure projects whether it’s airports, river crossings or much needed reservoirs, bound up as we are with political and legal activism, judicial reviews, environmental reports and carbon budgets. 

The Boundary Commission have finalised their nationwide review of constituency boundaries. They have stuck with their previously published proposal which makes quite substantial changes to the North Thanet and South Thanet seats. The Commission sensibly does a review every few years to try to keep constituencies at a similar number of electors. Canterbury had grown and so excess voters had to be accommodated in the East Kent Parliamentary seats. Myself and Sir Roger Gale had advanced a plan that would have only required 3,000 electors to be moved and the geography of the seats largely unchanged from 1983. The Boundary Commissions final plan is for over 30,000 electors to be moved. All somewhat bizarre and I have to say inexplicable and unnecessary. 

The Armed Forces Day parade in Ramsgate was a superb event as we remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms and thank those in service today. Good crowds and glorious sunshine. Local youth organisations - scouts, sea scouts, sea cadets, cubs and similar offer youngsters teamwork, discipline and training in new skills and were well represented. 

I held a Business Forum in Broadstairs last week. I advertised it as an opportunity to ‘meet, mingle and moan’. My thanks to Thanet & East Kent Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Business, Institute of Directors and Department of Work and Pensions for joining the platform. Common themes from businesses were frustrations in dealing with HM Revenue and Customs, VAT thresholds, difficulties in finding staff, the increased Corporation Tax rate and level of bureaucracy throughout the system. Lots for me to take back to Treasury Ministers in advance of the Autumn statement. 

The Appeal Court’s decision of last week to overturn the High Court’s previously positive decision of the lawfulness of the Rwanda relocation policy is disappointing. Whilst I’ve maintained throughout that the Rwanda scheme was never ideal, when the tools in the box are limited one has to reach for a different measure that may work. The plan is underpinned by deterrence. The fact is that we are simply running out of temporary accommodation and the settled summer season is likely to see more attempts. I’ve long ago run out of patience. The most elegant method of stopping the lucrative trade offered by people smugglers would be for the French to stop the beach launchings by dinghy. Is that really too much to ask of our neighbours especially as we’ve been willing to pay for it? 

Parliament sits for two more weeks before Summer recess. You can be sure I’ll be speaking on many issues from energy to housing and will doubtless pop up for comment on a variety of media channels. 

Craig calls on community organisations on South Thanet to bid for community defibrillators

Craig Mackinlay MP has welcomed the announcement that the Government is inviting community organisations to bid for funding for a defibrillator for their area.

The Department of Health and Social Care is inviting interested organisations to register expressions of interest for its £1 million Community Automated External Defibrillators (AED) Fund, aimed at increasing the number of AEDs in public places where they are most needed and help save lives.

As part of the grant award, applicants will be asked to demonstrate that defibrillators will be placed in areas where they are most needed, such as places with high footfall, vulnerable people, rural areas, or due to the nature of activity at the site.

Examples could include town halls, community centres, local shops, post offices and local parks, to ensure that defibrillators are evenly spread throughout communities and easily accessible if someone is experiencing an unexpected cardiac arrest.

An estimated 1,000 new defibrillators are to be provided by the fund, with the potential for this to double as successful applicants will be asked to match the funding they receive partially or fully.

Craig Mackinlay MP, said:

“Defibrillators can provide vital life-saving treatment, with latest research showing that accessing these devices within three to five minutes of a cardiac arrest increases the chance of survival by over 40%.

“This is a great opportunity for community organisations in South Thanet who wish to place a defibrillator in a town hall, community centre, local shop, post office or local park to register their interest so that the Department of Health and Social Care know.”

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay MP, added:

“We know, through inspiring stories of ordinary people, being kept alive thanks to the swift use of a defibrillator in public, that these extraordinary devices must be accessible to all.

“I urge any organisation that may benefit from a defibrillator – whether you’re a sports club, local theatre or community hall – to register your interest for this fund so that we can get more of this life-saving technology placed around England.”

Organisations can submit an expression of interest here. They will be notified once grant applications open to the Department of Health and Social Care’s £1m Community AED Fund.

My regular update

With the conclusion of the Privilege’s Committee report, Westminster finds itself navel-gazing once more with ‘Partygate’ at its core. I will say again – I don’t know what Boris Johnson as PM knew about what was happening throughout Downing Street during the various Covid lockdowns but still find it scarcely believable that a gathering at an obvious place of work at a time when government was doing all it could to see us through this unknown period is any different from the Leader of the Opposition having curry and beer after a day’s campaigning for which no sanction or real criticism accrued. Funny world. I’m sorry to see Boris throw in the towel; he brought his unique ‘boosterism’ to politics that we rarely see. It was difficult not to be lifted by his enthusiasm.

I would hazard a guess that most of my constituents are more focused on ongoing cost of living pressures which are now translating into higher mortgage rates. For homeowners these will be serious real costs as existing fixed-rate mortgage deals come to an end and for tenants, rents are often reflected in the cost of capital and so are rising too. I do criticise the Bank of England who allowed a loose monetary policy for too long on the back of cheap money and quantitative easing (effectively money printing), causing asset inflation. The hangover from the Covid period with pent-up spending and international supply chain problems, consequential high savings levels under the various support schemes and of course the war in Ukraine have led to imported inflation on the back of energy prices and foodstuffs. How the blunt instrument of raising interest rates, the only lever available to the Bank of England will reduce the price of a loaf of bread remains unexplained to me. My fear is an unnecessary recession, excessive tax rates and any feel-good factor hard to find.

All government spending comes from taxpayers – whether it is tax raised to spend now or deferred tax in the form of borrowing to be paid for in the future. I am holding a substantial business forum at The Pavilion, Broadstairs next Thursday 29th June at 6.30pm. Do contact me for a ticket. Panellists include the Federation of Small Business, Thanet & East Kent Chamber, the Institute of Directors, DWP and hopefully a representative from the Bank of England who can explain the interest rate situation directly.

This role takes many turns, I did some filming last week for a Channel 4 programme on environmental matters and Net Zero, to be aired in early autumn with the well-known Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame taking the interviewing role. I’ve always enjoyed his programmes, something of a 21st Century ‘The Good Life’ if you’re old enough to remember the popular 1970s sit-com. We agreed on much – I’m fully in favour of more circular economies, re-use and recycling, bearing down on unnecessary plastics and excessive food miles but we begged to differ on the path to Net Zero. It was somewhat perverse that during last week’s warm spell that old coal-fired power stations had to be restarted to supply the surge in power as air-conditioning units were switched on. The wind speed was low and solar panels face a savage loss of ability to generate once they get excessively hot, i.e. in full sun on a hot day with little wind-chill. I’ll summarise my position on all this – I see domestically derived gas as the stepping-stone to a massive upscaling in nuclear over the next 10-15 years as the better path rather than throwing good money into unreliable, expensive technologies that simply aren’t very good.

Craig welcomes four million more people in work since Conservatives came to power in 2010, giving 451,000 more people in the South East the security of a job

Craig Mackinlay MP has welcomed new figures showing that over 4.6m people are in work across the South East, an increase of 451,706 since 2010, as the Conservatives mark four million more people in work since Labour left office.

As the number of people in work grows, figures also show 176,600 fewer people are unemployed across the South East, meaning more people have the security of their own income.

New figures published by the Office of National Statistics show there are a total of 33.09 million people in work in the UK – this is an increase of 382,000 people in the last year.

As jobs rise, vacancies are falling, with an unemployment rate of 3.8 per cent – near record lows, meaning the number of unemployed people in the UK has halved since 2010.

The Conservative Government have five priorities to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats. These new figures show the Government are making progress in achieving their economic priorities, with a strong workforce and a resilient economy.

South Thanet MP, Craig Mackinlay, said:

“These are difficult times, with Britain’s economy shocked by Coronavirus and then impacted by Putin’s war in Ukraine.

“Today’s jobs figures show there are four million more people in work since 2010 and 451,706 more people in work across the South East – meaning more people are earning their own money.

“There is more to be done to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt – but these figures show the Conservatives are committed to ensuring everyone has the security of a job.”

Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, added:

“We’re getting Britain people working with record number of people in jobs – representing the vigorous support we have in place to support people get into work.

“We are equipping the over 50s to return to work, removing barriers for parents on universal credit and supporting those who are sick or disabled.
“The Prime Minister has set out clear priorities to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats. We are working non-stop to ensure more people are in work to achieve these priorities.”

My regular update

I am always concerned about rubbish. Not just if it’s on our streets but I’d also add weeds growing on roads, roundabouts and pavement verges as well as my own truly hated anti-social behaviour leaving a long-lasting stain – that of graffiti.

Kent County Council, as is true of many upper-tier authorities has severe financial constraints. Most of the pressure is due to such authorities having to fund adult and children’s social care. On elderly care I have been making the observation for years that an inbuilt conflict exists between the NHS and county authorities. The NHS understandably wants to ensure that elderly patients, once well, can return home with a care package or to family supported living, or to a more appropriate form of community care. It is wasteful for a hospital to provide what could be known as ‘hotel services’ once someone is well enough to be elsewhere. The blunt term of ‘bed-blocking’ is often used to describe this issue which then causes pressure throughout the hospital right back to A&E. The county authority will, in many cases, have to pick up the bill for providing the community care in whatever form it takes, hence a funding conflict arises which does nobody any good. I see elderly care in all its forms as part of health provision and have long advocated that this should be funded by central government.

On children’s care, this may take the form of an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC), but with it often comes the obligation for the upper-tier authority to fund individual school transport, often by taxi and in severe cases to fund specialist out of area residential provision which can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds per youngster, per year. All of this is often unknown and unbudgeted but are statutory services the county has to provide.

I comment on the above to give some context as to why Kent County Council is suffering financial stress. In trying to budget, local authorities of all types then look at what are known as ‘discretionary’ costs, the costs over which they do have absolute control. It’s the waste, weeds and clean-ups that often bear the brunt of spending cuts. And so it is that Richborough Household Waste and Recycling Centre is now in the crosshairs for closure. KCC have offered three options to attempt to save £1.5 million over the next two years. They have looked at usage and population densities, and under such blunt measures, Richborough finds itself at the bottom of the league. We’ve been here before with a similar threat that was overturned in early 2012. Many will be aware of my opposition to the requirement, introduced during the Covid period (for no great reason I can fathom, these being very open spaces), and now permanent, of having to book a slot to visit a waste site. This restriction and other charging measures has reduced use and the taxpayer bill for these sites by £5m over the past ten years. The KCC document recognises the additional distances that many East Kent residents would need to travel, which in itself seems a retrograde step in terms of carbon footprint, and as ever there is no consideration of the clean-up costs often falling to lower-tier authorities, and most certainly landowners in cleaning up fly-tipping. I would highly recommend that residents ensure that their voice is heard if this proposals goes further and a full public consultation results.

It is with great disappointment that the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill in its current form has been discontinued. The part of main interest to South Thanet residents was the provision to ban live animal exports for fattening and slaughter, hence stopping the foul trade that we had seen for many years through Ramsgate Port. This Bill was becoming what is often called a ‘Christmas tree Bill’ whereby other interests were being added to it, notably to use it to stop drag hunting and this is before it may have suffered further dilution from its main purpose in the House of Lords. The plan is to implement measures piecemeal through other legislative means so I’m sure we’ll get the long fought for absolute ban in the end. We have not seen such live exports through Ramsgate since we left the EU, as new requirements on the Calais side were not put in place to comply with EU veterinary health regulations. So, currently, Brexit has delivered what we all wanted. Never forget, whilst an EU member this trade could not be stopped under any circumstances as such live cargo were simply treated as goods and could not be unilaterally prevented from being traded under single market rules.

I’ll be heavily involved in Parliament on housing, the Renters Reform Bill and am contributing to the national debate on Inheritance Tax, much in the news at present. I’d be pleased to receive your thoughts.

My regular update

I’d call the last couple of weeks somewhat frenzied; a huge number of media appearances and comments on national issues including the fallout from my highlighting of serious shortcomings of Amazon, the global retailer with £25Bn turnover in the UK alone. Working with Royal Mail I have highlighted the scandal that is their facilitation for sale through their marketplace feature of counterfeit postage stamps of extremely high quality, sourced in China. When consumers unwittingly use these stamps, purchased in good faith, the recipient of the mail finds a £2.50 surcharge levied. I don’t know about you but I had placed my trust, misguidedly, that shopping with Amazon would be as safe as shopping with a high street retailer. Whilst Amazon claim they are closing down these dodgy marketplace sellers as they are recognised and that it’s ‘nothing to do with them’, I’m now working with the Serious Fraud Office as it is my interpretation that by facilitating the transfer of cash between consumer and the fraudster they are clearly part of the chain under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. Why don’t they simply stop selling stamps would be my answer?

I’ve also been on the media explaining my disquiet about changes to the landlord-tenant contract proposed by the Renters (Reform) Bill recently presented to Parliament. Whilst sounding entirely innocuous and positive for tenants and I obviously support that, my experience is that Section 21 no-fault evictions on a whim are rarely used. Why would a rational Landlord (of which I’ll state clearly that I am one) evict a tenant merely because the abstract right to do so exists? The answer is they don’t. The reasons s21 has been used is as an alternative to court-led s8 evictions for non-payment of rent or anti-social behaviour. Evictions for these reasons and for the property to be taken back by the Landlord for sale will be made more explicit in this Bill so nothing changes there. My query is whether this Bill is attempting to solve a mischief that simply doesn’t really exist? My fear is that there will be a huge number of s21 evictions prior to the Bill becoming law as Landlords use the last chance saloon as they increasingly feel that the increasing number of rules and regulations loaded onto them is now too much. I’m not sure local authorities are ready for the housing demands upon homelessness claims that will be coming their way.

I’ve visited a large number of successful local businesses and enterprises over the past couple of weeks. David Bailey Furniture Systems on the Pysons Road industrial estate is one such local treasure manufacturing high specification desks, units, shelving for the NHS across the country. I was pleased to formally open the new ‘Optic Centre’ at Instro Precision’s site at Discovery park, Sandwich. Instro manufactures new generation night vision goggles for the Ministry of Defence and for export. This complements their long-standing manufacture for military and civilian use of other optical and tripod equipment. A great local company.

I had a regular meeting with directors of Stagecoach South East at the Westwood Cross depot. We discussed bus provision across East Kent and the challenges faced, not least because of a permanent downwards shift of customers on the back of the Covid period. Working from home and online shopping has reduced regular bus travel by a demonstrable margin. We discussed the success of the recently extended ‘Get around for £2’ initiative supported by the government. It will remain in place until Autumn 2024.

Labour’s proposal to levy VAT on private school fees, which I can only assume would also apply to our successful language schools across Broadstairs and Ramsgate as well as after school tuition and possibly sports training has rightly concerned the independent schools across the patch. I visited St Faith’s in Ash, an outstanding independent school. The bursar of St Lawrence College joined for a mini-conference. Many families, exercising a choice struggle to get school fees together, often meaning working extra hours, certainly forgoing other spending and sometimes with some financial support from grandparents. By levying a further 20% VAT the likelihood is that the cost would be too great, children would be withdrawn and placed into state education. So the much trumpeted VAT forecast to be raised simply won’t be and historic schools could end up closing. Many might say that’s great, fee-paying schools should not exist because of equality and political dogma. I call it choice just as we don’t all drive the same car, go on the same priced holiday or shop in the same shops. It is a grotesque move in my view.

Let’s hope for the good weather that’s promised. Enjoy.