Embassy Truck Park in Sandwich to receive £150,500 to improve the site for lorry drivers

The Government have confirmed that the Embassy Truck Park on Ramsgate Road in Sandwich will receive £150,500 from the first tranche of the HGV Parking and Driver Welfare Match-Funding Grant Scheme which launched in November 2022. The scheme provides match funding to support Lorry Parking operators to improve HGV driver welfare and means that the projected value of improvements will be in excess of £300,000.

The Minister for Roads and Local Transport, Richard Holden MP, confirmed that successful bids for the first funding window will result in approximately £19 million investment in improvements with £8 million Government funding, leveraging £11 million of industry investment. Tranche one will deliver around 660 additional HGV parking spaces nationally.

Craig Mackinlay MP, commented:

“This funding is very welcome and will mean improvements to toilets, shower facilities and rest areas, lighting systems, CCTV and security, as well as additional parking spaces. For too long UK facilities have lagged behind what is offered abroad leading to use of lay-bys and haphazard overnight parking causing aggravation to communities across East Kent.

“Welfare facilities and security for our HGV drivers is of the utmost importance at what is a challenging time for our road hauliers, especially as we need to encourage a new generation of heavy goods drivers into the industry. Poor facilities have undoubtedly detracted from this as a career choice."

Roads Minister, Richard Holden MP, added:

“Craig has been campaigning hard for this and I’m glad that Embassy Truck Park now has a significant capital sum for a safer, more secure, lorry park to improve driver welfare, reduce crime with greater security and ensure there are better places for lorries to stay when they need to stop, rather than at the roadside.”

A second bidding round will commence in early Autumn 2023 and further information on application procedures and priority themes for this round will be available on gov.uk in due course.

My regular update

Parliament returned last week with something of a bang. The unbelievably weighty and complex 420 page Energy Bill returned from the Lords on Tuesday for further consideration known as Report Stage followed immediately by Third Reading. Thereafter, as it was a Bill originating in the Lords, the Lords will have a final opportunity to either agree or refuse the amendments coming from the House of Commons. In the event all amendments passing back to the Lords were Government amendments, no other amendments either from myself, the various opposition parties and other Conservatives were either not selected by the Speaker, not pushed by the originator, or refused by a vote.

I had laid, with others, approaching 100 amendments to this Bill. I have to say I really don’t much care for it. I spoke robustly particularly against the future ability for the government to create criminal offences by Statutory Instrument relating to Net Zero. We will see if any final changes are possible in the Lords. I caused a Third Reading division on the Bill, comprehensively lost but I wanted my concerns duly recorded.

On Energy issues, I keep a watching eye on how the UK’s electricity is provided. Over the wonderfully hot weekend we’ve had, electricity use was fairly low at 29-30 GW, doubtless as BBQs were lit and we enjoyed some outdoor life. It was virtually windless both here and across Europe. Solar did quite well despite the ever-shortening days, peaking at 15% of electricity provision on Sunday. Despite 30 GW of installations of onshore and offshore wind around the country, there was barely 1/30th of this potential produced, hovering around 1 GW all weekend and just a few percent of the UK’s electricity needs, electricity itself being a mere 20% of entire energy use. Burning imported pelletised wood (mainly from North America and transported across the Atlantic on diesel powered ships) accounted for approximately 5% with predominantly gas turbine produced electricity, remaining nuclear, coal would you believe, and interconnectors bringing electricity from abroad ensuring that the lights stayed on. Relying on others for guaranteed energy does seem like a fool’s errand as we’ve learnt from Putin’s Russia. It is not uncommon for Winter demand being closer to 50 GW so I am sure you can see the problem with the future energy plan of even greater reliance on renewables. It’s why I am focusing on this issue.

It was with great pride to be part of the successful official opening of Thanet Parkway station, the first new station in East Kent for 100 years. I am pleased to have been instrumental, following a Prime Minister’s Question in July 2021, in ensuring the last tranche of funding to make it happen was made available from government, else the project would likely have failed.

For some in Cliffsend the whole concept of this station is not supported. There are complaints of light pollution and excessive noise by the annunciator. I’m sure we can work together to alleviate these issues now that the concept has moved from a planner’s drawing to reality. Others in Cliffsend are enthusiastic because of the convenience it brings and also with the knowledge that house buyers generally see a local station as a significant plus point. Others moan about the cost of £35m and that it won’t receive the footfall to make the investment worthwhile. I’m always the first, as a former Member of the Public Accounts Committee, to have concerns about costs of government projects. DWP spend on non-pension benefits now amounts to £470 million per day if big numbers of government expenditure turn your head as they do me. President Lincoln’s use of poet John Lydgate’s phrase springs to mind:- “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.” What is unique in planning terms is this: for the first time in my memory, a project being delivered that is ahead of the curve, rather than laggardly behind it. The benefits to the growing Discovery Park, the ability to serve Manston as my preferred future use as an airport, or indeed whatever emerges, and to service appropriate new development and businesses, are obvious.

The pieces of significant investment into Thanet and East Kent are falling into place. We just need to get plans for Ramsgate Port further forward, and I must say at this point, that hoping for a ferry, however nominally desirable is becoming ‘pie in the sky’. I may have concerns about energy policy, based upon our supposed 100% reliance on unreliable renewables but I’m not opposed to the concept that there is a role to play in the mix of old and new technologies to make up the jigsaw of the whole. And so I am looking at more exciting job creating opportunities around the ‘green hub’ proposal as part of the Levelling Up £21m allocated to Ramsgate, concentrating on skills in the new energy sector which are not being met. I hope to bring together a new consortium, with even more funding to put on the table to put to the Thanet Levelling Up board and start to turn the page on a costly but redundant port facility.

My regular update

I’ve been considering over the Summer recess period the expansive question: “What is the role of an MP?” Once elected there is no handbook offered by Parliament or the political party. In some ways there cannot be – it is a position quite unlike any other. It is up to the MP to determine how to set up their operations from where to locate an office, which staff to recruit and how to allocate personal time. Some choose not to engage heavily in Westminster operations or national issues. Others prefer to focus exclusively on purely local issues. Neither paths are wrong. Most, like me, try to find a balanced hybridisation of both. There is no single ‘boss’ or hierarchical tree, save for the structure of the political party and attempted influence of the Whips’ office; no human resources department and an MP cannot be sacked, except under circumstances of a Recall Petition, a fairly recent feature, triggered if the Committee on Standards considers a breach of behaviour, personal or financial so great that a suspension from Parliament of more than 10 days is appropriate. The now 28 years established Seven Principles of Public Life – the Nolan Principles are a good guide to what expected behaviour means. Under these recall procedures the decision to remove the MP goes back to the electorate as it should. The constituents are the collective ‘boss’. If only it were that easily explained as the ebb and flow of popularity of the political banner under which the MP or candidate stands is more likely to determine political fate rather than perceptions of good/bad/hardworking/decent. Is it a ‘job’, a ‘career’? No, any MP who sees it as such should probably not be doing it.

I do focus on many national issues because national policies affect everybody’s lives, those in South Thanet, wider Kent or the country. It is for that reason that I have a lot to say about Brexit. It’s why I have a lot to say about illegal Channel crossings and migration. It’s why I have a lot to say about Net Zero and energy. It’s why I have a lot to say about the economy and taxation. I’ve been vocally against the London Mayor’s expanded ULEZ scheme because, although 70 miles away, this will negatively affect local businesses and residents in East Kent. Being an MP offers opportunities to be quoted and listened to across a wide range of issues. It doesn’t always follow that what I say will be universally well received!

The overspill of national issues into the lives of my constituents are obvious. Take one seemingly small matter. I supported my good friend Mark Francois MP’s Private Members Bill for the Regulation of Roadworks, to impose serious financial penalties on utility companies who overrun works. We’ve had to bear an extended period in and around Albion Street, Broadstairs for months as UK Power Networks do heaven knows what for an extended period detrimentally affecting residents and businesses. We all understand that works need doing from time to time and there is never a perfectly convenient time to do them but what infuriates us all is when we see jobs half-done, usually abandoned over weekends or nobody doing anything at all for long periods. This ought to be a simple irritant to change.

This week I have meetings with the Senior Management Team and Leader of Thanet District Council. I don’t hide my irritation that we’ve not, as yet, much to show for the £20m in Levelling Up funding for Ramsgate that I helped to secure, as an MP led grant. Next week is the official opening of Thanet Parkway station with the Railway Minister, Sussex MP Huw Merriman. A few years ago the last piece of the funding jigsaw, some £17m was still to be found else the project would fail. It was only after my Prime Minister’s Question in July 2020 that the required shortfall was agreed by the Department for Transport. We still wait a judicial decision on Manston.

My MP surgeries have continued across the Summer. My local office is always your best point of contact via telephone or to my email address.

My regular update

I write this in the last few days of our annual trip to Hungary visiting my wife’s family. I am also, unsurprisingly, the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hungary. It is always interesting to speak to locals here about various aspects of life. The cost-of-living crisis is being felt markedly more painfully than in the UK with a huge lag between wages, pensions and benefits increases and base inflation. There is the argument to be had that if wage and benefits increases simply mimic or exceed inflation then the inflation expectation simply becomes embedded. That’s a broader discussion point, but it is the reason our government has been resisting unrealistic public sector wage demands. 

In years past there was always the feeling, one that we don’t feel so much these days, of things abroad feeling ‘cheap’. Globalisation, imports and international prices of fundamental global commodities like oil and grain works towards purchasing power parity. A large loaf of bread here in Hungary is now £1.50 and a litre of fuel about £1.45. Electricity and gas prices are a little cheaper and a main course in a modest restaurant is typically £10, aided by a lower 5% VAT rate applying to hospitality businesses. A typical standard old age pension is just £200 per month and so for many life is exceptionally hard. Inflation stands at 20% and interest rates for mortgages are at the horrendous rate of 18%. This has not yet led to a house price collapse but could soon be seen in over-inflated hot-spots like Budapest and around Lake Balaton. There is a higher level of home ownership than the UK and in small towns and villages a modest house with garden can still be bought for £60k. There is a high level of intergenerational assistance together with family friendly government support mechanisms and a distrust of keeping money in the bank. There is ample housing supply as youngsters move away from quieter areas making things very different and affordable certainly on a UK comparison. 

I often write about Debrecen airport after these visits. A small, ex-military airport on the edge of the city. Sound familiar? The similarities to Manston airport are obvious. There are even more logistics companies around the perimeter of this smaller Hungarian airport, gearing up for the full opening of the new £2Bn BMW factory and a new Chinese funded Electric battery facility. The foreign investment decisions were made largely because of the local airport. Whether embedding more reliance on the Chinese is sensible remains to be seen but in a country with economic difficulties I suppose the view of taking money wherever it is to be found is persuasive. 

It seems that many important issues in the UK are bound up in court action. We still await the outcome of the proceedings of early July which will determine where next in the Manston saga. We await the Supreme Court sitting and determining the lawfulness of the Rwanda policy to deter Channel dinghy crossings. I cannot say the government’s emphasis on ‘Boats week’ was well-founded with numbers reaching the UK by this dangerous route now exceeding 100,000, some significant daily figures, sadly more deaths and problems with the Bibby Stockholm barge. Belgium, with whom we have no formal agreement and to whom we pay nothing to do what is an international expectation are proving highly effective in stopping the boats, but France, despite receiving hundreds of £millions from us, still struggle to stop all the beach launchings leading to avoidable deaths. I know this is becoming a make-or-break issue for my Conservative government. I would be infinitely more robust and would implement unilateral returns and so called ‘international law’ can simply swing in the breeze as it increasingly conflicts with the will of Parliament and the public as this issue descends into one of national emergency. 

It is good to see national discussion on Net Zero proposals being widely aired, largely on the back of cost and practicality. As I wrote previously, the Mayor of London’s new and expanded ULEZ scheme and the surprising win for us in Uxbridge and South Ruislip has opened a significant can of worms. It is worth noting some of the more ‘loony left’ London Labour Councils are implementing significantly higher diesel and petrol car charges for residents parking, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and other aggravations onto residents simply trying to do their best. Thankfully, Thanet District Council is not that far offside as yet, and I aim to maintain good relations with its members. 

My regular update

As we enter summer recess from Parliament and school holidays we would have hoped for long days of great weather. Not to be it would seem as the Jetstream sets below our shores meaning a constant buffeting of unsettled weather. It was a shame that the fantastic Ramsgate Carnival did not escape given the huge amount of work that goes into it across the community.

On the last full day in Parliament, as part of my long-standing membership of European Scrutiny Committee (ESCOM), we held an evidence session with the Chief Executives of Dover Port and EuroTunnel together with an official from Eurostar whose ‘border’ is at St Pancras. The topic was how these major points of entry and exit to the UK will cope with the EU’s Entry and Exit requirements and also the EU’s new ETIAS system, akin to the USA ESTA. These systems are common around the world and indeed the UK will be implementing its own in time. These operate as a pre-screening system to allow for Visa-free travel. The date of implementation keeps getting put back, but the limitations of space at both Dover and Eurotunnel are causing some head-scratching. My interest on all Kent residents’ behalf is how this might impact on our local traffic flows. Pleasingly, despite the need for all UK passports to now be examined and physically stamped, flows through the channel crossings have been quite smooth across the summer getaway.

Since my last piece, we’ve had three by-elections across the country. We performed badly in two but Boris Johnson’s old seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, on paper the narrowest majority of the three, confounded many with a narrow Conservative win. The new ULEZ charges at £12.50 per day, due to be implemented by Mayor Sadiq Khan at the end of August, which the Conservatives opposed, was clearly the reason for our narrow victory. Much has happened on the Net Zero front since the 2019 election. This was the first time that the true costs of many of these policies had been put to the electorate: they were rejected. There is a lesson here. Despite outer London Councils losing their court action to stop ULEZ there is opportunity for Home County Authorities to launch their own action. Kent County Council are considering options as this charge will apply to Kent residents who enter this very wide zone. This includes many residents from South Thanet. Putting the arguments about air quality aside for a moment, flawed as they are, for those who would like a newer car and are saving for one, hitting people with a £12.50 per day charge will hardly help their savings plan. Of course, these charges are little to do with laudable goals and are seen by many as a blatant tax charge.

I’m now leading a campaign to suspend the 2030 new diesel and petrol car and van ban until at least 2035. This would lead us into concurrency with what our competitors in the US and EU are doing and would bring certainty. Under any measure we have insufficient electricity generation or charging points for a 2030 ban to be realistic in just 7 years’ time.

New North Sea gas and oil licences announced is great news for energy security and lower energy costs. New activity in the North Sea, which merely replicates what Norway has been doing for years means new jobs, investment, tax revenues and a helping hand to the UK’s perpetual balance of payments problem. We purchased £40Bn of Norwegian gas last year, and tens of £Billions of other LNG shipped gas from countries as far-flung as Australia. On the CO2 ledger this similarly makes little sense. I hope to have done my bit to restore common sense into our national energy policy.

My regular update

My last article highlighted how our most senior courts come to different conclusions when faced with the same subject. The matter in question was the legality of the Rwanda policy to deter illegal migrants. We see similar shifting sands of legal decisions with Manston Airport. Initially, a judge rules that there are no grounds for a judicial review of the Secretary of State’s decision to grant a Development Consent Order, and then, upon appeal to that decision, a different judge grants limited grounds for the possibility of a JR. The case was heard once more a couple of weeks ago and we await the decision. We are now in year 9 of the Manston saga which in itself is farcical.

I had similar years ago in the preamble to my election expenses trial at which I was acquitted. The High Court ruled to my advantage on what an obscure part of election law meant (it being s90 (c) of the Representation of the People Act 1983). Upon appeal by the Electoral Commission this was overturned in the Supreme Court who ruled precisely the other way. Whatever your views on these very different issues a simple question has to be asked “is this any way to run a country?” or does it indicate that much of our voluminous law is so poorly drafted that it is too ambiguous to serve its purpose? An expansive question.

The Rwanda policy and the Illegal Migration Bill before Parliament occupied us greatly last week and will do so this week as well. The House of Lords had put 20 substantive amendments to the Bill which would have watered down much of the intent of it, which to summarise is to ‘Stop the Boats’. We had 18 divisions in a row on Tuesday 11th taking over 3 and a half hours. Apparently this was the longest voting session for 70 years. At the height of the Brexit battles in Parliament across 2017-2019 we did have a 12-division session. The Government accepted two amendments and rejected 18, hence the votes. The House of Commons agreed with the government’s rejections and this now returns to the House of Lords with the robust imprimatur that the elected House refuses the Lords’ amendments.

This bizarre process is known as ping pong. This will continue this week until the Lords back down. If they do the Bill will become an Act later this week. If they do not and insist that their amendments stand then the Parliament Act can come into play. It is the last resort for the elected House of Commons to get its way and was last used in 2004. But with it comes delay. All the while, we have a constant stream of channel crossings with the danger therein further fuelling an illegal people trafficking market which makes millions for the agents. But it is the British taxpayer that picks up the big bill – an estimate £100,000 per person over the entire process of accommodation, legal costs, benefits etc. It is not fair, nor is it sustainable.

I highlighted the issue of Labour’s plan to levy VAT on private education at Prime Minister’s Questions. We have a thriving independent school sector in East Kent supporting many jobs and when foreign students come this is deemed an ‘export’ as funds are remitted to the UK. Many will take the view that such private education should not exist and if raising the costs closes some of it down then that’s to the good. Others will say the money raised can pay for provision in the state sector. All estimates of the potential tax receipts are overplayed and the real cost of children moving into the state sector ignored. I take a more simplistic view that it is just inherently wrong to tax education as it would surely have to extend to VAT being levied on our English Language Schools, after school private tuition and even sports training. The threat to the English Language School sector, important to our local economy, is real especially as the Republic of Ireland, a competitor in language schools, does not levy VAT on such education.

I had the opportunity to visit Stone Bay School in Broadstairs which offers special education to youngsters with complex learning difficulties. I had the opportunity of speaking with parents and teachers as well as many students. I was overwhelmed with what is being delivered from the school and the testimony from parents was very powerful and hugely complimentary.