The last week in Westminster saw lots of positive progress made for the Government’s plan for change – both at home and abroad.
On Monday, Armed Forces Minister, Luke Pollard, responded to an Urgent Question about the impact of the Government’s fiscal policy on defence, and I welcome that he made crystal clear that Labour will deliver on our manifesto commitment and set a path for increasing defence spending by 2.5% of GDP.
Our first duty in government is to keep the country safe, which is why we launched a Strategic Defence Review within the first month of taking office. This crucial review is expected to be published in the Spring and will detail our spending plans, how we will ensure that we keep the UK secure at home and abroad, and how service life can be improved for those who serve our country. The Tories left behind an Armed Forces with falling morale, a funding retention and recruitment crisis, and service personnel living in mouldy and broken homes. We have made a cast-iron pledge to address this, and I look forward to the Defence Secretary setting out our fully costed plans in the coming months.
On Tuesday, International Development Minister, Annelise Dodds, gave a statement on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It is crucial that the ceasefire enables Gaza to receive a surge of aid, which is desperately needed to ease the suffering of Gaza civilians, and so I was delighted that the Minister announced £17 million of humanitarian support that will provide healthcare, food and shelter. This package also includes including £2 million to support the reconstruction of the water and energy supply in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We know that the ceasefire agreed last month is fragile, but the Government is working closely with our allies to secure lasting peace and a better future for Israel and Palestine.
We then had a statement from Foreign Secretary David Lammy on the dire humanitarian crises in both Sudan and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Both nations are in the grip of horrific conflict taking place within their borders and have seen callous attacks upon civilian areas in the last two weeks. The humanitarian situation is dire and in response, the Foreign Secretary confirmed that the UK is doubling aid to Sudan and providing £62 million to the DRC to support civilians caught up in the conflict.
I was pleased that the Water (Special Measures) Bill passed its third reading on Tuesday evening, which I hope will also be welcomed by the many constituents who contacted me to express their dismay about the state of our coasts, rivers, and lakes. This vital legislation will give us the powers we need to clean up our waterways, crack down on law breaking company bosses, and deliver more investment to make sure that our water infrastructure is fit for the future. The Conservatives’ neglect of the water sector led to the highest sewage spills on record and working people paying the price with rising bills, but Labour is clearing up this toxic legacy and fixing our broken water system.
On Wednesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, set out more detail about our plans to kickstart economic growth and make people in every corner of the country better off. After 14 years of economic chaos and stagnation, the Chancellor pledged to go further and faster to boost growth and support British business and innovation. The Chancellor announced a raft of ambitious plans to supercharge our growth mission, from unleashing Britain’s huge science and technology potential to create Europe’s Silicon Valley along the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, to transforming East-West rail and road connectivity, and ensuring that the National Wealth Fund and Office for Investment are working hand-in-hand with our local leaders on regional growth priorities.
It was fantastic to hear the Chancellor get behind the Old Trafford Regeneration Project as part of her vision to grow the UK economy. Alongside the potential for cementing Old Trafford as a world-class sporting and leisure destination with a new 100,000 seater stadium, the regeneration of the Trafford Wharfside area could deliver up to 15,000 new homes, create around 48,000 new jobs in the borough and add £4.2 billion to the local economy. The Chancellor championing our area is an important endorsement, and I look forward to these plans being shaped with the help of the local community.
On Thursday, the House of Commons held a debate on the future of Post Office services in Britain. Post offices provide a vital community service, and this something I raised in the last Parliament as part of my local campaign for the return of Post Office services to Partington, a campaign that is still ongoing. It was reassuring to hear the Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports, Gareth Thomas, confirm that the Government is committed to ensuring that there is enough postal service provision across the country, with a further £37.5 million of funding alongside the £50 million annual subsidy being provided to support the network. The Government will also publish a Green Paper on the future of the Post Office before the summer and will consult on this to inform plans for the long-term future of this national asset.
On Thursday evening I brought Flixton ward councillors, council officers, United Utilities and the Environment Agency together to answer questions from people affected by the awful flooding in the Church Road area that happened earlier this month. Both Trafford Council and the Environment Agency are now reviewing their response to flooding so our area can become more resilient to heavy rainfall as climate change makes extreme weather more frequent.
It was right that these agencies along with United Utilities attended the meeting to listen to residents about how they were affected. This meeting showed the importance of communication between agencies, councillors and residents – which is vital if we are to improve our response to future floods. I have also been contacted by constituents in the neighbouring areas of Urmston Meadows and Lansdowne Road who were also impacted by the flooding – and am following up on their concerns.
Fridays are usually reserved for constituency meetings and visits, but I had to return to London on the early train for ministerial commitments ahead of an exceptionally busy week at the DWP. More on this in my next blog.
Andrew Western MP
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