We are approaching a crunch point in the credibility of our pledge to stem illegal immigration across the English Channel. The Supreme Court ruling last month, that the policy of deporting migrants seeking asylum to Rwanda was in breach of domestic and international law, has suggested to many that we will never be able to control our borders under the current legal set-up.
I am very supportive of the PM and his mission - or rather his five missions, to halve inflation, cut debt, boost growth, reduce NHS waiting times and Stop The Boats. These missions are arguably all on track (even small boat crossings are down 30% on last year) and I congratulate the Government on their achievements. But I fear that much more will be necessary, in terms of economic policy, NHS reform and legislation on human rights, to ensure we fully deliver on these promises.
The Treasury Select Committee, which I sit on, gave the Chancellor a grilling this week following his Autumn Statement which committed to a welcome cut in National Insurance. I had hoped for more tax breaks for families and small businesses, but I’ll take what I got very gratefully. In the Committee session I raised the prospect of a recession next year - not something to go around loudly predicting, as economic prophecies can become self-fulfilling, but I wanted to see whether the Chancellor shared my concerns about rising unemployment and falling vacancies. I’m glad to say he was bullish (see our exchange here). I also asked him about the effect of immigration on productivity (here), the (to my mind very mistaken) policy of the Bank of England selling bonds at a big loss to the taxpayer (here), and what the Government is doing to promote growth (and support local councils, and fix social social care) in rural areas like Wiltshire (here).
The boundary commission has determined that the Devizes constituency be abolished at the next election. I am the candidate for the new East Wiltshire seat, which includes Amesbury (and Stonehenge).
On Friday I spent an inspiring hour at Amesbury Abbey care home, run by the Cornelius-Read family for decades. It is clearly a lovely community, providing a home for elderly people in great style. The Avon winds its way grandly through the grounds; and here, of course, is Blick Mead, the feasting-place of neolithic man. Dozens of massive auroch carcasses attest to the Stone Age bacchanals that went on here millennia before Stonehenge was built. Blick Mead is yards from the planned entrance to the Stonehenge tunnel. Here I am with David Cornelius-Read at the Mead.
Somewhere in the grounds of Amesbury Abbey is a far more modern site: the priory where Eleanor of Provence (1223-1291), the queen of Henry III, spent her last years and is buried. Since Richard III was discovered in the carpark, Eleanor is the only royal since the Conquest whose precise burial place is unknown. Her body (minus the heart, which was taken to London) is out there somewhere, amid the auroch bones. I would be proud to represent her, if her heirs in the Abbey, and enough other voters, return me at the election.
The new East Wiltshire seat also includes the Woodford Valley, currently represented by John Glen, the MP for Salisbury. John took me to meet the Conservatives of the Woodfords last month (pic above). I was presented with a bound copy of the minutes of the local association from 1994-95, by the minute taker Jane Rasch. They are quite hilarious. I plan to publish them on twitter. The first one is here. It includes this tantalising note, of which I wish I had the explanation. Does anyone?
