It’s been a bad week politically. I just hope we don’t have a very bad couple of weeks as a country.
Let’s deal with the politics first. The North Shropshire by-election will either be another in the long series of by-election upsets that have no long-term significance, or it is the harbinger of our eventual defeat at the hands of a ‘progressive alliance’ of Lib Dems, Labour, Green and the nationalists. To ensure it is the former, we need some urgent change.
My colleague Miriam Cates and I co-wrote this article in today’s Sunday Telegraph that attempts to map out the changes we think are needed: in a nutshell, to return to our core beliefs. In case you don’t subscribe to the Telegraph, here is the central argument:
What do Conservatives believe? The answer is straightforward: we believe in sound money and low taxes; in strong families, strong national defence and controlled immigration; in our national institutions and traditions; and we believe in trusting the people. Our most fundamental characteristic is that we have faith in the intelligence and the capabilities of the British public.
As we learn to live with Covid-19, we need to recover the distinctively Conservative blend of freedom and belonging. Most of all, we need it for our children and young people, who have borne the brunt of measures imposed to tackle a disease to which they are almost completely immune. We urgently need to develop plans to give young people both the personal opportunities and the social gathering places that have been closed to them, on and off, through this interminable crisis.
The woes of the party matter somewhat less than the pandemic and the policies it is prompting. On Tuesday, after some days of agonising - unhelpfully in public, as private conversations among a group of fellow MPs were leaked - I decided to give the Government the benefit of the doubt about the ‘Plan B’ Covid restrictions. The fact is that the passports introduced for large venues are not vaccine passports - which would be unacceptable, as I have said before - but proofs of a negative test, i.e. more of a Lateral Flow passport, which I think is acceptable if irritating. The other measures - requiring vaccination for health workers, as we already do for care workers, and requiring masks on public transport - are unpleasant but understandable.
As I explained in the blog I wrote explaining my vote on the day (read here), my concern is with the direction of travel. I am very unhappy about the growing drumbeat for more restrictions and do not believe that the emerging evidence on the Omicron variant justifies any further steps. Our businesses and communities, our children and young people, the elderly and lonely and anxious, all deserve better than another lockdown.
In other news - on perhaps a more important matter in the long term than this virus - I met with the Environment Minister this week and lobbied her about the upcoming Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat, the water regulator. This Statement will determine the way that the water companies operate for the next five years, including their management of our rivers. I have been working with local activists and with neighbouring MPs along the Kennet and the Avon to press for some significant measures to be included which will make a major difference to the quality of water in the rivers. You can see what these are in my little video, or read the text, here.
Finally, on the last day of the Parliamentary term, and wearing a festive jumper for the occasion, I asked the Transport Minister to confirm we can expect good news on our application for a new station at Devizes. He was warm but opaque in his response (see us here). Nevertheless, I am confident that we have the best possible bid, and I am hopeful of its issue. We should hear in the coming months.
My very good wishes to you all for Christmas, and for 2022.
