GOOD AFTERNOON & welcome to my weekly update no.289
An extremely full week with the dreaded Budget last Wednesday and the resulting media rounds plus my last appearance on the front benches as Shadow Chancellor. So it was somewhat of a relief to spend Friday in Ash and Cranleigh (as well as being a nice birthday present!)
WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER
BUDGET BETRAYAL Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s budget last week was certainly historic. Overshadowing her achievement in being the first female Chancellor were the biggest ever tax rises outside a recession. The OBR has forecast that as a result over the next five years there will be 50 thousand fewer jobs, lower living standards and lower wages than previously forecast. We will also borrow £100 bn more than previous plans. The £22 bn fictional black hole was thoroughly debunked by the OBR. I led the media round the next morning which was also my final one as Shadow Chancellor. You can hear the interview with Jonny Diamond/Nick Robinson here (1hr 36mins in), Ed Balls being surprisingly nice to me here and even Kay Burley being friendly here. The final interview was on LBC with Nick Ferrari who kindly said I was leaving the crease with my bat held high. But I do wish it had not been in the context of a budget that was so incredibly damaging for our long term prospects.
NEW CONSERVATIVE LEADER On Saturday morning it was announced that Kemi Badenoch had won the Conservative Party leadership contest. Congratulations Kemi! If anyone will bring the fight to Labour it is her. I wish her all the best in her awesome responsibilities. We need to hold Labour to account for the damage they are doing to business, to education and to farmers (amongst others) but also rebuild trust after what was our worst ever defeat. William Hague always says being Leader of the Opposition is the most miserable job in British politics but it is constitutionally vital. And I doubt Kemi will need to limber up with judo practice as William used to do with Seb Coe.
BACK TO THE BACKBENCHES As some of you may have seen, I officially announced that I was stepping down as Shadow Chancellor and have now returned to the backbenches. After the defeat we have just had I understand that my party needs to show fresh faces to the electorate so I wish the new Shadow Chancellor well. After sixteen years on the frontbench I want to say thank you to all my constituents who gave me the privilege of serving there by sending me to Westminster. I hope I have done you proud. My final speech was in Thursday’s budget debate - see below.
WHAT’S GOING ON LOCALLY
STOVOLDS HILL Alfold Parish Council contacted me following very concerning criminal behaviour on Thursday night which included attacks on local homes and appalling aggression towards Surrey Police Officers in their vehicles. This is totally unacceptable so I have escalated with Borough Commander Rob Brian and Waverley CEO Pedro Wrobel. I am meeting Rob this Friday so ensuring a continued and visible police presence in the area will be top of my list.
YET MORE INAPPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENT IN ASH On Friday I met Ash Councillors Sue Wyeth-Price and David Shaw to discuss the proposed development for 54 homes in the grounds of historic Grade II* listed Ash Manor. It is a beautiful old house and it really would be a tragedy to build on the site of Ash Green (where I saw herons and deer on Friday). Yes we need more housing but Ash really has taken the brunt so this is the objection I have sent in to GBC. One of the biggest bugbears is the lack of infrastructure to go alongside new housing, particularly GP provision as I talk about in this Guildford Dragon article.
Take a look at this video of the nearly completed Ash Bridge
BUT GOOD NEWS IN SHALFORD More positively, it is wonderful to see Shalford War Memorial rebuilt and restored in time for Remembrance Sunday after it was badly damaged by a car a few years ago. Well done to Shalford Community Council and to all involved in the rebuild - and especially for the massive fundraising effort. The rededication service will be at 10am on Remembrance Sunday with the memorial service afterwards at 11am. I will be at the service in Ash so sadly can’t be there but I know it will be a very special occasion.
AND FOR ONCE IN BRAMLEY TOO… Two positive dates for Bramley residents: first Bramley High Street is going to be feeling very festive this year with the inaugural Xmas lights being switched on - after a terrible year the village is fighting back which is brilliant. Head down to Bramley Library for mulled wine and celebrations on Thursday 14th December 6pm, library car park. Also please save the date for a fuel leak update meeting with Asda and other stakeholders at 6pm, Friday 29th November. It’s taken a while but there will be lots of positive progress to report on.
CRANLEIGH MEET Thank you to Rosemary French and all at Cranleigh Chamber of Commerce for a productive lunch. We discussed the high street, mobile phone reception, infrastructure, health facilities and of course the damaging rise in employers national insurance in the budget.
SURGERY CALLS My first call today was to a Godalming resident called Gemma Taylor who has two children at Busbridge Junior School. She has been leading the local campaign for smartphone-free childhoods for which over 34 schools in Godalming & Ash now have some kind of pact. She wants all schools to ban smartphones for children under 16 which I wholeheartedly support. In the meantime, as the government has not yet agreed to do this, she is encouraging as many parents as possible to sign up to the Parent Pact which - in order to reduce peer pressure - commits parents not to give smartphones to children before the end of year 9. This is the link for Surrey - if you agree, please sign (as I have). Smartphones are addictive and - in my opinion - deprive children of a healthy childhood which should involve as much human contact with friends and family as possible. I will do all I can to support this brilliant campaign in parliament. I then spoke to an 83 year old lady from Shalford about the difficulty of getting a nurse appointment to dress her leg and the time it took for police to respond when she was knocked over by a cyclist, something I will raise with the Chief Constable when I see him shortly.
LAST TEA CALL There are a few tickets left for this Friday’s afternoon tea to raise funds for the Cancer & Surgical Innovation campaign. The event takes place from 2.15pm on 8th November at Elstead Village Hall and will include magician Jared Gale plus a delicious tea with homemade cakes. Tickets cost £22 and are available to book on: ticketsource.co.uk/royal-surrey-charity or by calling 07932 411108.
JOIN ME Want to get more involved with my brilliant election-winning team locally? Email me at [email protected] to help support our work in our community.
AND FINALLY ... Very sad to learn of the passing of music legend Quincy Jones who created too many hits to mention so I will leave you with his fantastic Soul Bossa Nova made famous to a whole new generation because of Austin Powers.
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