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IPSWICH HOSPITALITY SECTOR

January 11, 2021 0 Comments by Chris in Coronavirus Local Economy

Amongst other things the Chancellor stated this afternoon that he’s keen to visit the California Social Club once the pandemic is over!

This followed a question I raised in the House of Commons Chamber today about the Ipswich Hospitality. I informed him of the virtual roundtable event I held with the hospitality sector in Ipswich last month. It was a very sobering meeting and I was very sad to hear about the extreme anxiety many feel about the businesses many have poured their whole lives into.

While I welcomed the grant support that the Chancellor announced last week I pointed out that a number of publicans and restaurant owner still fear for the future of their establishments.

I sought assurances from the Chancellor that he would be reflecting on what further support might be provided ahead of the budget specifically regarding the potential extension of the business rates holiday throughout 2021 and also an extension of the support on VAT.

There is light at the end of the tunnel! But when we end up in that better place I want to make sure that all our great pubs, restaurants and social clubs are still with us.

The Chancellor recognised that I seek to champion Ipswich’s fantastic hospitality industry and assured me that he would bare in mind those suggestions on how the Government can look at providing further support. He understands that our hospitality industry is vital for our local communities, employing over two million people nationally and that they have borne the brunt of these restrictions and so deserve our support as we emerge on the other side.

Grassroots Sports Clubs

January 6, 2021 0 Comments by Chris in Coronavirus Health

Today I asked the Prime Minister a question about the importance of grassroots sports clubs in Ipswich, particularly boxing clubs and the support they will get. In the summer I visited Patrick’s Boxing Club which got help in the first lockdown but, like others, is struggling at the moment with fixed costs such as rent and utility bills. I also mentioned Unity FC and the Ipswich Kickboxing Academy as well which has a fantastic ‘jab not stab’ scheme which helps combat crime and antisocial behaviour.

I sought assurances that when he considers further support for these crucial clubs which are based in some of the most deprived parts of our town, that he will take into account not just the benefits for physical and mental health but also the key role which they play to keep kids on the straight and narrow, to keep them out of harm and trouble which makes such a fantastic contribution to our town.

The Prime Minister assured me that the Government would be supporting these clubs with an extra £210 million of funding to help wonderful community institutions such as Ipswich Kickboxing Academy through this pandemic. He also reminded me that Ipswich will be benefitting not just from kickboxing jabs but from vaccination jabs as well to help us get through this crisis faster.

NATIONAL LOCKDOWN AND CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS

January 5, 2021 0 Comments by Chris in Coronavirus Education

After the good news about the new Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine (first person vaccinated in Oxford today) we have just had the bad news that the continuing exponential rise in COVID cases across the country has forced a third national lockdown and the closure of schools until the February half term.

The Government has set itself the target of vaccinating all vulnerable people (13.5 million) by the second week of February. With the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine now available in addition to the Pzifzer vaccine this does seem like an ambitious yet realistic target.

As many of you will know, during this pandemic I have been vocal in stating that we should all do everything necessary to keep kids in school, they should be the last to close, first to open. As someone who sits on the Education Select Committee, I’ve found it depressing seeing every week how it’s generally been children from disadvantaged backgrounds who lost out from the previous school closures the most. Between now and the February half term the Government needs to move heaven and earth to minimise the damage caused by these closures and to ensure that the damage that was done last time isn’t compounded and I will be using my position on the Education Select Committee to make sure this is the case.

I agree with the comments made over the weekend by the Chief Inspector for Ofsted and the Children’s Commissioner, we cannot “furlough” our children’s futures and steps should be taken that first-class online learning is providing to all.

Having said this, I absolutely understand why many teachers within Ipswich have been so anxious about heading back to school at a time when COVID cases have been ballooning and I also understand why many parents have been anxious about their kids going back to school. Yes young people themselves are extremely unlikely to suffer greatly at all if they themselves catch COVID but they are likely to pass it on to either their teachers or to take it home with them and its very likely that this could result in someone vulnerable to the virus catching it.

Ultimately it’s been an extremely difficult decision and I completely understand why the Government have been so reluctant to take it but when there is a clear end goal in site, I understand why they’ve taken it.

The sad reality that is that though closing schools for the best part of six weeks will have negative consequences for many young people, schools themselves at this time do make a contribution to the virus spreading and if we do want to contain this spread ahead of the most vulnerable being vaccinated to safe lives then closing schools for a limited period of time does seem to be the only real option left to the Government.

Addressing the issues that have arisen as a result of school closures during the pandemic needs to be a national priority over the coming years because it will take years to address the problem.

Being in tier 4 a lot won’t really change that much by going into this national lockdown. Cases in Ipswich continue to grow significantly every week (now over 500 cases per 100,000) and this is putting significant pressure on our local Hospital (if anyone doubts this I would talk to many of the people who work there, I have).

It’s very unfortunate that this new strain of the virus that is so highly transmissible has reared it’s head just as we’re beginning to see that bright light at the end of the tunnel get so much brighter as a result of progress in relation to the new vaccines. The reality is that if the Government hit their targets in relation to the vaccination process then by the end of February we could be in a radically different place and I for one hope they’re successful.

In the meantime, for all of us, the next 6 weeks or so will be very difficult but I would encourage everyone to continue following the rules and to work together to control the spread of this virus and to save lives.

Tom Hunt has signed an amendment to the cladding bill coming to the House

January 4, 2021 0 Comments by Chris in Misc

This is an issue which affects a number of his constituents and about which Tom feels there a clear moral obligation to protect leaseholders who, through no fault of their own, have been put in danger and should not have to front the cost of rectifying safety defects.

His statement is below:

‘FIRE SAFETY BILL AMENDMENT: Along with around 10 other Conservative MPs I have signed an amendment to the Fire Safety Bill which would prevent leaseholders with being saddled with the costs of remediation works that need to take place to address fire safety issues relating to their building, more often than not to do with dangerous cladding (but not always). It should be either the freeholder or the builder who should pick up the tab for this not the leaseholder and I believe that the Government should provide certainty to leaseholders as soon as possible which is why I have signed this amendment.

As many of you will know, many Ipswich residents who are leaseholders have been impacted by this. St Francis Tower and Cardinal Lofts being two high profile examples but there are other examples across the Town, this is a big issue and it’s not going away. Recently the “Ipswich Cladiators” group was established to represent leaseholders and I attended their inaugural meeting. The leaseholder is in no way to blame for any fire safety defects and therefore its morally wrong in my view for them to often be saddled with eye watering bills, often this also means that the values of their homes have plummeted. Following a debate that I took part in shortly after getting elected the Government did establish a £1 billion “Building Safety Fund” to help address the costs but this isn’t enough.

I understand why the Government wants to have it out with freeholders and builders about who should ultimately meet the costs here, but it shouldn’t be the leaseholders who are caught in the middle. I hope that over the coming weeks the Government will listen to what we’re calling for and provide leaseholders with the reassurance they need.’

STATEMENT ON BREXIT

December 24, 2020 0 Comments by Chris in Brexit

I am pleased that the Prime Minister has been able to agree a trade deal today with the EU but as my constituents will expect of me, I will be reading through the finer details over the next week. It’s expected that will be voting on it next week.

My initial sense is that this deal delivers the vast majority of what I wanted as someone who voted and campaigned to leave the EU. 1. It ends freedom of movement allowing us to control immigration from across Europe 2. It enables us to strike free trade deals across the world 3. EU law ceases to apply 4. The jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice ends 5. There will be no alignment with EU rules 6. And our elected Parliament will set all of the laws for our country once again. And finally, we will clearly end sending millions every week to the EU as the cost of EU membership.

This has been a very challenging and difficult negotiation and I’m pretty confident that there is not one individual in the country who will be 100% happy with every aspect of this deal. However I do feel that it does a good job at balancing the need to deliver Brexit in the truest sense and that we start 2021 as a fully sovereign country whilst avoiding the disruption that would have been associated with a no deal departure.

Yes I believe that no deal would have been better than a bad deal and yes I believe it was absolutely right to have it on the table throughout the negotiation but the reality is that at a time when the Government is doing everything it can to tackle COVID-19 and get the vaccine out no deal would have presented a real challenge on top of this in the short term. This is a challenge we could have met as a country but if it all possible, my belief is that it was best to avoid it and I’m glad we have.

The trade deal negotiated will mean that going into 2021 we enjoy zero tariff and zero quota trade with our European neighbours whilst at the same time becoming a fully sovereign country. After an ultimately depressing 2020 I do very much see this as something to look forward to going into 2021.

“I do believe that Boris Johnson deserves a lot of credit for all of this. It wasn’t long ago that the last failing Parliament and was falling flat on its face time and time again trying to resolve Brexit and completely failing to deliver the will of the British people to leave the EU. Ultimately it was Boris Johnson who broke that deadlock through his election win and who has now through his own negotiating skills and those of his Chief negotiator David Frost come back from Brussels with a deal far superior to the one that his predecessor was able to secure.

I believe strongly that part of the reason for this was the Prime Minister’s determination to prepare for no deal and to absolutely have it there on the table, the EU in my view truly believed that the Prime Minister was prepared to walk away because he was. His predecessor never was and the EU knew this.

The Labour Party deserve no thanks whatsoever for all of this progress. In the last Parliament the Labour Party did whatever it could to stand in the way of the Government delivering the referendum result and then famously fought the last General election on the platform of having a second referendum. This Parliament we’ve seen a Labour Party under a new leader that in my view still refuses to act in the national interest and has sought to frustrate and stymie the Government’s negotiating strategy whenever it could. Seeing reasonableness in whatever the EU does or says and unreasonableness in whatever the UK Government has said or done.

Today Sir Keir Starmer attacked the deal stating that he would “build upon it and improve it”, the key question is what does the architect of Labour’s failed second referendum policy mean by this? I fear what he means is that he would look to re-joint the Single Market (bringing back free movement) and the Customs Union (eliminating our ability to conduct our own trade deals).

I was glad to see even Nigel Farage stating that its time to move on from Brexit debates and that today represents a victory for the country. I agree with this view.

My personal view is that the UK is the greatest country in the world and I believe becoming a fully sovereign country again will bring great benefits to my country and my constituents. Who would have thought this is where we would before the EU referendum?

The people of Ipswich voted to leave the EU and I was elected as the MP under the banner of “Getting Brexit Done”. I voted to leave the EU and was a regional organiser for the Vote Leave campaign. I would not be saying something was a proper Brexit unless it was. Though I will read all the contents of the deal over the next view my current position is that I fully intend to back the Prime Minister and vote through this deal when I’m recalled to Parliament next week.

The Prime Minister and his team have achieved a deal that many thought impossible. I for one believe he should be applauded for this.

Now is the time to unite as a country, move beyond the Brexit divisions of the past and make a success of becoming a fully sovereign country once again.