Storm Alex is raging (well, blowing quite hard) and the political skies over Westminster are troubled and gloomy too. I have great sympathy for the argument that the Government is overdoing the response to the second wave of coronavirus, especially as Wiltshire remains blessedly low in the infection charts. But I accept the Prime Minister’s judgement that there is no alternative - except an unacceptable death toll - to suppressing the virus through a combination of national measures like the Rule of Six, and more intense restrictions in those places suffering high infection rates. I set out my thinking on the difficult balance to be struck in an article on Monday, which you can read here.
The Coronavirus Act, which enables public services to operate under new conditions but also, more controversially, gives Government the power to impose restrictions on people’s movements and the freedom of association, was renewed by Parliament on Wednesday. I’m glad the Government conceded the right of Parliament to approve or stop particular new measures before they are introduced. I explained my reasons for voting with the Government on the Coronavirus Act here.
To local matters. The Government is investing heavily in new police officers and Wiltshire is in line for over 100 more coppers and a similar number of Community Support Officers. But in Parliament on Monday I challenged the Policing Minister (my constituency neighbour Kit Malthouse) to review the funding formula for recruiting new officers, which is unfairly geared towards urban areas. Wiltshire is one of the lowest-funded forces in the country on a per capita basis. See my question and Kit’s helpful answer here.
I spoke to BBC Wiltshire (listen here) about my report Levelling Up Our Communities (see here) which contains proposals to sustain the community spirit and neighbourliness we saw during the lockdown. I was inspired by the work of the Devizes Covid-19 Support Group, set up by St James’s Church with the help of the Town Council, and I am keen to help the Group continue its work. Whether we have another lockdown in Wiltshire or not, many people are going to need help and companionship in the months ahead. If you would like to help the Devizes group in any way, or wish to discuss similar local initiatives elsewhere in the constituency, please get in touch.
Life during lockdown was made tolerable for many people, especially those trying to work or study remotely, by the internet. The Government has invested significantly in broadband in rural areas and most of Wiltshire is now well served, but there are still pockets of poor connectivity. I spoke this afternoon to Openreach, who provide the digital infrastructure for most of the country, about what we can do to get gigabit capability (i.e. the fastest internet) everywhere. After some mind-boggling slides and some basic physics about the speed that data travels down copper wires versus digital fibre, I came away impressed by what is possible - but communities themselves need to act. Openreach will work with us to improve local connectivity if we tell them where the problems are. I am organising a summit for any villages or towns that want to discuss broadband, to enable us to go to Openreach and the Council (who are vital too, and I understand usually very helpful on this) with a proper map of local needs. Please email me if you’d like to participate.
I spent this morning at Chilton Foliat Primary School. After a bad Ofsted inspection a few years ago, the school has revived with a brilliant new head teacher, Katie Turner, and a dedicated governing body. It’s the sweetest school imaginable, with vast grounds (the children were skipping around in the pouring rain, ‘learning resilience’ as Katie put it) and a lovely new clubhouse built with the generous support of the local community. The school has only four classes which gives it a wonderful family feel, supported by its strong Christian ethos.
A less happy institution is HMP Erlestoke, in the west of the constituency, which had a terrible inspection report recently, revealing that prisoners have been living in conditions of real squalor and danger. I spoke to the Prisons Minister this week to discuss the steps the prison and the Ministry of Justice have already started taking to improve the situation. Most of the country’s prisons are much better than this - and overall the system coped incredibly well with the pandemic - but it’s unacceptable that our local prison should be such a poor state.
A final word on Chilton Foliat. In 1327, according to John Chandler’s Wiltshire history, the manor had 48 tenant farms, a watermill, fulling mill and fishery - presumably a community of many hundreds of people. 50 years later, in 1377, only 87 adults lived here. In between was the Black Death. Thank God for modern medicine.