Many apologies (assuming you mind: you may not) for the gap of over two weeks since my last newsletter. Aside from the usual Parliamentary business and constituency casework I have been head-down on my new task, which you can read about here - a request from the Prime Minister to come up with proposals to sustain the amazing community spirit we have seen during the lockdown. Wiltshire has really shown the way here, but it’s apparent across the country: people have come together to support each other, public services have become more flexible, and businesses have become more responsible. We need to sustain this, as I said in the Commons this week (my first PMQ, watch here).
I’ve also been having a lot of conversations about the plight of young people in the economic downturn which appears inevitable. I was delighted with the Kickstarter plan announced by the Chancellor this week, to underwrite jobs for young people for six months. Other WIltshire MPs and I met with Gillian Keegan, the Skills Minister, and the head of Wiltshire College to discuss the opportunities for young people locally - there is so much potential in our industries, but at the moment too many school leavers leave the county to study, and don’t come back.
Local recovery will really be helped by some of the new infrastructure that has been announced for our region, including spending on schools and colleges. Meanwhile the plans for the new station near Devizes continue - Wiltshire Council colleagues and I spoke to the Transport Minister last week and we feel more confident than ever about the vision. ITV News has a good overview of the proposals in this short TV clip. And I’ve written (here) about the need for a lot more social housing, but led by communities not big developers.
The Army have done an outstanding job during the Covid crisis. I have got a breakdown of the work done by our local units to support the NHS and local councils and will write about this soon; meanwhile James Gray MP (my Wiltshire neighbour and head of the Armed Forces All-Party Parliamentary Group) and I are developing a plan for a formal ceremony of thanks, once the crisis has properly subsided. This is in the context of a Defence Review which heralds some significant changes - and I hope improvements, and investment - in the Army. We need to make decision-makers in Whitehall appreciate how vital a strong Army is to our national life.
I spent today popping into schools. While the education system as a whole has struggled to adapt quickly to the challenges of the lockdown, many individual schools and teachers have been heroic. I was massively impressed with what I saw and heard today and my thanks to the staff and students at Burbage Primary, Bishops Cannings Primary and Devizes School for their hospitality and inspiration.
Most importantly, I have finally been able to resume my Friday pub visits. The Crown in Broad Hinton was briefly challenged in the 19th century by a teetotal tearoom set up opposite it by the vicar. It withstood that threat and has withstood the lockdown, with a takeaway service and village shop set up in the bar. I had a pint of Arkell’s Wiltshire Gold with the gentlemen of the village council, and discussed the latest twists and turns of the Battle of Wroughton Airfield. There are moves afoot to route dozens of enormous lorries through the village of Uffcot to a vast new industrial complex on the airfield. This glorious area is where the headwaters of the River Kennet rise. Uffcot has been Uffcot (I mean a settlement here; the name only dates back to the Domesday Book) since Roman times. May the ghosts of forty generations of Uffcottians and Broad Hintonians rise to protest this planning application.