The Mail Column: 18 July 2020
Changing habits
You're sent a surprising amount of information as an MP. Emails, letters and brochures about about every subject under the sun, from organisations promoting concrete, to those lobbying for Israel, all the way through to people from across the world writing in with conspiracy theories about just about everything.
Wading through it all is a challenge, but you do occasionally come across a gem in amongst it all that makes a useful question in the Commons, or gives you the seed of an idea to speak to a Minister about.
This week, Lloyds Bank sent a brief on spending patterns during COVID in Barrow & Furness. It was illuminating. Almost half of the people in this constituency bank with Lloyds and so it gives a good insight into how the pandemic has affected many of us.
Average spending is down by about 17% on average. But the real shift has come in the cost of fuel and commuting. These have dropped by 46% and 64% respectively.
It seems staggering that our behaviour has changed so much in such a short period of time. There are real issues with that - not least in people's mental health. But there are real benefits too. Over the last couple of weeks I've spoken to local and national environmental lobbies about just this. People will always need to travel, but perhaps if we do a little bit more from home and use technology better we can protect our environment a lot more.
Working for you in Westminster
On Monday I asked the Home Secretary in the House of Commons about funding for refuges for women and families in Cumbria. A few weeks ago we passed the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill with cross-party support, but we need actions to follow good intentions and I've asked the Home Secretary to consider funding more capacity than the single site we currently have in Kendal.
On Tuesday I spoke in the debate about Coronavirus and asked the Health Secretary about taking positive lessons from COVID. In Furness we've seen the virus hit particularly hard amongst those with underlying health conditions or who live in areas of deprivation. The solution to this is early intervention - spending money up front so that issues don't become deep-set problems which are both harder and more expensive to fix. Government spends far too much time fire-fighting rather than thinking strategically and spending money to stop this happening. My ask was for government to do just this, and I'm glad that the Health Secretary agreed. Our hospital trust has been thinking creatively around this subject and I'm excited to see their plans develop - it will make a real difference to health outcomes in our area.
Every Wednesday the Home Affairs Select Committee sits, and this week we had the Home Secretary herself in front of us. Again I asked about lessons we could learn from Coronavirus. I'm determined that we don't let this pandemic pass and not learn anything from it. This time, my focus was on the Police. A new report has been clear that reform is badly needed to better tackle crimes like fraud where specialisms are needed, but also that too many issues (like mental health) are pushed into the Police's bucket because they are first responders. I asked the Home Secretary to think about Local Resilience Hubs which have guided community responses to COVID during this crisis as a potential model.
I also continued my campaign lobbying for flood defences on Walney this week - I spoke to the Minister for Tourism to get him to row in behind my campaign. Given that the coastal path is at risk, as is access to the nature reserve and to Biggar Village, he has agreed to add his voice to my calls. The campaign continues!
