This week Boris Johnson has announced a wide-ranging package of measures to ease the coronavirus restrictions and allow many sectors of our economy and society to re-open. Key to this has been the decision to reduce the social distancing guidelines to over one metre, rather than two. This has been possible because of the falling […]
The official data published this week on the jobs market indicates the unprecedented scale of the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. In the Folkestone and Hythe constituency area, 11,800 jobs had been furloughed through the Government's Job Retention Scheme, the equivalent to around 17% of the population aged from 16 to 64. Nationally, the […]
Last week the House of Commons returned to Westminster, and whilst there was considerable attention to the airport queuing style system that has been created to facilitate voting whilst observing social distancing, we also saw the end of the video conferencing used to allow members to participate in debates from home. Before the Whitsun recess […]
Over the last two months we have seen an unprecedented and world-leading business support package delivered by the government, designed to keep firms going during the lockdown and to preserve jobs. Over £30 billion of finance has been provided through the different business loan and support schemes. Many local firms, large and small have used […]
The Government has announced this week further measures to ease the lockdown restrictions. These important steps can be made because of the collective action we have taken to restrict the spread of the virus. This has saved lives and enabled the NHS to cope with the demands placed on it by COVID-19. We have not […]
Over the last few weeks we have seen rising numbers of migrants making illegal crossings of the Channel from France and Belgium and landing on the Kent coast. Last week I met with the Immigration Minister Chris Philp to discuss what action the Home Office intends to take to stop these journeys, which not only […]
Boris Johnson has set out new guidelines for our country, as we start to look forward to the lifting of the restrictions that have been set to help us beat the coronavirus. From Wednesday this week garden centres will be able to re-open, and on Friday in Kent the Household Waste Recycling Centres will also […]
Last week the Government met and exceeded its target of providing 100,000 tests per day for COVID-19. This achievement now gives us one of the best testing regimes in the world to help in our fight against the coronavirus. It is particularly important that front line staff in the NHS as well as those working […]
Last week the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps MP, announced that there would be direct financial support for some of the key strategic transport routes which supply the United Kingdom. This will include both Eurotunnel at Cheriton and the Port of Dover, which together process around 80% of our road freight with the […]
Last week I took part in the regular video conference meeting for the Kent MPs with leaders of our local NHS to discuss the response to the pressures created by the coronavirus crisis. I would once again like to state my thanks to all of our NHS and care workers across the county who have […]