On 8 February, Parliament was honoured by the surprise visit of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine. Making only his second international trip from Ukraine since the Russian invasion a year ago, he arrived in London, visiting The King and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as well as addressing both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. […]
We can all agree that we want to see a reduction in the discharge of waste water and sewage at sea, and that’s why we have launched our most ambitious plan yet to achieve this. Our plan will require water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history, costing over £56 billion […]
Folkestone last week received a multi-million pound regeneration boost from the government’s Levelling Up fund. Following a successful bid from Folkestone and Hythe District Council, we will receive an over £19million grant from the government which will be invested in improving the town centre. Over the past decade we have seen a tremendous regeneration of […]
On Monday this week I attended a meeting of the Cabinet of Kent County Council, at the invitation of the Leader, Cllr Roger Gough, to discuss the future of nuclear power at Dungeness. Along with Kent, and Folkestone and Hythe District Council, I am determined to do all I can to secure the long-term future […]
On Wednesday this week we received the tragic news of deaths in the Channel after a small boat carrying migrants to the UK got into difficulties. This follows a similar incident just over a year ago when 27 people drowned in just one day. I would like to thank the Coastguard, RNLI Lifeboats, the police, […]
This week the Online Safety Bill returned to parliament, for the first time since the government changes of the summer and autumn. As readers of this column will know this is an issue I have been campaigning on for years and was for a time also the responsible Minister for this Bill at the Department […]
0935hrs (CET) Friday 2 December 2022, At the Representation of the European Commission in Germany, Unter den Linden 78, Berlin. Thank you to Dr Pencho Kuzev and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for inviting me to speak at this European Data Summit. I have been pleased to attend numerous meetings organised by the Foundation in my […]
Last week the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, presented his autumn statement to the House of Commons, setting out the difficult decisions we have to take over the next two years, to bring down inflation, ensure public spending is at sustainable levels, and support those who need it most. The problems we face are […]
This week the Home Secretary Suella Braverman has signed an agreement with her counterpart in France, Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin to increase efforts on the French coast to prevent small boats bringing migrants across the Channel to the UK. This will increase the number of French police patrolling along their coast to 300, and for the […]
There has been renewed focus this week on the growing crisis arising from the large numbers of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. Let me say first that I want these crossings to stop. They are dangerous, have and will further lead to loss of life, create understandable fear and concern for the communities […]