In two weeks time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne will present his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons. This speech will set out the government’s spending commitments and the budgets for the different departments. Last week I led a delegation of 12 MPs from Kent to see the Chancellor to urge him […]
On Monday this week I spoke in the debate in the House of Commons on the Housing and Planning Bill, which has been introduced by the government to improve the supply of affordable homes to rent and buy, as well as giving councils new powers to tackle rogue landlords. You can read my full speech […]
The large numbers of migrants in the Calais ‘jungle’ camp have been causing major disturbances to services through the Channel Tunnel in recent days. This has involved hundreds of migrants charging the perimeter fencing and gaining access to the tracks; actions that not only endanger their lives, but those of other people as well. This […]
Last week Folkestone was hailed by the government as one of the ‘rising stars’ of town centre regeneration in England because of the “great strides made in improving their local high street”. It was one of ten runners up from across the country in the Great British High Streets competition, which is not bad going. […]
The Rugby World Cup has captured the imagination of sports fans across the country. More people than ever before have bought tickets to watch the matches, and the games themselves have received the largest television audience in World Cup history. Whilst it is great for rugby fans that England is hosting the tournament the real […]
‘Art Buff’, the mural created for Folkestone by the internationally renowned artist Banksy is to return to the town. This is excellent news and our thanks are due to Sir Roger De Haan and the Creative Foundation for their tenacious legal battle to secure its future. Last year when the work was created by Banksy […]
Eurotunnel has confirmed that the new security measures at Coquelles in France are making a real difference to preventing migrants from breaking into the Channel Tunnel terminal. The number of migrants seeking to enter the tunnel in this way has fallen from as many as 2,000 per night, earlier in the summer, to around 150 […]
We have seen a big improvement to Kent’s roads over the last ten days since the lifting of the Operation Stack restrictions. This is mainly a result of the improved situation in Calais where there have been far fewer disturbances to the services through the Channel Tunnel, or from the Port of Calais, than in […]
On Monday evening I spoke with the Transport Minister Andrew Jones MP, to express to him the huge frustration that everyone in Kent feels at the on-going gridlock caused by Operation Stack. He agreed with me that the current situation is completely unacceptable, and that new methods for managing the traffic to and from the […]
I met with the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, on Tuesday morning, along with other Kent MPs, to press for more action to resolve the pressure the County has faced during recent weeks from Operation Stack. I believe that there are three key areas for action. Firstly the need for lorry parking space […]