WELCOME TO MY WEEKLY UPDATE - NO.262
It’s a busy week for me as I flew to New York and Washington for meetings with key investors and for the IMF, then in Godalming today and running the London Marathon on Sunday…latest below on the the Thames Water public meeting, the Hascombe phone mast and more money being raised for the Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER
INFLATION New figures this week show that inflation fell to 3.2% in March. That is the lowest level for two and a half years and significantly lower than the peak of 11% when I became Chancellor. For geeks perhaps the most significant thing was that it is now lower than the US (3.5%) which means we are no longer an outlier amongst major economies. Alongside the two cuts to National Insurance that I announced, worth £900 a year to the average worker, this fall in inflation means that people should start to feel the difference in their pay packets this month - real wages have now been going up for 9 months. There is further to go to reach the Bank of England target of 2%, but we can see that the plan is working.
USA TRIP Chancellors go to Washington every April for the IMF Spring meetings but my trip started in New York where I was drumming up support for the UK economy. I met Mike Bloomberg who at 82 is still going strong - what a remarkable life he has had including a brilliant period as Mayor. At a meeting of Wall Street investors every single one said that they were looking to increase their investment in the UK with a real sense that we have turned a corner. As I said in this video, we have created 800 new jobs every day since 2010. Some say the two major parties have similar economic policies but this is an area where there is a real difference: Angela Rayner wants to put 70 new burdens on employers which the CBI think could destroy what they call the UK’s ‘job creation factory.’ Then in Washington at the IMF, I spoke to G7 Finance Ministers mainly about the need to do more to support Ukraine. I also met US Finance Minister Janet Yellen and Ukrainian Finance Minister Marchenko - the bravest finance minister there and a truly remarkable man. The discussion was very topical because this weekend Congress will vote on Speaker Johnson’s Ukraine support package. My argument was the European countries can play their part in this debate by spending the 2% of GDP they have committed to spend (and which we already spend) so that American isolationists can’t argue Europe is not pulling its weight.
IRANIAN ATTACKS Iran’s dangerous and reckless attack on Israel over the weekend was very concerning - but they will have noticed rock-solid support from Israel’s friends which they may not have been expecting. The UK joined a US-led international effort to intercept almost all of the missiles, saving lives in Israel and neighbouring countries. Together with the USA, we have also sanctioned key Iranian military figures. David Cameron visited Israel this week to call for calm. The UK has a network of relationships in the Middle East so we are able to play a key role in a time when the world is looking so dangerous.
LONDON MARATHON I continued my last minute London Marathon training with a couple of short runs in Washington - as the big day looms this Sunday. Again, my deepest thanks to everyone who has so generously donated to my JustGiving page. You have now pledged the most amazing £30,000 – now I’ve just got to finish! Those of you interested can follow my progress on the day by checking in on my social media posts on Facebook or Instagram. Anyone still wanting to donate can still do so here - all in a great cause!
WHAT’S GOING ON LOCALLY
THAMES WATER MEETING The topic of my Herald column this week was the public meeting I hosted with Chris Weston, the new CEO of Thames Water, to discuss the water outages, slow compensation payments, and sewage spills in Godalming, Milford, Bramley, and the surrounding areas. November’s water outages were caused by a power failure, so it was good news (amongst the frustration) to hear that there is now an uninterrupted power supply at Shalford Water Treatment. The meeting was also an opportunity for Chris Weston to see for himself the widespread frustration with the compensation arrangements. As a result, he agreed to meet three representatives of the affected customers personally. On top of the compensation payments, Thames Water have offered every affected customer £30. Ofwat’s CEO, who was also present at the meeting, also made its first ever public commitment that Thames Water customers will not have to pick up the tab for Thames Water’s management failings with higher bills - which for me was the most significant achievement of the evening. Overall, there is some progress, but by no means all of the problems have been resolved. I will therefore host a third public meeting in June on the issue – let’s hope we don’t need a fourth or a fifth…
LOCAL HEALTHCARE UPDATE Good news for local health funding: the ‘Integrated Care Board’ for our area, Surrey Heartlands, has been awarded £1.95 billion for this year – part of record funding I have announced for the NHS since becoming Chancellor. One of our key priorities (and something I spent lots of my time campaigning for as a backbencher) is getting more clinicians so it is also encouraging that the Royal Surrey had 32 more full-time-equivalent doctors and 22 more nurses in September 2023 than the year before. In our Surrey Heartlands area, there were 110 more (full-time-equivalent) GPs in December 2023 compared to December 2019, and hundreds of thousands more appointments in 2023 than in 2019. On top of all of this, the Royal Surrey was among a group of organisations jointly awarded £4.78m to purchase equipment for clinical research areas. So all in all, that is more money and more clinicians for our local area, helping us to tackle the pandemic backlogs.
BROADBAND FOR THE SURREY HILLS In my first job in government as Culture Secretary I set the target that we should have superfast broadband across the country. So now, a decade on, I was thrilled to visit Broadband for Surrey Hills (B4SH) - a not-for-profit organisation bringing a full fibre network to the area, part of the long term vision I set going over a decade ago. The cabling is all underground, which means no unsightly poles– perfect for our Surrey Hills National Landscape. If you would like to read more about the organisation, you can do so here.
A QUIETER HASCOMBE MAST I am pleased to see the BT phone mast operating well and improving both mobile reception and reception for the local emergency services network, but I continue to raise our ongoing concerns about pollution and noise from the generator with BT, who updated me this week. Batteries are now powering the site for the majority of the time and diesel is used for the remainder when the batteries need to recharge. BT stated that the diesel function has been running for three (rather than the proposed four) hours each day between 1am and 4am to minimise the disruption to residents. They are also investigating whether acoustic blankets can be used to dampen the noise disruption. BT has looked into renewable power solutions but unfortunately this wouldn’t work in Hascombe and would not fully remove the need for a diesel generator in some form. But there is great news– BT has now placed the order with SSE to facilitate electricity power supply to the mast. The timing for the power cable installation is currently around August, so I have agreed with BT that I will contact SSE to see if it is possible to bring this date forward.
BRAMLEY- CLEAN UP WORK STARTS AT PETROL STATION Important update for Bramley residents suffering from both pollution and a boarded up petrol station: Chris Walker, Managing Director of Asda Express UK, tells me in this letter about progress in the long running issue.. As Bramley residents will have seen, work started on site last Monday 8th April to dig up the forecourt. EPS Environmental Consultants are overseeing the 'pump and treat' system which extracts and fuel from the ground. Overall, the work will take between 8 and 10 weeks. Asda have said that the shop will remain shut throughout these works but that they are making every effort to reopen as soon as possible. I will also request an update from the Environment Agency on their investigations and will update you in due course.
WOODHILL SANDPIT SUCCESS I have just learned that the Woodhill Sandpit application has been withdrawn following many months of campaigning, 800 objections, and a great deal of hard work from many of you. My view, outlined in my objection letter to Surrey CC, remains that this application was completely inappropriate for this sensitive National Landscape (formerly known as AONB) location. The HGV movements, if approved, would have been highly detrimental to local residents and villages. Thank you to everyone on the Protect Woodhill campaign for your immense work and to our Surrey, Waverley, and Guildford councillors for their efforts– especially Surrey County Cllr Bob Hughes and Cllr Kevin Deanus. A fantastic team effort.
FISH & CHIP QUIZ SUCCESS Cranleigh’s St Nicholas Church rooms were packed out like a tin of sardines last Friday evening when the amazing Friends of the Cancer and Surgical Innovation Campaign put on the most brilliant evening in aid of the new Cancer Centre at the Royal Surrey. The evening raised a staggering £2,300 and was a fun, memorable event. Massive thanks must go to Chris and Judith Storey and the fundraising team who worked so hard to bring the quizzers a first-class evening. A big shout out too to all the local businesses who so kindly donated items for the raffle and Seafare fish and chip shop for donating 100 portions of chips! The Royal Surrey started construction on the new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre recently, as I went to see for myself a few weeks ago. It will replace the ageing surgical short-stay unit and enable the treatment of an additional 7,000 patients every year– reducing waiting times and leading to better outcomes as a total of 60% of all surgeries performed at the Royal Surrey are cancer-related.
HOPPA EXPANSION PLANS The brilliant charity, Waverley Hoppa Community Transport, operates the Hoppa buses which provide door-to-door transport for people of all ages who live in Waverley but do not have access to any other means of transport. As well as taking people shopping, Hoppa also provides an essential service that takes people to and from their medical appointments. Hospital Hoppa can be used by people who live in Godalming, Haslemere and surrounding villages. At the end of last year, Hoppa also introduced a service for Cranleigh, which nearly 200 people have already registered to use. Hoppa is aiming to introduce a hospital service for Farnham which will take people to and from appointments at Frimley Park Hospital. To make this possible, they need to raise up to £50,000. In Cranleigh, fundraising was greatly assisted by the help of a local cheerleader who championed the cause and put Hoppa in touch with potential benefactors. If you want to find out more about the Hoppa service or are interested in helping them to expand Farnham, please visit www.hoppa.org.uk or email [email protected].
MUNSTEAD WOOD I felt very lucky to be invited by Katherine Mills of the National Trust to spend some time in the sunshine at Munstead Wood in Busbridge last week. World renowned horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll lived here until her death in 1932 and a team of volunteer gardeners work hard to ensure her vision is kept alive. The National Trust recently purchased this time-capsule home and gardens for the public and intend to 'restore and reimagine' them. As a big fan of both Jekyll and Lutyens this was a real treat– Munstead Wood is stunning and an oasis of calm. The National Trust knows they have a big project ahead and they have a vision to make Munstead Wood a space to foster creativity in others. I have offered my assistance in any way I can.
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JOIN ME Want to get more involved locally? Email me at [email protected] to join my growing team supporting our work in our community.
AND FINALLY… Brilliant news for those of us who attend the fish & chips quiz, as the world’s oldest man, who lives in Southport, has said that weekly fish and chips are the key to his long life. Great motivation for everyone to attend the next event hosted for the Cancer Centre charity…
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