On Saturday morning I attended the official launch of the new Community Responder vehicle for Burghfield and Mortimer. I would like to thank all those who have raised money to buy the car, and all those volunteers who make the service possible. It means trained help can reach an accident or stroke victim in the local area much more quickly than the ambulance, and get on with helping and rescuing the patient whilst the ambulance is on its way. Lives can be saved by rapid response like this.
On Tuesday morning I visited the Mitford Field development in Shinfield with Mark Prisk, Housing Minister, David Lee, Leader of the Borough Council and representatives of Bovis Homes and Reading University, the landowner.
The Minister and the Council announced that they had agreed finance for the Eastern by pass road for Shinfield, to carry the A327 to the east of the village and over the motorway on a new bridge. The money will be lent by the government to Reading Univesity, who will repay it out of subsequent developer contributions from housebuilding.
On Saturday I spoke to Berkshire Conservatives at Englefield.
The mood of the meeting welcomed Mr Cameron’s policy of negotiate and decide through a referendum, but many wanted him to go further. I suggested the Mandate referendum soon. It would ask voters “Do you want the UK government to negotiate a new relationship with the EU based on free trade and political co-operation?”.
I said I thought Conservative MPs could get it through the Commons if Conservative Ministers would join us. I doubt Labour would dare seek to vote it down, as iI suspect it would be very popular. The point of it would be to demonstrate to the rest of the EU that they were dealing with the demands of the British people by substantial majority, not just the demands of the largest minority party in the Commons. It would be effectively binding on the next government, if negotiations had not been finished by 2015. It would make it difficult for Lib Dem Ministers in the Coalition to go on blocking renegotiation betwen now and 2015.
I also explained that a group of Conservative MPs are seeking to pre legislate the referendum on whether we stay in or out. I would also support that should it come to a vote.
I attended Wokingham Choral Society’s Saturday evening programme at St Paul’s Church. With professional help from Emily Vine (Sporano) and Sam Pantcheff (baritone) they sang a variety of Church music.
In the first half they tackled twentieth century settings of the Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, Venite and Te Deum by Herbet Howells, Charles Stanford and Anthony Piccolo. The programme culminated in Jonathan Dove’s Missa Brevis, an electrifying wall of sounds that tested the choir’s voices to the full. In the second half they performed the Faure Requiem, Opus 48.
The choir did so well. Some of the music was difficult to sing, but they rose to the challenge magnificently. It was a great evening. I enjoyed the mixture of the Faure, a work I had heard before, and the newer pieces which I did not know. The audience gave them a warm reception, and was also grateful to Benjamin Woodward, the organist and Alexander Chaplin, the Conductor, for organising and accompanying such a fine production.
I had a meeting to get up to date with the progress in introducing the new Clinical Commissioning Group for West Berkshire. The people in charge of it will have a £690m budget next year to pay for the health care the people within the West Berkshire health area need. The CCG includes Wokingham and West Berkshire Council areas.
We discussed the need for timely and high quality care and treatment, the provision of services in the community for those discharged from hospital, care for the elderly, service to help those with long term chronic conditions, relationships with local Councils and their Social Service departments and the use and control of pharmaceuticals.
We considered the aftermath of the Staffordshire Inquiry findings, how NHS management can ensure good quality care, record keeping and technology, and the patient experience. I explained that I would wish to refer any complaints to the relevant surgery or hospital, as I have done in the past, to hear the other side of the case. There needs to be a fair and independent way of enquiring into disputed matters under the new regime.
I visited Reading University yesterday evening, and had meetings with the Vice Chancellor and the Head of the Business School. I gave a lecture to a Business School audience on how the UK is proposing to recover from the Credit Crunch, looking at further options for promoting growth.
I will be taking up the issue of student visa processing, which remains a problem for bona fide institutions seeking to educate foreign students.
I went to visit the Railway Minister, Mr Burns, yesterday afternoon.
I asked him to do two things for Wokingham.
First, I want him to put the right people at Network Rail into contact with Wokingham Borough Council, so they can start to sort out the issues about a new bridge over the railway to ease traffic congestion in Wokingham Town.
Second I pointed out that many users of the railway from Woklingham Station need to drive to the trains and therefore need adequate car parking. The present plans for the new station entail reducing the number of parking spaces, which will limit the use people can make of the trains.
The Minister was sympathetic on both grounds and promised to put the Borough in touch with the appropriate people at Network Rail. I will follow up to make sure discussions begin.
Today we will vote on the Bill. I have found this a difficult and divisive issue within my constituency and in the Conservative party. I came to it with no preconceptions.
As a modern Conservative I understand the wish to allow people to live their lives as they choose, as long as they do not harm others. There is a strong impulse to freedom in Conservatism which can pioneer desirable social reform. I suspect the reformers will win the vote today on the grounds that the law should not prevent same sex people marrying if they wish.
I also understand the strrength of feeling of many traditional Conservatives, who say Parliament should not change or reform long established institutions without good reason. They write to me to say they support civil partnership, but for religious, historical and legal reasons think marriage has to be defined as a relationship between a woman and a man. They do not write as bigots, though they are often criticised as such. They point out that the Conservative Manifesto of 2010 did not contain a pledge to change the law of marriage. They point out my personal Manifesto did not do so either.
National polling shows that a majority of the public supports the Bill. It also shows that opposition is strongest amongst religious groups,and amongst ethnic groups that have preserved a greater sense of the importance of faith in their lives.
My consultation with constituents has been wide ranging. Some have responded to the website request on the blog, where a majority favour the Bill by a margin of 4 to 1. I have also had 96 letters against and 7 in favour in reply. More have responded to my Parliamentary email, where a large majority have opposed the Bill. In the last two days alone I have had 4 emails in favour and 45 against.
I am very conscious that I cannot please everyone when the constituency is so split. I will keep my word and vote for the side that wrote in in larger numbers, which means voting No to the Bill.
The Environment Agency phoned me today, and followed up with an email this evening. They report on one flood problem in the constituency they are handling which does not affect people’s homes, but no disaster. I am grateful to those who have been out over the Christmas period to unblock ditches and put in pumps.
I travelled around the main flood spots yesterday to check the position. I have also stayed in touch with the Environment Agency. They have told me no homes are currently flooded in the constituency. I do hope despite the rain the flood defences and water management systems work this time.