I have received this letter from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions about Universal Credit payments during the Christmas period. The arrangements for when claimants will be paid over Christmas as well as contact details, including the Freephone number, are available at https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-youre-paid and opening arrangements are also at https://www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus/christmas-and-new-year-opening
I have sent a letter to the Post Office telling them that many constituents wish to see the current Post Office counters remain open. I have urged them to consult not just on the range of services they could provide through a move to a local shop, but also on whether the idea of a move is a good one in the first place. We do not wish to lose the current facility to replace it with a worse one. There is space in the current building to expand the Counters, and tackle the queues.
I will be working as normal throughout the Christmas recess. I am planning to take December 25th and December 26th off and December 31 st and January 1st. I will continue to answer emails and queries the rest of the time including week-ends as I usually do. I will also continue to run the website throughout the period and welcome contributions from constituents.
My Parliamentary office in London will be operating normal hours and service on 18-21 December, 27 and 28 December, 31 December, and from January 2nd onwards.
On Saturday I wrapped up well against the rain and cold to join the living advent event at Martin and Co on Peach Street.
Those of us attending were made very welcome and invited into the offices to be out of the rain. We enjoyed the spirited singing of Christmas songs. Mia Turner sung well with great enthusiasm.
I would like to thank all involved in organising the string of events for the Christmas build up. The daily free entertainment is another reason to go to the Town Centre and enjoy its shops and facilities.
This series of events is raising money for charity. On Saturday Wade was the beneficiary.
On Thursday the government announced an increase in grants to police forces. Thames Valley will receive an additional £8.8m in general and pensions grants. The Commissioner can also levy up to an additional £24 million to meet budget needs.
Thank you for your email concerning Brexit options. Trying to represent any constituency when opinions are so divided on this important matter is not easy. Clearly an MP has to express one view and cast one vote in any matter to be settled, whilst his constituents have a range of views. In order to come to a judgement I take the following things into account
I do not take into account my own interests, which are irrelevant when exercising the power of voice and vote held as MP, which is held on behalf of the community I represent.
There are now various options being proposed as to how to proceed with the EU. The immediate question relates to Mrs May’s draft Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. I have consulted very widely on this and also have made my own judgement about the wider interest of Wokingham and the nation. It is clear that this Agreement does not suit Leave voters, who do not think it represents what they voted for, nor does it suit a substantial number of Remain voters who rightly worry about leaving us without vote and voice in the EU whilst being partially in it. I therefore oppose this Agreement. Until the government either rejects this Agreement or puts it to a vote in the Commons, it will not be possible for the government to explore other options on how to proceed or for Parliament to vote on such options backed up by government legislation to enact them.
I therefore intend to continue to argue that we need to vote down the Withdrawal Agreement soon, to enable us to think of other ways forward. The Conservative party and the Prime Minister do not favour a second referendum, and we did not include any such proposal in our Manifesto. In order to understand the case for one better I would appreciate it if you could tell me what the question should be in any such vote. It does not seem to me to be much point in putting Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement to a public vote when it looks as if it is opposed by a large majority of MPs. If we had a referendum on Mrs May’s Agreement or staying in Leave voters would feel their option was excluded, and if Mrs May’s Agreement won there would still be difficulties in getting it through the Commons unless Labour then agreed to back it. If we had a re run of Leave or Remain the vote would not necessarily resolve the Parliamentary logjam created by the last referendum on that topic and would lead to demands for a third referendum were Leave to lose.
There are no easy answers when Parliament remains so divided on this issue.
I have talked to the Labour party campaigners collecting signatures in town today to object to the closure of the counters in the current building. They tell me they have now seen a letter saying the Consultation will only be about the facilities in Smiths, and not about the principle of the closure and switch , which was not made clear to me when I contacted them. I will therefore write to the Post Office setting out public objections to the closure and asking them to think again.
I went to thank the Post Office staff for all their hard work delivering the Christmas cards and parcels at the Wokingham Sorting office on Friday morning. They have done a good ,job handling the big volumes so far, and report plenty of packages as people shop on line for some presents.
I asked the Manager for their views on the possible move of the front counters to a retail store and confirmed I will be making representations about that when they share more details with us. The relationship between the Sorting office and the counters is one of the issues a move would raise. Currently we go to the counters to retrieve mail they could not deliver, and they can produce the parcels quickly from the back sorting office.
I lobbied the Minister on behalf of West Berkshire as well as Wokingham, and urged the case for more money for local services and priorities. During the year we got extra money for social care and potholes. In the settlement for 2019-20 the Council will get a boost of 4.2% to spending power, compared to the England average of 2.8%, and a useful increase over inflation.
I have been working hard on the issues around money for local services in Wokingham. During this year I have welcomed favourable responses to requests on potholes and road maintenance, and on social care, where there were particular pressures.
I argued for two main improvements in overall funding for Wokingham for 2019-20. First, I wanted to continue with the business rate retention pilot we have benefitted from this year. The government has confirmed we can do so. Second, I wanted to eliminate the threat of negative grant, and ensure a decent level of settlement for the overall budget.
Yesterday in his statement the Secretary of State said he
“intends to directly eliminate the £152.9m negative rate support grant in 2019-20 using foregone business rates. This will prevent any local authority being subject to a downward adjustment”
As a result Wokingham will see one of the largest increases in spending power, with a gain of 6.3% compared to the England average of 2.8%. I look forward to seeing the improvements in services and the good value Council Tax this should allow.