2025: Week 19 - UK / EU Reset

Last week saw the welcome news that the Government has strengthened our relationship with the EU with a renewed deal which encompasses trade, travel and collaboration.  The deal marks a positive and important step in beginning to reverse the damage caused by the Conservatives’ botched deal with Europe, but the Government must treat this as a stepping stone towards a much deeper economic and security partnership with the EU, not as the final step. Naysayers and dinosaurs in Reform UK and the Conservative party must be ignored, and the Government must be ambitious to get the best deal possible for the UK.  Doing this, which includes negotiating a bespoke UK-EU customs union, would be the single biggest thing Ministers could do to boost growth and fix the public finances. 

In regards to the deal made around fishing, we knew that the EU would look to play hardball in these negotiations, and it seems the result has been to extend the arrangement negotiated by the Conservatives by a further 12 years.  If the Government had been more ambitious from the outset in pushing for a bespoke customs unions, we could have secured much broader benefits. While it’s a positive that a comprehensive agreement has been reached across trade and defence, the Government now has to work with our fishing industry to understand how it will be impacted by this extension.  At the very least, the Government must secure better terms for British fishers exporting to the continent, who currently face crippling barriers. 

We also heard this week that the Government have admitted that the Winter Fuel Payment threshold needs to be “looked at” which is clearly a U-turn.  Obviously we need to hear exactly what the Government are planning and we won’t get that detail until the Autumn, but it is an absolute disgrace that it has taken them nearly a year and a set of disastrous local election results for them to admit they made a mistake.  I’m hoping that this is the first step towards a Government measuring the tone of the nation and realising that their almost constant attacks on the most vulnerable in our society is not the way to go, and that they must look at the most wealthy to pay their fair share. 

Closer to home I’ve had some interesting meetings with the Environment Agency to discuss drainage and maintenance issues of the by-wash in Teigngrace, and also wider water management around the Teigngrace area in general.  These are hugely important issues to mitigate and prevent any future flooding risks around the wider Newton Abbot area, and I will continue to advocate for this area and push the Environment Agency to ensure long term resilience for the area. 

Finally, it has been half term for most this week, our constituency is starting to welcome visitors and holiday makers for the season and despite various essential work projects occurring throughout the area it is very heartening to see how positive the residents and their councils are being in promoting their towns and parishes and coming up with alternative ways to keep everyone entertained.