2025: Week 22 - Welfare, Environment and Winter Fuel

I’m looking forward to a positive outcome at the UN Oceans conference in Nice this week after I went to a ‘rewilding the oceans’ event in Parliament last week and the release of David Attenborough’s newest film Ocean. We have a lot to do, but the good news is that the ocean can be quick to heal – if we choose to let it do so.

Back in Newton Abbot, I hosted an event for local charities and organisations to hear their views on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the Government’s plans to change it. This is a scheme designed to help people work or otherwise be independent when they have a long-term health condition or disability.  The consensus was that the changes were more a ‘Pathway to Poverty’ rather than helping people into work.

It is well understood that life is more expensive when you are disabled, and PIP has been designed to help cover those extra costs.  The proposed tightening of the eligibility criteria is barbaric and will only serve to put thousands of people into poverty. 

On top of this the Government are proposing cuts to the Universal Credit element which is paid when a person is unable to work due to ill health.  It seems that Labour is waging a full scale war on the most vulnerable in society. 

Welfare benefits are there to help people when they need it the most, that is a mark of a civilised society, threatening cuts in this way to balance the books is morally wrong and the Government must change its course.

On Saturday I spoke at a Pesticide Free Devon conference, hosted by Our Green Futures.  It was an extremely well attended event and one which gave hope for the future of our environment.  Seeing so many people engaged and fighting for nature was fantastic, and the ideas and solutions discussed were illuminating. 

Also speaking was Guy Singh-Watson of Riverford Organics.  His hugely successful business has the environment and ethics at its heart. He has now signed the business over to be 100% employee owned.  Riverford is constantly striving to improve sustainability and biodiversity, including ideas to utilise land that is no longer suitable for farming “traditional” crops. 

Riverford is a great example of how business can be both successful and ethical, something I am keen to champion with my private members bill which seeks to amend the duties of company directors to consider not just the shareholders interests, but also include the employees and the environment as well.

And finally, the Government have seen sense and reinstated the winter fuel allowance for the majority of pensioners.  Removing this allowance was a huge mistake, one which has cost them dearly at the recent local elections. 

Lib Dems have been challenging the Government on this policy since it was announced, and we are delighted to see it go, however there is much more still to do…