2025: Week 39 - Middle East, LGR and English Devolution
Has Donald Trump made an end to war in the Middle East as he is claiming? I’m not sure, but he has certainly brought about a long overdue ceasefire, and I’m pleased about that.
The war in Gaza has been pretty much the top issue in my inbox continuously for the last year. The horrendous events of October 7th compounded by the horrendous over-reaction response have been an ongoing nightmare scenario in the Middle East.
Without doubt Hamas committed the worst atrocity seen for many years. Also, without doubt the Israeli Government of Netanyahu committed acts of genocide in response.
It is a good start, but the road to peace will be long and full of potential stumbles. The twenty point peace plan is undoubtedly not sufficient to get a stable peace. We could question why opportunities for peace failed before, or why Trump hadn’t intervened before?
However, I prefer to look to the brighter side now that the bombs and rockets have stopped, and hopefully the aid trucks will start rolling in to help the starving millions of innocent civilians in Gaza.
The real hard work starts now, real dialogue and negotiations with someone you have seen as a bitter enemy not only for a recent war but for untold generations requires determination to reach peace.
This week we return to Parliament and I think it will be a busy session. Next month we have the deadline for the council submissions for the local government reorganisation, and our councils locally don’t have a unified plan. Offering up multiple different and conflicting plans to the Government will simply cause them to make an arbitrary decision – that probably no-one will like.
We don’t yet know when the Government decisions will be announced, but I’ve been told to expect something in the Spring. In the meantime, we will have the English devolution bill going through committee – and I will be pushing to introduce the idea that councils should provide sufficient public toilets as a legal obligation.
The bill as it stands doesn’t do enough to keep decisions local – it risks new big councils deciding issues from afar, and with fewer councillors to make local cases.
Speaking of local Councillors, I would like to welcome Cllr Kevin Smith for Kenn Valley to Teignbridge District Council. With over 50% of the vote, Kevin’s election lights the way to a brighter, hopeful future.