A refreshed government and plans to tackle the big issues
The new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has begun his term in office by laying out his priorities, which are to give people some economic breathing space and tackle the big issues that impact our society.
The Prime Ministers first actions to cap Bus Fares at £2 for all of 2027, cut VAT on energy Bills and to end rough sleeping in the country are a signal that this government is building on the economic growth and stability of the last government to deliver for people in their day to day. I am proud that the Prime Minister is meeting people where they are and will work with him to ensure that this government continues to support people in their day to day lives.
The Prime Minister has also recently discussed three things that I know affect everyone in Swindon North:
The first is Thames Water. I have argued for some time now that the only way to fix the issues customers have had with Thames Water and to invest the sums that will be required to modernise the sewerage and water infrastructure is for the company to be Nationalised. The experiment of privatisation in this area has failed, with infrastructure not being upgraded in line with demand, sewerage being pumped into our rivers and customers experiencing mistake after mistake with their billing all whilst the company spent years providing dividends to shareholders. In my view it is wrong for companies to attempt to profit from such a fundamental as water and because it is such a fundamental the government will never be able to absolve responsibility for its management. I will be working with the government and making the case for nationalisation.
The second is tackling the NEETS crisis. Too many young people find themselves without an opportunity to succeed and I praise the last government for their youth guarantee, but believe we should go further and reduce NI contributions for businesses on employees under 25 and work further with industry to get young people their first job. I read recently that someone who isn’t employed by their early 20’s might not get their first job until their 30’s and not only is that economically harmful it is bad for the individual. We must do more to give people that first opportunity. Locally I’m working with drone companies and others to provide apprenticeships and an improved STEM offer but I hope to work with all kinds of local companies to help young people get into work.
Thirdly, Social Care. The crisis in Social Care, as the Prime Minister noted is comparable to the healthcare system in the US. For too long we’ve relied on individual families tackling an intensely emotional burden without enough support from the State and in the meantime, due to the inefficiency of procuring private care home spaces, local councils are still picking up the tab with it consuming around 80% of the Council’s annual budget and overall costs for Council’s in 2023/24 was £23.3bn and £15.5bn for childcare. This system isn’t fair for the individual nor is it good for local authorities as they’re plunged deeper into debt and raising council tax (a regressive tax) to deal with the rising demand. Therefore, it is right that the Prime Minister has made fixing Social Care one of his priorities and I look forward to taking part in cross-party discussions to find a solution.
That’s it for this months update and as always, if you need support you can reach out at [email protected]