The Government is
entering that phase in its five year existence when some of the complex pieces
of legislation are being hotly debated in the House of Lords. Such was the fate
of the Welfare Reform Bill which became law last Wednesday and the Health and
Social Care Bill.
Possibly the most
reported part of the Welfare Bill is the £26,000 per household a year cap on
benefits which equates to £35,000 before deductions. Most constituents that
contacted me about it have complained about its generosity and when set against
an average wage in this area of around £20,000 you can see why.
At the General
Election the two most mentioned subjects on the doorstep were what was
repeatedly described as the far too generous benefits system and immigration.
The Government has now brought in caps on both.
The Health Bill is
still in the Upper House. What matters to most people is not which group of
people commission the treatments they require but will it get me better again.
Nothing will change in that treatment will still be free. The arguments have
become too bogged down in structures rather than in why change is needed and
how the proposals will best cater for the challenges that face the NHS over
coming years.
I mentioned the House
of Lords that the Government is set to reform into a mostly-elected assembly.
It's interesting the amount of space this has covered in the press and how much
airtime when most of the reports say that it's a subject that most people are
not interested in.
Of course it doesn't
reckon alongside tax, jobs, energy prices, schools and the Health Service in
most people's day-to-day concerns. But, ask your neighbour whether he or she
would rather be ruled by an unelected quango such as the European Commission or
someone they can vote in and out and I rather suspect the EU commission
wouldn't get too many votes.
As you may well have seen
from last week’s Government minister, Greg Clark visited North East
Lincolnshire. His responsibilities include decentralisation and regeneration –
something that is urgently needed in this area. It is something that must be
led by the private sector, co-ordinated by the Local Enterprise Partnership but
it will need Government resources and the minister was able to offer some
valuable advice when he met local business leaders on what assistance is on
offer and the help that is available from his Department in preparing bids to,
for example, the Regional Growth Fund.
We’ve been fortunate in
recent months to have a succession of ministerial visits over the last eight or
nine months. These can often appear irrelevant and brief and only touching on
the area’s problems but it’s only possible to fully appreciate these problems
if you can relate to the area. After a drive down Freeman Street and
Grimsby/Cleethorpe Roads he can now clearly picture some of the issues facing
North East Lincolnshire. Readers may recall that the same minister also visited
the Killingholme/East Halton in North Lincolnshire only a few months ago so his
knowledge and appreciation of both the problems and possibilities for the area
are imprinted on his mind.
Incidentally, he enjoyed
a fish and chip lunch in Cleethorpes for which he was full of praise!
Finally just an
observation on some of the recent Telegraph correspondence about regeneration
that included talk of moving railway stations, Moving both Grimsby and Cleethorpes
stations has been talked about over the years. Apart from the fact that neither
is feasible because of the costs involved it needs to be recognised that one of
the biggest plus points Cleethorpes has is a railway station right in the heart
of the Town alongside the beach. What could be better. The resort was developed
because the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company extended the
line from Grimsby and, in effect, created the resort. They got it right what is
needed is to improve the journey into the Town and the area around the station.
It’s fanciful to think that finance exists for grandiose schemes. It doesn’t.
