The Queen's Speech

Parliament has just begun what those in Westminster term a “new session” following the Queen’s Speech yesterday which set out the main legislative priorities for the government over next eighteen months or so. Top of the government’s priorities will be proposals aimed at getting the economy moving again and spur growth by making it easier for people to set up their own business and easier for existing businesses to expand. But the run up to this year’s Queen’s Speech was dominated by speculation about whether or not there would be a Bill to reform of the House of Lords. It is an issue that is way down the list of priorities for most people across the country. One recent poll of 1000 people showed that the number of people wanting Lords reform was a big fat 0! I think we need to tread with care when meddling with our constitution. There is actually more to democracy than just politicians and elections. For instance, you need an independent judiciary, an independent police force and the rule of law. When it comes to the House of Lords, it is not there to create policy but just to amend and scrutinise the policy of an elected government in the House of Commons. I think the relationship between the two houses should be a bit like that between a father and son. The House of Lords should be different to the House of Commons with people who have a life time’s experience in their field and who have some wisdom to offer. At a time when most people enter parliament in their 20s or 30’s, we should nurture a place for experience within our constitution. But if you had an elected House of Lords, you would lose that. The twenty something politicians who failed to get elected as MPs would stand for the House of Lords instead. The election would be decided on a PR system like we have in the European Parliament where political party managers decide who is at the top of their list. Worst of all, the system proposed would not even allow Lords to be thrown out if they failed. They want you to vote them in for a fixed term of 15 years but deny you the chance to vote them out if they failed. What is the point of an election if you can’t even fire them? The House of Lords is not perfect and I would support some changes. You could reduce its size, limit the duration of their tenure and broaden the nomination criteria with roles reserved for former chiefs of the armed forces, leading surgeons, retired head teachers and senior charity workers. But let’s not reduce it to a joke like the European Parliament. George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Trevithick Day

We were lucky with the weather at Trevithick Day this year. Despite the forecast and the fact that it appeared to be threatening to rain for most of the afternoon, everyone stayed dry and all the parades went well. I made Richard Trevithick the central theme of my maiden speech to parliament. His achievements were extraordinary and a reminder of what Camborne contributed to the development of modern engineering. The replica of the Puffing Devil is always the star of the show and this year was no exception. It is worth remembering that events like Trevithick Day are only made possible because of the work of dedicated volunteers from groups like the Trevithick Society. Also helping at Trevithick Day were fifteen members of the Camborne branch of the Police Cadets. I met Ben Davies, one of the cadets, during a visit to Camborne Police station on Friday for a briefing on some of the excellent work that volunteers are doing to support the work of our police locally. I have been really encouraged to see the renewal and growth of branches of the Police Cadets. The Camborne branch now has some 28 members and has been going from strength to strength in recent years. I have always felt that, if we want to bring policing closer to the community, we should start with the next generation. Wouldn’t it be good if young people left school feeling an affinity towards their local police force because they had actually been involved? Neighbourhood Watch schemes were established some thirty years ago to ensure a much stronger involvement from local communities in tackling crime but, today, the work of volunteers goes well beyond the activities that people traditionally associate with Neighbourhood Watch schemes. I met three volunteer drivers, John, Ben and John, who give up their own time in retirement to help drive police officers around for meetings and appearances at court. They drive unmarked police cars and their work enables the police to make far more effective use of a smaller fleet of cars. Rather than having one car parked all day and unused, the network of volunteers work on shifts to ferry the police between meetings and court appearances to maximise the use of the unmarked vehicles based in Cornwall. Then there is the work of the local Neighbourhood Watch coordinators and I met Adam, Pam and June who are all longstanding volunteers who take a lead in bringing together local groups and organising meetings where people can share local concerns. The introduction of community police officers has strengthened ties between local communities and has also enabled Neighbourhood Watch groups to expand and become stronger. Many of those who help have retired but feel they have more to contribute to society. Why not volunteer to support your local police? To find out more contact Sergeant Steve Parr on 01209 611379 or email steven.parr@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk

Heartlands

Last Friday I attended the launch of Heartlands at Pool. The weather was a little unsettled for the parade, which was supported by over 800 young people from local schools, but nothing could dampen spirits among those present. This is an extraordinary success story which is a tribute to the perseverance of all those involved over the last ten years. The contribution that this part of Cornwall made to mining around the world is second to none and is celebrated at Heartlands. There is something for everyone, ranging from the best adventure playground I have ever seen, which was partly designed by students at Pool School, to the Diaspora Botanical Gardens which have a number of themed gardens with plants from around the world to signify the journey that Cornish miners took in the late 19th century to areas as diverse as the United States, South America, New Zealand and South Africa. Then there is a 270 degree film projection which tells the story of Cornish mining and many other attractions, including a modern depiction of the Red River. But this site is not just a tourist attraction. There is also workspace for small businesses and a plan for a regular farmers’ market. There are also some amazing conferencing facilities and a mixture of housing for local people. Those behind this project always wanted it to be something first and foremost for the local community but which would also become an attraction for those outside our towns and, judging by the local support they enjoyed on Friday and the weekend, they have got the balance just right. In the speeches on the opening evening, the one thing that stood out was that this project was very much a joint effort and lots of people played a role along the way. Many of the current trustees have been involved from the very start. Malcolm Moyle has been there from the very conception of the idea to its launch and his work is still not done! So he deserves a special mention. Then there was consistent support from Cornwall councillors such as Carolyn Rule and others from the former Kerrier District Council who got the ball rolling. Local schools were also fully engaged and students from Pool School contributed to the design of the adventure play area. Scott James, the project manager from Cornwall Council was also involved from an early stage and took responsibility for delivering the project with the support of what was clearly a very able team. This project received significant public funding, especially from the National Lottery Heritage Fund but I think it will have enormous value to the local community and is a major confidence boost to the area which I very much hope will spread. George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Defending the rights of those who take risks

Those who put their own money on the line to set up a business are the lifeblood of a free market economy and when they give a bank security over their assets, they have a special right to be treated honourably. But most entrepreneurs need to discover how to lose money before they learn how to make money.

Sometimes, the failure of a business will be terminal and liquidation can be the right option. But, very often, a business that hits hard times can emerge from the other side of its troubles stronger than ever. But the value of experiencing failure can only be realised if the business is given the chance to survive. So this week, I published a policy paper that set out proposals to rebalance the law in favour of small businesses.

America has always had a better attitude towards failure than Britain. There, companies can file with a federal bankruptcy court for protection under what is termed “Chapter 11” where the focus is on trying to save the business. The UK law on bankruptcy was reformed in 2002 to borrow some aspects from the US system. Under the new form of “administration”, there is some protection from the court and the emphasis is on trying to hold a company together until it can be restructured or sold as a going concern.

But there remains one giant hole in the UK system: it doesn’t cover smaller businesses. Receivers appointed to small businesses under the Law of Property Act (LPA Receivers) are totally unregulated and, in many ways, behave like the discredited, old style receivers that the government thought it had abolished ten years ago. The banks hold all the cards and frequently exploit their bargaining position to bully their small business customers into accepting higher interest charges or less favourable terms.

The original Law of Property Act 1925 envisaged that receivers would simply receive income from the assets over which they were appointed. It also said that their fees should be limited to 5 percent of the income they received. However, clever lawyers working for banks have constantly undermined the original intention of the law. They use their “standard terms and conditions” to give receivers general powers of sale and to rack up unacceptable charges. They have seized new rights for themselves through their standard terms and conditions and it is totally unacceptable.

To make matters worse, many of the high street banks pay “permanent retainers” to the most able law firms which prevent the best lawyers from acting against the banks. It’s all a bit of a stitch up and I think it’s time to place limits on the powers of the banks and their receivers and to stand up for smaller businesses.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Hayle set for recovery

My number one priority for this area is economic regeneration. We need to attract new industries to create better paid jobs for the future and we need action to sort out derelict land and get our towns moving again.

There has been some good news regarding Hayle recently. The application to restore the harbour area to its former glory had its share of objectors but has now been given a green light by government. The plans were supported unanimously by Hayle Town Council and also approved by Cornwall Council last autumn but bureaucrats based up at English Heritage attempted to block the scheme for reasons which fell apart under scrutiny.

I came out in support of regenerating Hayle from the start. One of the first things I did as an MP was lobby the government for the £5 million of funding that would enable the development of North Quay and the new bridge to be built. A couple of weeks ago, concrete mixers worked throughout the day to complete the most sensitive phase of the bridge construction and things are really starting to take shape. The new work on North Quay will create light industrial units to support the Wave Hub project along with housing and possibly some retail space.

I also came out over a year ago in support of the ING proposal to restore South Quay. This has been a controversial scheme and there were many supermarkets touting rival bids elsewhere, including one on Hayle Rugby Club. The easy thing for a politician to do with contentious issues is sit on their hands and try not to get involved but the right thing to do is to weigh up all the arguments from all sides and then exercise judgement and help the community reach a final decision.

My view was that, if we are going to have another supermarket in Hayle, then let’s build it right in the centre where it will bring life in to the town rather than drain life away. And let’s also demand that the supermarket pays for the works needed to restore the harbour walls and reintroduce working sluicing gates to help maintain a clear channel out of the harbour without the need for so much dredging. The plans for South Quay will also create other retail space on the quay such as restaurants and coffee shops and the final design was striking but in keeping with the industrial history of the site.

These are exciting times for Hayle. Within two years the town could be transformed and there could be more to come. One idea I have been pushing is the establishment of a new shuttle boat service or possibly even a small hovercraft between St Ives and Hayle so that we can bring more people in to town.

George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Protecting Pasties

The government has experienced a difficult week to say the least. Media sentiment towards governments is a bit like the weather and can certainly change as quickly. When it rains, it pours and nothing you do goes right.

In Cornwall, the row over VAT on pasties reflects a genuine problem. But it is not enough to just talk about problems, the most important thing is to try to come up with solutions. Once the initial storm dies down, politicians must roll up their sleeves and do the serious thinking required to identify a policy solution to this dilemma and that is why I have spent the last week meeting some of the pasty producers in Camborne and Redruth to try to identify a way forward.

The government was initially trying to close a loop hole being exploited by supermarkets to cook hot, spit roasted chickens but then claim these did not attract VAT. Some cafes and fish and chip outlets complained that if they did a takeaway chicken they would be charged VAT but supermarkets seemed to get away with it. Supermarkets were the intended target of the proposal.

However, the law of unintended consequences means that the Cornish pasty has ended up dragged into the argument and that was a mistake. There is also a difference between the Yorkshire pies and slices sold by companies like Greggs and the Cornish pasty. Greggs pies are sold so hot that they sometimes burn your mouth but Cornish pasties are at their best when they have been allowed to cool and are just gently warmed so that the full flavour comes through. That is how the best bakeries sell them and this needs to be recognised and understood in the VAT system in my view.

The current government proposals contain an exemption for bread. What if we were to simply extend that exemption to cover “bakery products”? That would deal with the supermarkets who have pushed their luck too far with spit roasted chickens but spare the pasty from VAT. We could also bring more clarity to what is meant by “ambient temperature” which is vague. A tweak in that area might allow warm pasties from Cornwall to continue to be sold without VAT.

This part of Cornwall is the home of the Cornish pasty. Its origins date back to the mining industry in the Redruth area and, even today, the best pasties are made here. I want to work with local pasty producers to try to identify a way forward and to develop the strongest possible submission to put to the Treasury during their consultation so that we can get this proposal changed.

George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Budget

Last week’s budget showed the challenge of coalition government. Both parties need to make space for frank discussion without the contents leaking like a sieve. The widespread leaking of budget measures before the day has not been helpful to building trust within the coalition.

But the budget itself had a great deal of good news for Cornwall. The increase in the tax threshold was a huge boost for the local economy lifting everyone earning under £9200 out of tax altogether and slashing the tax take from everyone else. I have always felt that it is ludicrous the way we take tax off people who are working only to return it to them again in benefits with a whole load of strings attached, so this move to simply things and take the lowest earners out of tax altogether was incredibly welcome.

There has been a lot of controversy over the proposed reforms of the VAT regime for hot takeaway food and there is a great deal of concern over the impact this might have on Cornish pasties. It is another of those issues where all MPs in Cornwall, regardless of party, must work together to try to get common sense to prevail and to prevent any damage being done to this vital Cornish industry. There is a consultation underway and we have to ensure that Cornwall’s voice is heard.

The budget also had some good news for local businesses. If we want to get this country out of the hole it is in, we need to support businesses and encourage them to locate in Cornwall and expand their operations here. The reduction in Corporation Tax will attract outside investment and there were also plans to support lending to small businesses. There was also an expansion in support for those businesses which want to export and find new markets overseas which I was especially pleased to see.

Finally, at a more local level, I want to pay tribute to the fantastic work of CPR Regeneration over the last few years. This has been a great success story locally but their project ends this month. The idea was conceived under the last Conservative government in the late 90’s but it has had cross party support ever since. Over the last three years, I have been incredibly impressed by Nigel Tipple and the rest of his team and their achievements. They have really delivered and a lot of important projects are about to come to fruition, such as the Camborne to Redruth new link road. As an MP, you have to get used to wading through treacle to get anything done, but those long suffering individuals who make economic regeneration their passion, have to wade through concrete to make things happen and we should take our hats off to them.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Celebrating Cornish Manufacturing

Ever since the banking crisis of 2008, everyone has realised that we need to rebalance our economy away from and over dependence on financial services. Ten years ago, it was fashionable in some circles to say that the British economy no longer needed manufacturing and that service industries were the future. It is now clear that such complacency was completely wrong. We need to make things again in order to generate the wealth for the future. Service industries like banking and the legal professions depend on businesses that actually add value and generate income.

The switch of emphasis towards manufacturing will eventually feed through into an economic revival in those regions of the country, including Camborne and Redruth, which have traditionally been centres of excellence for industry and engineering. That can't come a moment too soon for me because the truth is that this part of Cornwall has struggled to regain its confidence since the loss of major manufacturers like Holman Brothers.

It is worth remembering that, despite being overlooked in recent decades, Britain remains a centre of excellence in many manufacturing sectors. GSK, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company, is British. In engineering, there are world beating companies like Rolls-Royce and British Aerospace. Although most British car companies have now fallen into foreign ownership, it is a little known fact that Britain manufactures more cars today than at any time in its history. Then there are those companies, like JCB, in more traditional engineering sectors which have bucked the trend and remain international leaders in their field and have become stronger over the last twenty years.

Last week I visited Teagle Farm machinery at Blackwater. This is a great example of a Cornish success story and is our answer to JCB. It, too, is a world leader in its sector. Like JCB, it remains a private company owned by the same Teagle family who founded it. The number of staff employed has more than doubled in the last ten years to 150 people. More than half of everything the company makes is exported as far afield as Japan, the US and eastern Europe. It has achieved success by achieving the highest standards and by constantly reinvesting in research and development to create new designs which offer engineering solutions to the challenges of modem farming.

I would like to see more support for manufacturing businesses. I think there is a danger that all the support goes to business sectors which are fashionable and tick the box for government departments. But we need to be more willing to lend a hand to those companies which have a proven track record and might achieve a lot more with some targeted help on things like developing export markets and research and development.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

The case for Redruth

A few years ago I received an unexpected email addressed to a George Eustice which proceeded to talk as someone who thought they were my daughter and asked about the rest of the family home in South Africa. I should make clear that I do not have a secret daughter and so, in my reply, pointed out that there had obviously been some mistake in the email address but added for good measure that most Eustices (spelt with an ‘i’) originated from Cornwall so we might well be related. “Yes” was the reply, “my grandfather always talked about Redruth.”

I have always argued that we could make more of our amazing history and industrial heritage in this part of Cornwall to promote ourselves around the world. It is estimated that the world wide Cornish diaspora could number as many as seven million people. In the late 19th century, tens of thousands of Cornishmen left their homes to build the new world and today they can be found as far afield as South Africa, Australia, the US and Mexico.

No Cornish town contributed more to the building of the new world than Redruth. Research by the Cornish Migration Project suggests that a quarter of all the Cornishmen to leave came from the Redruth area which, at the time, was the global financial centre for metals trading and was pioneering the mining technologies that would be used throughout the world.

There are currently proposals to establish a new Cornish Archive which would be a centre for many ancient manuscripts and old photographs and a history resource for the whole county. Redruth is the obvious place to locate such a facility. Firstly, the town is already a trail blazer for Cornish culture and history. The Cornish Studies Library based in the town is a fantastic resource for those studying all things Cornish with an amazing library of photographs. Secondly, the town is also home to Murdoch House and the Cornish Migration Project which helps thousands of people trace their roots back to Cornwall. Thirdly, the town is developing a lead within Cornwall for culture and the creative industries. Krowji, Cornwall’s largest creative cluster goes from strength to strength and just outside Redruth, work to develop a huge audio-visual resource of old Cornish photographs made available online is being pioneered by local firm Azook.

I have been impressed by the way the whole town has pulled together to try to bring this project into the area. Redruth has an abundance of potential sites for the new Cornish Archive but I hope it might be possible to use the project as a way of kick starting the wider regeneration of the town by locating it on the old brewery site to get that part of Redruth moving again.

George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Safer Camborne Project

Last Friday I went out on patrol with the police in Camborne to see first-hand some of the excellent work they have been involved in trying to tackle alcohol abuse in the town. The Safer Camborne Project is a great example of different agencies in the community working together to deal with a common problem. Launched at the beginning of the year to tackle local concerns about anti-social behaviour in the town, it brings together church groups, homelessness charities, the police, the pubs and local retailers to create a joined up approach.

It starts with responsible retailers. The police had started to notice that certain high alcohol ciders and beers were particularly associated with street drinking. For instance Frosty Jack, which has a 7.5 percent alcohol volume and was being sold in three litre bottles, was often the drink of choice for those with alcohol problems because of its very low cost per unit. So retailers in the town, including Tesco, came together and agreed to withdraw this drink from their shelves. Some retailers, such as Costcutter, have gone further and reviewed the whole range of drinks they stock.

Next, the pubs have a role to play. There has been some great progress in this area in Camborne in recent years and the pubs are really doing their bit. It starts with developing a closer relationship between pubs and the police so that landlords don’t fear that if they flag up a problem, it might count against them when their licence is next up for review. Instead, those who work with the police to tackle problem drinking should receive extra credit when it comes to renewing their licence. Initiatives range from barring problem drinkers from all the pubs in Camborne to giving assertiveness training to staff so that they are more willing to refuse to sell alcohol to those who have already had enough.

The Police have done their bit by targeting those who are causing the most problems and are really focusing on preventing street drinking. They are also much more visible around the town earlier in the evening and spend time in the pubs so that they can detect potential problems much earlier. Their very presence earlier in the evening can make people think about their actions, strengthen the authority of staff in pubs and deter problem behaviour later at night.

Finally, it can’t all be about tough crack downs. We have to recognise that associated with severe alcohol abuse is a lot of vulnerability. When people’s lives fall apart, for whatever reason, there need to be groups there ready to lend a hand and help people put things back together again. That is where local churches and homelessness charities are playing their part.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

The confidence to work

Work is learnt at a young age. That is why I am a supporter of the scheme the government has announced to give young people leaving school some experience of a working environment. I think it is a betrayal of the interests of those young people that some hard left pressure groups have sought to intimidate companies who are participating in a scheme that is ultimately about offering a helping hand to the next generation.

The idea is very simple. It’s a voluntary scheme to help teenagers get some experience of work. They would be able to try a placement for a few days and then, if they liked it, commit to doing a further four weeks unpaid work experience there with some training. The allegation by the Socialist Workers Party that this is tantamount “slave labour” is absolute rubbish. The companies involved would actually be spending time and money taking young people under their wing for a few weeks and giving them a break in life. It was a good thing for them to have agreed to do and they should have been commended for it, not vilified.

Some said it was wrong to insist on a commitment for four weeks after the initial trial period of a few days but one of the things about joining a workplace is that it is a commitment. You need people to turn up in the morning, learn to be relied upon and become part of the team. If the idea of the scheme is to prepare young people for work, then commitment is one of the things they should learn.

I think there has been a damaging drift in recent years towards young people starting work too late. It is good that more people stay on in education beyond 16 and I am pleased that more people are going to university. But staying in education should not preclude learning to work. I think it is important for teenagers to get a weekend job at a much younger age.

Having a part time job can help boost the confidence of a young teenager. It can also give them some money of their own so it’s not just those with wealthy parents who have the smart clothes out of school. I left school at 15 and then studied part time while working on the farm but I had worked during school holidays for years before that. But, in the name of “progress”, the law has made it harder for 14 and 15 year olds to take a weekend job by creating bureaucratic obstacles which make it difficult for small businesses who might have previously found some work for teenagers to give them that start in life. That is a backwards step in my view.

George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Develop brownfield sites first

The last government ended up in a right pickle over planning policy. Rather than engage local communities, they dictated house building targets from Whitehall, saying that 11,000 new homes would be built in Camborne and Redruth alone. Power was taken away from local councils and transferred to unelected regional quangos which led to a huge public backlash.

The new government has done much to return powers to local people. Regional Spatial Strategies were abolished within days and Councils were invited to develop their own plans. One thousand pages of centralised policy guidance is being streamlined with more control given to local councils. To ensure that councils listen to their communities there are new powers to enable parish councils or other groups to design their own “neighbourhood plans” which, if supported in a referendum, will have legal status in planning law.

At the beginning of this year, Cornwall Council published a consultation document for its “core strategy” on planning between now and 2030. The number of new houses planned in Camborne and Redruth has almost been cut in half to around 300 houses per year and most of the focus is now on building on derelict brownfield sites. The plan is a major improvement on what went before but I still think there is room for further improvement and this was the topic of discussion at a recent meeting of the Trelawny Alliance in Camborne.

There is no doubt that we have a shortage of housing and every week I have people struggling to find a suitable home approach me for help. However, the government is pursuing a number of other policies that may ease the pressure on our existing housing stock and these should also be factored in. First, there is a new £100 million fund to bring empty homes back in to use. Secondly, changes to the way housing benefit is paid will encourage people who have a house bigger than their needs to downsize and make way for a young family. Finally, banks and building societies will now be forced to pay council tax on homes they repossess so they have a strong incentive to get homes occupied again.

One of the problems about the future is that it is difficult to predict. That is why I have argued for two key amendments to the plan for Camborne and Redruth. First, there should be a principle of building on brownfield before greenfield sites. Secondly, there should be a delay in developing any greenfield sites until a mid-term review has been completed in ten years time. That would be a chance to take stock and reassess housing need and it would ensure that developers don’t cherry pick easy to develop greenfield sites while leaving the old derelict sites in a mess.

George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Religion and Politics

“Never discuss religion or politics” is the timeless advice to those who want to avoid causing offence or controversy but occasionally something happens which means you have to discuss both at the same time. Last week, in an extraordinary judgement, Justice Ouseley ruled that Bideford Council had no legal right to hold prayers before council meetings.

The government immediately made clear that the decision was flawed and that provisions contained in the New Localism Act, which comes into force within weeks, will overrule the judgement because they give councils what is called a general power of competence. Rather than having to be given permission in law before being allowed to do something, as the judge in this case insisted they must, in future councils will be free to do anything they like provided it is not forbidden in law. That includes saying prayers if they want to.

Every day, both the House of Commons and House of Lords hold prayers before debates commence. It is a practice rightly repeated in council chambers up and down the country. Regardless of how religious individual MPs or councillors might be, prayers before parliament sits are a crucial recognition that we have our own independent Church of England established as part of the state with the Queen at its head. One of the crucial things about the British constitution is that it has evolved in a way that guarantees our absolute independence as a nation and an established church is part of that.

Britain has an admirable history of religious tolerance. Having an established Church of England does not mean that we oppose other faiths. A few years ago I worked with a project that aimed to improve links between the Conservative Party and the Muslim community. That year, I received more Christmas cards from Muslims than I did from Christians. Nor does it mean that religion is used in politics. The US does not have an established church like Britain but presidential candidates will frequently play the card of religion during elections to try to garner support in religious areas. That does not happen in Britain where we maintain a dignified separation of religion and party politics even though, or perhaps because, both parliament and the church swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen.

I sometimes receive letters from practicing Christians who feel that their beliefs and rights are being undermined. Parliament frequently has to wrestle with difficult issues where there is a clash of rights. But we are a Christian country and, while I am not devout myself and, like many others, don’t go to church as often as I should, I do think we should take a stand for the right to say prayers.

George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

"Go to town"

The West Briton and Cornishman are to be commended on their new “Go to town” campaign which aims to get people shopping in our towns again. There has been much debate about what can be done to save our town centres, but there is one simple truism, “use them or lose them” so we all have a role to play.
Two years ago I organised a local conference to discuss some of the issues. Conscious that such events are often attended primarily by councillors and local government officials, I walked through Camborne, Redruth and Hayle going in to shops to discuss their concerns.
Three key issues repeatedly came up. The first was that the term “town centre regeneration” had negative connotations for a large number of small retailers. This surprised me but the reason is that, all too often in the past, insufficient thought was given to the disruptive impact of one way systems, pedestrianisation schemes and the like. In Redruth, for example, the old County Council decided to resurface the car park gradually, in between other jobs. As a result, it took six months to sort out the main car park in the town, which had a hugely detrimental effect on trade. So we must apply the principle, “First, do no harm.”
The second major issue to come up was car parking. Most small retailers recognise that the single biggest reason they cannot compete with supermarkets is that supermarkets can offer free car parking. I always remember the managing director of one of our large retailers saying that if a survey is conducted of the public, they will say that they want a picture postcard high street with a fishmonger and a butcher, but when it comes to how they vote with their wallets, 97% do their grocery shopping at a supermarket because they want to open the boot, load everything in and go home. We need to consider the issue of parking and I want to see Cornwall Council using the new retained business rates the government is giving them to offer more free car parking.
The third issue was business rates. I think it is a crying shame to see small retailers and new business who take huge pride in their shops snuffed out because the rigidities of the business rate system means they go backwards, losing money month after month. I think we need to look at ways of making our business rate system much more flexible so that we can give more breaks to new businesses that are doing a good job and that, given the time, could achieve so much more and really bring new life to our towns.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Welfare Reform

This week the government’s welfare reform proposals came back to the House of Commons after a bumpy debate in the House of Lords. I think that dealing with the problem of welfare dependency is one of the most important priorities for the government because it’s one of the ways that you improve the life chances of the next generation. The evidence is clear that having a working role model in the family is one of the key determinants of a child’s life chances.

It is why I simply cannot understand why certain members of the House of Lords have objected to the idea of capping benefits at the average amount of money earned by working families. The proposal is to cap the total benefits that any one household can earn at £26,000 per year. That is still a lot of money, amounting £500 a week. It would be the equivalent income after tax of someone in a job being paid a salary of £35,000 per year. What sort of message does it send to people working hard to support their family, sometimes on the minimum wage, that there are other families who don’t work at all but who are taking home more money and living in a home that many working people could not afford? It may be controversial, but we need to start taking concrete steps to get the right incentives in the welfare system.

Another dispiriting problem I sometimes come across is where people tell me that they can only work, say, 16 hours a week because, if they do more than that they lose their various benefits and tax credits and end up worse off. It is not their fault, but something is wrong with the system. We need to make work pay. The government is planning to radically simplify our benefits system, merging many different types of benefit into one single Universal Credit where the support paid is tapered so that it will always pay to take a job, work longer hours and take a full time rather than part time job.

There are also moves to reform Housing Benefit which has been spiralling up in cost in recent years and in many instances has actually driven up rent levels in the private market making it even harder for people working to afford their own home. The reform aims to reduce rents at the lower end of the market by allowing councils to pay Housing Benefit directly to private landlords if those landlords agree to cut their rents. That means the landlords are given some security in return for accepting less money.

It is not easy delivering welfare reform against a backdrop of a difficult job market but it is important that we make a start, and alongside benefit changes give people the right support to get a job.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Marine Energy Park

I have been arguing for two years that if the country wants to generate electricity from the sea then they should build it where the waves are. This week, the government announced that Cornwall would be the location of the UK’s first Marine Energy Park. It’s an important achievement for Hayle because Wave Hub and the new industrial units currently under construction on the North Quay will be the crucial ingredient of this new industry.
About 25% of all the wave and tidal technology development in the world is happening in Britain and now Hayle is at the heart of it. Cornwall’s marine resource is second to none with a powerful Atlantic swell but not so powerful that the sea’s energy cannot be harnessed. It has been estimated that wave power could eventually meet 15% to 20% of Britain’s power needs producing enough electricity to power 11 million homes. There is also economic potential. If wave power succeeds, the industry could be worth £2 billion by 2050 creating more than 16,000 jobs. Some estimates suggest that the wave and tidal power industries together might provide as many as 10,000 jobs by as early as 2020.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This will not happen overnight because it is an embryonic industry. There is no shortage of things that can go wrong and many obstacles remain. We now need to focus on the hard work of making this industry a success. Firstly, we need to get pioneering electricity generators to choose Cornwall and plug their wave devices into Wave Hub. We must ensure that there is financial support to help them through the research and development phase. That is why Hayle should have first call on the new £10 million development fund created by the government to progress wave power technologies.
Secondly, it is hard enough getting new industries off the ground without having bureaucratic burdens on top of everything else. So we need to be willing to simplify the myriad of risk assessments and licensing processes that so often kill good ideas before they can even begin. Finally, we need to link up the ground breaking academic work going on at the University at Tremough with the pioneers who will be developing devices at Hayle.
I have been concerned that in the last ten years, Scotland has been doing more to encourage this industry than the British government but that is now changing. Last year, the government increased the subsidy it pays to developers in Cornwall – so that they now match what is paid in Scotland. This latest decision to designate Cornwall as the first Marine Energy Park means that we have now overtaken Scotland as the UK’s leading centre for wave energy, so let’s make it a success.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Regional Policy

It was Michael Heseltine who proved that government action could help create the conditions for economic revival in the regions with major successes in areas like Docklands in London and in Liverpool. There were even policies at the time to encourage major manufacturers like Pall in Redruth to invest in Cornwall.

A successful regional policy is incredibly important to the far South West because action is needed to create new industries and higher paid jobs. In the last decade, the UK has largely contracted out regional economic policy to the EU. There have undoubtedly been some successes, particularly in Cornwall. The new university at Tremough and high speed broadband to name just two examples.

However, some EU programmes have been restrictive and employers in some sectors complain that they are not considered fashionable enough to qualify for grants. We must also remember that there is no such thing as EU money. Since 2007, Britain has paid in £30 billion towards EU structural funds and received just £9 billion back. We simply get some of our own money back. Analysis by Open Europe concludes that if we repatriated regional policy to the UK government, Cornwall could receive an extra £207 million in funding over the next seven years.

Some say they prefer the devil they know and are frightened of change. But this is no time to bury our heads in the sand. The EU is a declining institution. The euro is no longer a viable currency and will face further tests this year. Some EU leaders have even said that the collapse of the euro would mean the end of the EU. I don’t think that will happen but the EU will face major cuts to its budget. Here in the South West, we need contingency plans to protect our economic interests.

One idea is to put all the extra funding that Britain would have if structural funds were repatriated into a second pillar of the Regional Growth Fund specifically targeted at areas like Cornwall but with less bureaucracy. It’s an interesting idea which could be right for the future.

ENDS

BBC

In difficult times, every organisation needs to think carefully about how much money it is spending and where it might be able to make savings. It is why last year the government made clear to the BBC that it expected it to freeze the TV Licence Fee for the next few years. I think this is important because families have a lot of pressures on their incomes and, in the current environment, it would not be fair to expect people to pay an even higher TV Licence Fee.

I have always been a supporter of the BBC. I actually think it is an important British institution. Sure, there are times when I can disagree with its coverage of certain political issues but I do think that BBC journalists make a genuine attempt to be impartial and the BBC certainly devotes time and resources to giving coverage to political issues and informing public debate in a way that is the envy of the rest of the world and which we should cherish. Our broadcasters, including the BBC, have an important role to play alongside a robust and questioning newspaper industry. Without the mass media providing a platform for local and national debate, public engagement would decline and democracy itself would be severely weakened.

But it is important that any savings are made in the right areas and that the BBC does not just pick on soft targets and cut services in areas which have less clout within the organisation and so struggle to get their voices heard. Last summer, the BBC published some draft proposals for the savings it would make and has been consulting on them ever since. I have been very concerned that local radio was being unfairly singled out for more than its fair share of cuts and have made this case to several senior policy makers within the BBC. The further you get from London, the more important both local newspapers and local radio become and Radio Cornwall has one of the strongest and most loyal audiences of any local radio station in the country.

The BBC is the largest broadcaster in the world. It employs 23,000 people and has a budget of over £3.5 billion. Of that budget, around £2.5 billion is spent of TV and just £600m on radio. Of that £600 million on radio, little more than £150 million is actually spent on all the local radio stations in the whole country. Radio Cornwall costs a fraction of the amount spent on Radio Wales. I think the BBC needs to find a way of putting money back in to the budget of local radio and instead find additional savings from its vast national TV budget. They could possibly start with some of the huge salaries paid to celebrity TV presenters.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Curbing senior salaries

David Cameron started the political year with a tough approach to curbing senior pay packages and not before time. His proposals have been criticised by some, including the Daily Telegraph, as interfering in the market but I think that is rubbish and he is right to take on these vested interests.

Real leaders lead by example and are the first to make a sacrifice for the cause. So what has gone wrong in Britain's board rooms? At a time when people in both the private sector and the public sector are accepting pay freezes, all too often we see pay at the very top of organisations running out of control. Last year, the average salary of a Chief Executive in 87 of Britain's largest companies was up by a third to over £5 million while performance at many had stalled. The banks have failed on such a catastrophic scale that they have had to be bailed out by the rest of us but still they have the audacity to pay themselves huge bonuses and lecture small businesses about management.

The truth is that in both the private and the public sectors, there has been a lack of accountability and this has allowed a high-pay culture to develop. These high salaries are not driven by market forces but by a failure of market forces. In recent years, so called head-hunter agencies have had a field day, stoking up pay awards at the top and taking huge commissions themselves. Not enough power has been given to shareholders or elected councillors to veto pay packages.

The answer is to restore accountability so that this artificial, high-pay culture is punctured and market forces come back into play. Last year the government announced that, in future, local authorities would have to put pay awards of senior officers to a vote of full council so that every councillor takes direct responsibility for what is agreed. If council tax payers think that senior officers are being overpaid, they can hold their own councillor to account. It won't change existing contracts overnight but it will restore accountability and drive down senior pay in future.

But we also need to do the same in the private sector, giving shareholders the power to veto salaries. It is extraordinary that, despite owning the company, shareholders’ views are only considered “advisory” at present and things are decided by cosy remuneration committees instead. Many people own shares in companies indirectly through their pension fund and these institutional investors have been too soft on senior pay in the past. So we also need to improve transparency so that the people who actually put their own savings on the line can demand action to cut pay at the top and restore some common sense.

George Eustice can be contacted at george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.

Happy New Year

The New Year has always been regarded as a time for hope and optimism. For some, it is a chance to turn over a new leaf, stop smoking or start exercising. The uncertainties in the world economy mean that we all go in to this particular New Year with a degree of apprehension. Governments are struggling to find their way through the mountain of debt accumulated in the past decade and the only thing we know for sure is that there are no easy answers. We don’t know whether the euro will survive or what impact its collapse would have.

But locally, there are many reasons to be optimistic. The Heartands project at Pool is almost complete and will open this spring, transforming the area. The government has now confirmed that it will fund the East West road link so work can start this year to redevelop derelict land around Tuckingmill, re-open the mine and create thousands of new jobs in the years ahead.

Just before Christmas, the government also agreed to make available some funds to help refurbish and redevelop the campus at Cornwall College. I am a former student of Cornwall College and have always championed their work, particularly with apprenticeships and foundation degrees. Part of the way to cut unemployment is to improve skills. The recent improvements to clad the Tamar Tower have had an extraordinary impact on the landscape at relatively low cost. Now they can do even more and also build new teaching facilities at Duchy College.

Early this year, with a bit of luck, we will finally get the green light to commence work to rejuvenate South Quay in Hayle. Work is already underway on North Quay and much progress has been made. The next phase will transform the Foundry end of Hayle with the harbour walls repaired, sluicing reinstated and new development including a supermarket, restaurants and other retail space.

Finally, momentum is gathering for a new Cornish Archive to be established on the old brewery site at Redruth and this will be my main focus in the months ahead. Most of the 8 million people making up the world wide Cornish Diaspora can trace their roots back to Redruth and it is the obvious location for a Cornish Archive.

George Eustice can be contacted on george.eustice.mp@parliament.uk or at 1 Trevenson Street, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8JD or by telephone on 020 72197032.