Newspaper column 26 August 2021 - Afghanistan

 

Last Wednesday saw Parliament return to sit to debate the situation in Afghanistan.

What has happened in a very short space of time in Afghanistan is incredibly concerning and raises numerous questions on all sorts of issues. What we have seen is failing on numerous levels, not least a failure of intelligence to anticipate that the Talliban would take back Afghanistan so quickly after western forces including our own pulled out.

Wednesday’s debate reflected that and while I did not speak in the debate, I was struck by the number of passionate contributions from Members from all sides of the House, many of them veterans who have served in Aghanistan themselves, about the nature of what we are seeing unfold, what we could have done to avoid it, and what we should now do to assist those many people in pressing aid who wish to flee the Taliban.

Firstly, there are those saying that our leaving now and the subsequent take-over by the Taliban has invalidated everything that has gone before with our prior occupation and work in Afghanistan. I would like to say to our veterans, the 150,000 who served Queen and Country and to the families of the 457 who gave their lives, as well as those who came back physically or mentally wounded, your sacrifice and time spent doing your duty was not in vain.

Our work over the past two decades made the world a safer place during that time, and allowing improvements in lifestyle, work and education choices for women and girls across Afghanistan, breaking the cycle of conflict that existed for so long. We must provide all the support needed to our veterans and their families to help them through this difficult time.

Our priority in Afghanistan now needs to be both to evacuate our own citizens from the country, but also all those who have helped and supported our operations over the years as well as those who worked with the previous Afghani government via the Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

With this in mind I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement of a settlement scheme of up to 20,000 over the coming years and 5,000 this year. This is in addition to those we bring through the ARAP scheme which has already seen more that 2,000 people brought to the UK since April of this year.

We also need to make sure that of any further international aid that goes to Afghanistan will need aid comes with strong conditions to ensure it is only delivered on the basis of honouring women’s rights and human rights, and those of the ethnic minorities as well.

In the longer term it is clear that we can no longer be so reliant on the US as the backbone of future international efforts such as these. We cannot again be allowed to be in a position where our operations and the stability of an entire country is solely dependent on the decisions of a single ally, which has now shown itself to be increasingly isolationist and inward looking. I am pleased that the UK has stepped up and responded quickly, showing global leadership once the seriousness of the situation in Afghanistan became known and I hope we will continue to show real leadership in issues such as this as well as via NATO in the future.

It has been an incredibly difficult week and my thoughts are with all those caught up in the conflict in Afghanistan as well as those who have served and their families at home. But we must learn from what have undoubtedly been mistakes and move forward to ensure lessons are learned and that they are not repeated in the future.

Newspaper column 19 August 2021 - Plymouth

This past Thursday we had the most devastating news from Plymouth as, in a tragic incident, a gunman murdered five people, including a three year old child, injuring others before killing himself.

This was deeply shocking and my condolences go to the families of all involved as well as to the wider Plymouth community.

Thanks also to our emergency services, who responded to the developing situation quickly and professionally.

We are fortunate in the UK that mass-shootings such as this are relatively rare – however one is too many and it is only right that we now take the time to investigate how this tragic event occurred.

With the ongoing investigation in mind, it is apparent that the shooter, based on social media content that he recently posted, shared views with, and may have been inspired by, and radicalised by, the so-called ‘Incel’ movement.

Incels are people, usually young men, who are “involuntarily celibate” and blame women for depriving them of sex. They often hate people in relationships, and in extreme cases they advocate violence or “retribution”. They have been linked to at least six mass shootings in America.

If this is the case, then we must as a country, have a conversation about the nature of online radicalisation. I have written earlier this year about the Government’s work in calling for evidence to help inform the development of their next Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

The Incel movement represents a very real threat to women and girls – promoting and encouraging chauvinistic and ultimately violent behaviour towards them from young men, and in this context there certainly is a real case to be made for ensuring forums that promotes this sort of behaviour and could lead to similar incidents such as we have sadly see occur in Plymouth this past week happen again the future, be monitored in the same way other platforms that promote and nurture terroristic behaviour are by our security services.

Turning to the immediate aftermath of last week’s incident, there is a dedicated Devon and Cornwall Police number  -  01752 487880 for anyone wishing to speak with the police with information regarding the shooting.   Victim Support are also providing support for anyone affected with support available 24/7 either by phone or webchat.  If you have been affected by the tragic incident in Plymouth, there is help available.  Victim Support provide practical and emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  You can speak to a specialist by calling 08081 689111 or by visiting victimsupport.org.uk

Finally, I should also add that following the quickly developing circumstances in Afghanistan over the weekend, Parliament has been recalled to debate the situation on Wednesday. This debate is happening after I have submitted this column so I cannot tell what the outcome will be, however it is a very difficult situation with no easy or quick answers, one that requires international co-operation in order to achieve any sort of lasting solution.

As ever, if you need my assistance with anything then my team and I are here to help. Please get in touch with me by email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk , or by telephone on 01872 229698. I have now restarted my regular constituency advice surgeries, held in a covid-safe environment at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me about any matters that I can be of assistance with.

Newspaper column 12 August 2021 - Fixing the housing crisis

A priority for me over this Summer Recess is looking at ways to solve the housing crisis that we are currently experiencing in Cornwall.

I am being contacted daily by local people who are struggling to be able to find or keep accommodation, for a variety of reasons.

There have always been issues with affordability of housing in Cornwall, as a long-term renter I know this first hand, but recent impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic have created a perfect storm of pressures which is affecting both the regular housing market as well as the private and social rental sectors.

Resolving the housing crisis is a top priority of the newly elected administration at Cornwall Council, and of this Government. There are long term issues in the housing sector that have been left unaddressed for some time but the new administration will now work with the Government to sort out this issue. A lot of hard work is going in to addressing it but it is not going to happen overnight.

In terms of social rent, there are 17,000 people looking for council housing through Homechoice in Cornwall - and the average wait to find a home is 9 months. 20% of those already in council accommodation. It is not unusual for over 150 people to be bidding for one property.

Cornwall Council can get hold of significant amounts of finance to build the council housing that we need to start addressing this issue, but it's not a magic wand, we can't start building tomorrow, delivering the amount we need will take time.

Cornwall Council also needs to work effectively with the budget it has and a huge challenge has been the ambitious plans of the new administration to move away from expensive, short term hotel accommodation to temporary and emergency accommodation. The new administration have already introduced the first site at County Hall for the Bunkabins which will provide safe and secure accommodation for locals. The council has also moved towards creating council-owned accommodation where local people in need can be housed without worrying about being asked to leave at a moment’s notice. The council needs to own this provision so they can offer the security of tenure to the families and individuals in need. This will not only provide peace of mind and increased wellbeing for those being housed, but it will also make more financial sense.

Turning to the Private rented sector, sadly there are some landlords who are taking advantage of the high prices on the market at the moment and selling up, meaning that the private rented sector is shrinking. The Government suspended evictions during the pandemic, quite rightly, but that was solely for the duration of the pandemic. We need to now do everything we can to support those who were in private rented accommodation to ensure they are able to find another home to live in. If people are due to be evicted and need help and advice then please do contact my office – we are here to help.

Of course there are also Cornish families who rightly want to be able to buy their own homes in the communities they have grown up in and we need truly affordable homes for them to buy

Instead of building on our green fields in our villages, or mass developments extending our towns, we need to look at what brown field sites are available to us in Cornwall – there are plenty of them both in rural and urban areas. Equally, I fully appreciate that local families will want a plot in the village they grew up in with a garden for their children to play in. This shouldn’t be a luxury. Everyone has a right to a home of their own and we need to make this happen.

Finally, I want to touch on second homes. I am in discussion with colleagues about ways to better regulate them. For example, do we follow a similar model to plans proposed in the Lake District whereby if you want to take a full time residential home and turn it in to a second home, you need planning permission to do this.  By doing this we can start to regulate the housing market. For example Cornwall Council could then say that a particular area has its fair share of second homes, and will not grant any more change of use permissions for the time being.

There is a massive amount of work to do in this area, but I am working with both my Cornish MP colleagues and Cornwall Council to bring about the lasting change that is needed across the housing market to ensure people in Cornwall are able to have stable, affordable and permanent places to live, for ours and future generations.

As ever, if you need my assistance with anything then my team and I are here to help. Please get in touch with me by email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk , or by telephone on 01872 229698. I have now restarted my regular constituency advice surgeries, held in a covid-safe environment at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me about any matters that I can be of assistance with.