Newspaper column 30 September 2021 - On baby loss

 

Last week I led the debate in Parliament on to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, which runs from 9 to 15 October.

As co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Baby Loss, along with former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP, I used my speech to highlight the group’s aims for the future, as well as the work it has already been doing in this area.

As someone who has experienced the awful reality of losing a baby first hand, I am  able to use my experience to help make things better for other families who sadly go through their own baby loss journeys every day.

For this year’s speech, I wanted to highlight and raise the profile of issues around wellbeing. One key issue is maternity safety. Every day in the UK around 14 babies die before, during or soon after birth. Although progress has been made, we need to redouble efforts as the current rate of reducing stillbirths means the 2025 target will be missed. To improve safety and prevent avoidable baby deaths the Government must increase investment in maternity services, tackle inequalities in perinatal outcomes, take action to prevent erroneous charging of vulnerable women for NHS Maternity Care and invest in reviews following the death of a baby.

Another key issue I wanted to highlight was that of bereavement care and our push as an APPG to develop a National Bereavement Care Pathway in England. The loss of a baby at any gestation is devastating for parents. Poor bereavement care, from the moment of first diagnosis and breaking of bad news, only exacerbates the profound pain felt by parents, and whilst approaches to bereavement care in the UK have greatly improved in recent years, inconsistency still remains, resulting in a postcode lottery for parents.

As of last month, all NHS Trusts in England have either expressed interest or formally committed to implementing the National Bereavement Care Pathway within their hospitals and services.

This is good progress, but if the Government made the pathway and its nine standards mandatory this would speed up implementation across all areas and lead to greater time, funding and resources being available to healthcare professionals to deliver them. Trusts require additional funding to fully implement all the standards within the NBCP, especially to ensure that every hospital has an appropriate bereavement suite, specialist staff and training.

Finally, I wanted to touch on mental health care. Grief is a natural response to this particularly isolating bereavement. Some people carry this with them for the rest of their lives but do not develop a mental health problem. However, many bereaved parents will go on to experience psychiatric illnesses such as PTSD that require specialist support, triggered by intense grief and the trauma of their experience.

In 2019 The Baby Loss Awareness Week Alliance’s report Out of Sight, Out of Mind found that 60% of bereaved parents were not able to access the psychological help they needed. Since then, it has been announced that new Maternal Mental Health Hubs in England will support mothers who have lost a baby which is very welcome.

However, we also know that fathers and partners need support, in a Sands survey 62% of men reported feeling suicidal following their experience of pregnancy or baby loss. I will be using my speech to highlight the action needed to ensure partners get the mental health support they need.

During debate I was grateful to colleagues across Parliament for their support – these are difficult conversations to have, but it is by working together to highlight these tragic issues, that we will be able to improve the experience for families in the future who go through them.

Newspaper column 16 September 2021 - the NHS and Social Care Levy

The first week back in Parliament following Summer Recess was a busy one and I was pleased to question Ministers on more support for Falmouth’s maritime industry as well as for the delivery of T-Levels by Truro and Penwith College.

The big issue from last week was around the new NHS/Social Care Levy, which will be paid for by a 1.25% rise in National Insurance Contributions, which will go directly to support the NHS.

I acknowledge that the issue of funding social care is a difficult one and one that is very important to many constituents for a variety of reasons.

With an ageing population in Cornwall that is living longer, these funds do need to be found and we all have a part to play. This issue will only become more pronounced the longer we leave it, and has not addressed by previous governments of all colours. I am pleased that our Prime Minister is grasping the nettle and starting the serious conversation about where the funds should come from. It’s worth mentioning that other parties have previously suggested this, so it is a shame that they are now deciding to play politics with it – particularly when we need it now more than ever.

The 1.25 per cent Health and Social Care Levy on earned income, hypothecated in law to health and social care will raise almost £36 billion over the next three years, with money from the levy going directly to health and social care across the whole of the country. I will of course be lobbying to ensure Cornwall gets our fair share.

Everyone has a role to play as we recover from the pandemic, just as the Government looked after everyone during the pandemic. Some will say we have gone too far, some will say we haven’t gone far enough.

For absolute clarification, this is not a tax or our lowest earners. Those who earn more, will pay more.

This was a difficult decision, it would be wrong of me to say otherwise. However, having spent more than £407 billion to support lives and livelihoods throughout the pandemic – from furlough to vaccines – difficult but responsible decisions are required to pay for it. We cannot keep running away from the problem by borrowing more. We need to face up to the challenges our country faces.

Yes I accept this breaks a manifesto commitment, which is not something I do lightly. But a global pandemic was in no-one’s manifesto. The pandemic and the consequence cost of it, could have never been predicted.

This won’t be pay awards for NHS middle management, it will go straight to the front line, and in particular help with clearing the backlog of operations that has arisen as a result of the pandemic, at a time when we need to get more out of our health and social care system than ever before.

We must now help the NHS to recover, to be able to provide much-needed care to our constituents and the people we love – and we must provide the funding to do so, in a way that is right, reasonable and fair.

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 9 September 2021 - Going back to Parliament and a look back on Recess

This week sees Parliament return after the Summer Recess. The rest of this year’s Parliamentary schedule promises to be a busy one as the Government continues to deal with the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and look at other long-reaching issues, such as housing and planning, the NHS and social care, the Elections Bill, the benefits system and our environment, as well as the fall out from the Afghanistan situation.

With my role on the Environmental Audit Committee in Parliament I am looking forward to continuing to work with colleagues from across Parliament to ensure that the policies and programmes of government departments and non-departmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development, and to audit their performance against sustainable development and environmental protection targets.

Over the past couple of weeks, during Summer Recess it was a real pleasure to take part in my first Village Surgery Tour. This is something I had always planned to do since my election as your Member of Parliament but was prevented in doing so last year by COVID-19 restrictions. Recess gives me more time in our constituency and this means I can expand from my traditional constituency advice surgery venues of Truro and Falmouth and visit some of our other wonderful communities. To this end, over the last couple of weeks I have visited Perranporth, Chacewater, St Mawes, Mylor, Probus and St Newlyn East. It was good to see so many people and talk about the issues, local and national, that matter to you. I have gone away with a lot of work on your behalf and look forward to reporting back further on some of the issues that have come up, in the future. Please do let me know if you would like me to visit your village on subsequent surgery tours and I will be delighted to come along and see you.

Finally at the weekend, it was a real honour to be part of the celebrations as the Tour of Britain passed through Truro. This was an incredibly well-organised race, both from the event organisers and also those who came out locally to see the entrants pass through our city. A special shout out must go to the Old Bakery for putting on the stage, and Jan Allen for MC'ing the bikes. It was amazing to see Truro so full of life and energy after a difficult previous 18 months and I look forward to seeing more events on Lemon Quay in the future, to go along with the imminent reopening of the Hall for Cornwall. The Tour of Britain Cornwall Stage itself was a real success and another example where Cornwall has been presented in an exceptional light for an internationally renowned event.

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.

Column 2 September 2021 - Walking for wildlife

 

Last Monday saw me successfully complete my charity Coast to Coast walk across our constituency for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

We walked from West Portholland to Perranporth, 25.5 miles, 77,454 steps.

It was a fine day and took just over 13 hours, starting at 6am and finishing just after 7pm. We raised over £1,000 for this excellent local charity.

Along the way we passed through many different communities and spoke to local people and businesses about a wide variety of issues. It was really useful to get a snapshot of issues relevant to the area as we progressed.

We walked from Truro to Shortlanesend through Idless Woods and it was interesting to see the signage for Cornwall Council’s Quiet Lanes project, which is a trial taking place on these narrow rural lanes to discourage traffic other than for residents and deliveries. These roads certainly are currently used as rat-runs from our experience, and it will be interesting to see the results of the trial which will run for six months through the autumn, and what residents think of it.

Just outside of Shortlanesend we were welcomed by Marte and the team at Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s lovely HQ. Cornwall Wildlife Trust are beneficiaries of funding from the A30 dualling work and it was good to talk to them about their plans for this site in the future. It was also good to talk to their team about the work I do on the Environment Audit Committee in Parliament, particularly around working to improve the quality of river water - which I was able to see was of varying quality at different places throughout my walk.

After that, we were over 20 miles in and near the A30. It was good to see the work being done to dual the A30, of which the need to do so has never been more apparent, with the unprecedented busy-ness of the current summer season. Thank you to Alister and the team for guiding us through some of the works, which saved us having to go on a long diversion on a busy road that would have been really difficult.

I also visited two pubs along the way, the Heron in Malpas and the Watering Hole in Perranporth where we finished, as well as speaking to the landlord from the Plume of Feathers in Portscatho, who we saw near Truro enjoying a well earned day off! What was really apparent across all three businesses and indeed is reflected in correspondence and conversations I have every day at the moment is just how busy our hospitality sector is at the moment, and the herculean efforts those who work in this sector are putting in to ensure those visiting have the best possible experience.

All in all, it was a challenging day but an excellent experience and it was good to see so many people and places over the course of the walk, while raising money for an excellent local charity. A Member of Parliament is always supported by their team and I must also give credit to Jordan for joining me on the walk and James for organising it and completing the whole route with me. Thanks also to Toni for getting us to the start early this morning, and Susan, Barnaby and Reuben for joining us for part of the route.

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 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.