MP Newsletter #7: February Recess update

Dear reader,

A very warm welcome to this latest edition of my fortnightly email newsletter. Parliament is currently in recess for the week and I have spent all of this week here in the constituency meeting with local residents, organisations and businesses and carrying out casework.

While so much important work does take place in Parliament, it’s been good to take a break from Westminster and meet so many people across the constituency.

In the first few editions of this update, I have primarily focused on what I am doing in the constituency, but I thought recess provided a good opportunity to update you on what I’ve been doing in Westminster and how it links in with my wider work as your member of parliament.

As ever, I welcome all feedback and comments about this newsletter, and I want to make sure that it is as useful as it can be for my constituents. If you have any suggestions, comments or feedback please do feel free to email me at brian.mathew.mp@parliament.uk.

A reminder that you can also contact my office on 01225 434216, and please do get in touch via phone or email to book a surgery appointment. These take place at regular intervals at different villages and towns across the constituency and we will do our very best to fit you in at the one which suits you best.

Remember you can follow me on Facebook here and I’m also on Twitter here.

Please do also forward this newsletter along to friends, family, neighbours etc if you feel it would be useful for them too. They can also sign up to receive these emails here.

International Development Select Committee

It was an honour to be appointed to the International Development Select Committee (IDC) last year and this fits well with my previous career in overseas aid, both as a practitioner and an evaluator.

The IDC is one of several ‘select’ committees whose job it is to scrutinise and question the work of the government on a particular policy area. The IDC looks closely at the work of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in respect of aid policy, and expenditure of Official Development Assistance across several UK government departments.

One of our primary focuses has been the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. Last year I visited East Jerusalem and the West Bank with the committee, and we spent time visiting a UN school in a refugee camp. We also heard harrowing tales from those who have spent time in Gaza, including doctors, ambulance staff and aid workers from the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.

With Donald Trump in the White House we are seeing the USA withdraw from the foreign aid scene and gutting USAID, the US international aid agency, of both personnel and funding. We have to work out now how the UK, and our European partners, can keep supporting some of these vital projects that are keeping people alive.

Wise and sensible investment in foreign aid is also in our own interest.

One of the ways we can curb immigration to this country and help reduce the number of refugees is to improve the situation in their home countries - which is where the vast majority would like to remain.

Ukraine and Avon Protection

The other great conflict which has been taking up much of our time on the IDC is the war in Ukraine, where thousands have died and millions are now at risk of starvation.

I have also personally been pursuing a project relating to gas masks for some months and I think it gives a valuable insight into where an MP can knit together the constituency and the global.

To give you an overview, I first visited Avon Protection in Melksham late last year to learn about their world leading manufacturing of protection equipment, including gas masks. Ukraine has requested 300,000 gas masks as the Russians have been using drones to drop CS gas into the trenches of the Donbas. When this happens, soldiers without respirators have to get out of the trenches and risk being shot dead. To date, Avon Protection have produced around 160,000 masks, paid for in part by the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada and the USA. This still leaves 140,000 to be paid for and supplied.

I have been working behind the scenes following a conversation with the Secretary of State for Defence to try to make the provision of these gas masks a reality.

Last week I asked again during defence questions and now have a meeting with Maria Eagle, Minister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry, to discuss this matter further and see what we’re able to achieve.

I sincerely hope we’re able to make some progress on this as it’ll be a literal lifesaver for Ukrainian soldiers and will once again show what great industry we have here in our constituency.

Hospices and National Insurance Increases

The problems hospices are facing due to the rises in employer National Insurance contributions is another area where I have been able to elevate an issue here in our constituency onto the national stage.

I have seen first-hand from visits to hospices in the constituency the vital work they do and the comfort they bring their patients and their families. I have also received numerous emails and casework on this subject.

Having spoken to Julia’s House Children’s Hospice in Devizes, I know that they are facing a bill for over £242,000 due to these changes… that is an awful lot of sponsored walks and parachute jumps! I was able to raise this in parliament a few weeks ago and to bring their situation to a larger audience.

Since then, my Liberal Democrat colleague Anna Sabine MP has asked a question on this topic during Prime Minister’s Questions and I’ll be joining her for a meeting with the relevant minister and Hospice UK in the coming weeks. I’ll also be inviting representatives from local hospices to join us.

Assisted dying

As many of you will know, last year I voted in favour of progressing the Assisted Dying Bill at its second reading.

While I voted in favour, I am still thinking hard and engaging with the arguments before this bill comes before the house again. One way I have been doing this is by tabling an amendment to the bill. I am asking that two social workers are included in the process as they are trained to understand family dynamics and to look for evidence of coercion. You can read the bill in its current form [subject to updates] here.

I will continue to follow the passage of this bill carefully, and I know this is a subject which many of you feel very strongly about. I assure you that I am treating it with it with the seriousness and depth of thought such a topic deserves. 

Useful information

I know many constituents like to see exactly what I have been saying or writing in parliament and I want to draw your attention to this webpage.

You will see on the left-hand side a number of useful sections which clearly lay out my written and spoken contributions as well as other information. Please do take a look on here as it also provides the responses I have had to questions I have asked of various government ministers and departments.

Cross-party working

I wanted to give you one final thought on something which may surprise several of you given the ferocity which is often seen in politics and in our media coverage and around elections.

Despite what you may see and hear reported, there is an awful lot of cross-party work going on among MPs. For example, the IDC is made of 11 MPs from three parties, and we work together as a group to hear evidence, produce reports and hold the government to account.

I’ve also struck up good working relationships with my neighbouring members of parliament regardless of their party. This brings obvious benefits and opportunities as there are many issues we’re facing in our constituency that are shared with Chippenham, East Wiltshire, South West Wiltshire, and in the nearby cities of Bath, Swindon and Bristol.

I want to assure you that I will continue to work alongside my colleagues from all parties to make sure that I can secure the best results for the people I represent.

Best wishes,

Brian Mathew MP

Your Lib Dem MP for Melksham & Devizes