GOOD AFTERNOON & welcome to my weekly update - no.258

It has been a week since I delivered the Budget in the House of Commons and by this stage you generally know if a budget has ‘unravelled’ - thankfully this one has not. That said, this week I was grilled by the Treasury Select Committee (clip here) and next week I face the Lords Economic Affairs Committee so parliamentary scrutiny continues. Yesterday’s news that the economy grew in January was good. I know that the last few years have been tough but this shows that the economy is turning a corner.  And there are some important parts of the Budget which have been less spoken about but really matter - details on them below. Locally, we had an excellent action day over the weekend– do email me at [email protected] if you would like to join the fun!

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER 

HELP FOR MIDDLE EARNERS One of the most important - but less noticed - measures I announced in the Budget last Wednesday is what I focussed on in my Herald column this week:  the changes to the High Income Benefit Charge. At the moment, as soon as either parent starts earning £50,000, child benefit starts to be clawed back. The system is very unfair to single earner households (two couples earning £49,000 can continue to claim it) so we are consulting on whether HMRC should collect household level data to address this. But in addition from this April I raised the threshold below which you can claim it to £60,000 with the taper increasing to £80,000. These changes mean 170,000 families will stop paying High Income Benefit Charge altogether and in total nearly 500,000 families will save an average of £1300. In fact we all benefit from these changes - the OBR say the equivalent of around 10,000 more people will enter the workforce as a result - good for the economy and public services like the NHS (which I should add also benefited from an extra £6 billion funding in the Budget…)

PUBS After days of interviews and visits, there was no better way to end one of the busiest weeks of the year than with a drink in the Refectory in Milford to celebrate freezing of alcohol duty. That comes on top of an extension to Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief in England which cuts business rates for most pubs and restaurants by a whopping 75% (a £12k discount for the average pub). The Brexit Pubs Guarantee which I announced in the Budget last year also means draught duty will always be less than duty in supermarkets - and I have been told Cllr John Tonks from Ash had a drink at the Admiral pub the evening after he got a special mention in my budget speech.

OSCARS Brits won in no fewer than seven categories at the Oscars on Sunday last week– a huge achievement. As outlined in this thread, we have a world-beating creative industry sector and the year’s big winner, Oppenheimer, had a British director Christopher Nolan. This is a big opportunity for the UK so in the Budget I announced an additional £1 billion in tax relief over the next five years. That follows Netflix spending $6 bn here in the last three years and Warner Brothers expanding their Leavesden studios (where Harry Potter was filmed) which will create 4,000 jobs. By the end of next year the UK is on track to be second only to Hollywood in terms of studio space.

WHAT’S GOING ON LOCALLY

GET A MOVE ON THAMES WATER I have written a letter to Chris Weston, the new Thames Water CEO, complaining about people still not getting their compensation  which you can read about here. He will be joining us at the upcoming public meeting I have arranged with Angela Richardson in early April, along with representatives from Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water. Full details to follow. 

COUNTY DEAL FOR SURREY Anyone who watched the budget speech will have heard me teasing Keir Starmer about being a Surrey boy. The hook was that I was able to announce the agreement of a level 2 devolution County Deal for Surrey. This means Surrey will have more decision-making powers over key issues like transport, education, planning and infrastructure - and is a great credit to Surrey’s superb leader Tim Oliver. The deal also includes full devolution of the adult education budget, meaning Surrey can help ensure educational needs are aligned with market demand. To support more joined up economic development, the deal also transfers land assembly and compulsory purchase to Surrey County Council. As Surrey Council Leader Tim Oliver says, this deal is a “positive step in delivering more power to communities”. Well said Tim - and I hope we go even further over time.

RURAL CRIME MEETING Last Friday night I joined a meeting of nearly 60 local farmers and rural homeowners near Thorncombe Street to discuss recent issues with rural crime.  We were joined by Surrey Police Officers including members of the specialist rural crime team plus Deputy PCC for Surrey Ellie Vesey-Thompson, representatives of the NFU and local councillors from neighbouring parishes. We were updated on progress following a spate of really unpleasant crimes in the area including the disgusting killing of 14 lambs in January south of Bramley. I was really impressed to see how everyone is coming together to help Surrey Police who it has to be said have been very responsive. Because of increased community-police communication and prompt reporting a number of suspects have been apprehended and bailed, cars seized, items have been retrieved and returned to owners - all in the space of one month’s intensive investigation. I will be working with Surrey Police and our Deputy PCC Ellie as we have lots more to do on this, but it is a real step in the right direction.

GREEN SPACES As many of you might already know I have been advocating to make the Surrey Hills a National Park as part of my Green Spaces campaign– do sign the petition here. In the meantime, last year I persuaded Natural England to hold a consultation on whether to extend the boundaries of our AONB and I recently heard that they received 1500 responses so I do hope they agree to the extension when the time comes.

FATN TALKING NEWS A brilliant local service for anyone who is 'print disabled' (those with impaired vision) records stories on easy to use memory sticks which are then posted so people can stick them into their computer or a free playback unit. Do take visit their website www.fatntalkingnews.org.uk or email them on [email protected]

ACTION DAY IN WITLEY AND MILFORD I had a brilliant day with local campaigners out and about in Witley and Milford last Saturday. We knocked on lots of doors and got some really great feedback on the Budget–  especially another 2p of National Insurance and child benefit reforms. If you ever want to get involved, please do email me at [email protected]. 

M25 CLOSURE I know the upcoming M25 closure this weekend will be a nightmare for many people in Surrey. This has never happened before - but the new junction at Wisley WILL be worth it when we get it!

ROYAL SURREY CANCER CENTRE Well done to Ash Parish Council and John Tonks for some brilliant fundraising for the Royal Surrey Cancer Centre. 

SHAMLEY GREEN LITTER PICK Wonersh Parish Council are arranging a litter pick in Shamley Green on Saturday 23rd March– details here for those who are interested. Thank you as ever for your help in keeping our area clean. 

SOCIAL MEDIA If you would like more regular updates of my work locally and nationally, do follow me on Facebook, X (Twitter), WhatsApp or Instagram.

JOIN ME Want to get more involved locally? Email me at [email protected] to join my growing team supporting our work in our community. We had four teams out canvassing over the weekend so do get involved!

AND FINALLY… Apparently labradors have a gene that makes them constantly hungry… Poppy luckily has our marathon training sessions to counteract that!

As always, if you know anyone (a friend or neighbour perhaps?) who might like to receive this email, please do forward it on. Anyone can sign up here to receive them and can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the box below or emailing me.