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GOOD AFTERNOON & welcome to my weekly update no.315
Unusually Friday morning was spent in Parliament voting on the Assisted Dying Bill (more on that below) plus a very productive meeting with Thames Water CEO Chris Weston. But in our troubled world with the Middle East on the brink of war that suddenly seems a long time ago…
WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER
IT HAD BETTER WORK…Over the weekend, Donald Trump took a huge risk in joining Israel in targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, Saudi will want them (and then who knows Turkey and Egypt?) so it would be an immensely dangerous expansion in the most volatile part of the world. So whilst a diplomatic route is preferable (as William Hague argued last week) if you are going to take out facilities you had better finish the job. That is clearly what Trump calculated although like Keir Starmer he was clearly nervous when Israel started the process. I understand why the UK is trying to stand apart. But in the week of a crucial NATO summit (starting tomorrow in the Hague) there is another consideration, namely keeping US support for NATO and Ukraine as solid as possible. So given the process has started I would have leaned towards more full-throated backing for the US.
ASSISTED DYING MILESTONE Last Friday, MPs (including me) voted in favour of the assisted dying bill. It is a decision I agonised over for weeks - and thank you to the many people who emailed or spoke to me about their concerns which helped me make my decision. In the past I have always voted against it because I worried it might be a pressure on older people worried about being a burden on their family. But the legislation passed by the Commons on Friday would not give that right to the vast majority of people: it is tightly defined to those with a terminal diagnosis of six months or less. It excludes those whose sole condition is mental illness or disability. It also has to be reviewed by two doctors and an independent panel to make sure there is no coercion. I fully accept there are risks of unintended consequences as there are with any new legislation. In the end I voted in favour because I thought that if I was faced with that situation myself I would want the autonomy and control to decide for myself - and could not therefore vote in good conscience for others not to be able to do the same. I also believe that as we live longer, we are more likely to face illness in our final years so we need to have more honest conversations about the kind of death we want. I know many of you disagree and I deeply respect the equally profound reasons of conscience why many take the opposite view to me. The Bill still has to go through the Lords so the debate will continue.
AND ANOTHER PAINFUL ISSUE Last week after soul-searching on another issue, I published an article in the Daily Mail urging for Lucy Letby’s case to be re-examined. I have avoided commenting on this out of respect for bereaved families who may have felt they had closure following her conviction. But I have also been a long standing patient safety campaigner and if, in fact, the deaths were caused by medical error we need to know so we can prevent them being repeated. It is not my job to pronounce on innocence or guilt - but there is disturbing evidence that other hospitals may have seen a similar spike in baby deaths so the Criminal Cases Review Commission needs to look at the issue - and rather faster than their normal snails pace. On which note it is good news Wes Streeting has today announced a rapid national investigation into failings in maternity safety at a number of hospitals.
WHAT’S GOING ON LOCALLY
THE BIG THAMES WATER MEETING I spent an hour on Friday morning with Thames Water CEO Chris Weston and his team - interspersed with me dashing out to vote on amendments to the assisted dying bill. We covered masses - Thames Water's investment programme, reducing sewage spills into the river Wey, much needed Alfold upgrades, pressure issues in Bramley and those repeated road leak hotspots we all know including all over Cranleigh. In the November 2023 water outage (an extraordinary 18,000 homes were affected) we found out that the Guildford network is an 'island' area not connected to the wider TW network and with restricted storage capacity. Recent work such as the new £46m Pewley pipeline now improves movement of water within the island but ultimately TW will need to connect us up to their wider network. Chris and the team responded honestly to questions on TW's uncertain future, acknowledging that whilst present investment commitments for us won’t be impacted if it enters some form of government ownership, medium to long term investment capability could be hit (as water investment would have to get in the queue alongside new hospitals, nuclear power stations etc). Let's hope for UK farmers sake any renationalisation doesn’t come from DEFRA’s budget as is being suggested…further detailed updates to follow on a big and very important meeting.
BUT IT’S NOT ALL BAD NEWS The much-anticipated report from Natural England following the 2nd phase of the expansion of the Surrey Hills consultation - a massive 30% expansion in the protected area - is out! The next step is for Natural England to finalise and publish a draft Variation Order to change the AONB boundary which triggers a formal Notice Period lasting 28 days (during which the public can submit representations.) Then we have the final key hurdle: submitting the Variation Order to the Secretary of State for confirmation - hopefully! Keep everything crossed - are we just a few months away from an expanded Surrey Hills National Landscape?
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