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GOOD AFTERNOON & welcome to my weekly update no.319
Schools out! And nearly time for the summer break…but lots more to report before parliament finally rises.
WESTMINSTER WHISPERS
WATER WATER EVERYWHERE (where it shouldn’t be). Big day for those of us worried about river pollution with Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review of the water sector published today. Some of the findings were expected: poor management by the water companies, ineffective regulation and the replacement of Ofwat. But the report also made clear that nationalisation is not the panacea pointing out that nationalised systems in France and Scotland have done even worse. The report also makes a very good point about the need for investors to treat water as a low return low risk investment over a long time not an opportunity for a fast buck. My detailed thoughts in this post.
TRUMP KEIR MEETING Later this week, the Prime Minister is set to meet US President Trump during the president’s visit to Scotland. Whilst this is not an official visit, it will still give the PM a chance to further cultivate his relationship with Trump which has certainly paid dividends when it comes to our trade deal. The most interesting insight into Trump recently is this interview with the BBC’s Gary O’Donogue. Asked about the Special Relationship Trump says that if America was attacked he’s not sure other countries would come to defend it - but the UK would. That is perhaps one of the nicest things a US President has said about us.
VOTE SNATCH In a breath taking piece of electoral cynicism, the government announced last week that they plan to lower the voting age to 16. The government believes, it appears, that at 16 you are too young to drive, too young to marry, too young to serve on the frontline but old enough to vote. I am not even sure young people will vote Labour in the droves the government is expecting but at a time when trust in the government has fallen to record lows this seems an extraordinary move to make.
CHAT ABOUT CHINA I recently sat down for my final chat with the Daily T for our mini series on Britain’s latent potential based on the themes in my book Can We Be Great Again?. This week I spoke about China with foreign policy hawk John Bolton whom I met when he was Trump’s National Security Adviser (but with whom he later fell out massively). Worth a listen.
LOCAL LIFE
MOBILE BREAKTHROUGH? Last week I met the newly merged VodafoneThree once again in my 7th mobile meeting. In what I hope is big news, VodafoneThree, which shares its local masts with O2 will publicly announce in the Autumn the specific details of where and by when we will see improvements to mobile phone signal across Godalming and Ash. They expect their improvements to impact the entire constituency. Separately I raised some of the issues with Vodafone signal in Godalming - very disappointing to learn the issues have been caused by vandalism on several Vodafone/O2 sites. Next meeting is with BT/EE this week…
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