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DIGITAL ID Last week, the government announced plans for a Digital ID card and lots of you have asked my position. The answer is that despite having strongly opposed Tony Blair’s plans, I am open-minded to the idea. One of the reasons that illegal migration into the UK is so high is that it is so much easier to work on the black market here. That partly explains why, according to the Economist, illegal crossings have increased in the UK despite falling 21% into Europe as a whole. We have to stop all illegal migration - and alongside the Rwanda scheme, which the government foolishly cancelled, I think this would help. Switzerland has just voted to introduce one for the same reason. But I want to see the detail before making a final decision as to how to vote.
TARGET CHASING No one’s talking about the NHS at the moment but there is a nagging worry that rather than the fundamental reforms the service needs, we are turning the clock back to the targets culture we had under Blair/Brown - which led to tragedies like Mid Staffs. Last week in the Health Service Journal, I explained why I think that the NHS should not turn the clock back in a way that turns patients into numbers. A few targets are ok in any organisation but not 18 (monthly) targets as NHS hospitals currently have. It has made the NHS the most micro-managed healthcare system in the world and means managers look over their shoulders to ministers instead of focusing on the patients in front of them.
BABY LOSS Sticking with the NHS, there is in my experience no tragedy as heart-rending as the loss of a baby or child. Baby deaths went down by 700 a year when I was health secretary - around 2 a day - but we can do even better. So to make the case I have secured a back bench debate in Parliament on 13 October to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week. I will include a link to the speech after giving it - but the nub of my argument is positive: if we get back to pre-pandemic trends we could have the safest maternity units in Europe within five years.
LOCAL LIFE
CAN GODALMING BE GREAT AGAIN? It is already! But having toured book festivals over the summer, I am bringing my new book Can We Be Great Again? to an event in the Godalming Borough Hall on Friday 31 October at 19.30 (bar open from 19.00!). Click here for tickets which are free of charge - all authors' royalties from book sales (locally or nationally) go to the new Cancer & Surgical Innovation Centre at the Royal Surrey so you are supporting a great case!. Talking of which, take a look at this amazing progress with the build of the new centre…
69 HIGH STREET GODALMING WOES CONTINUE incoming retail tenant Loungers won't be trading until end 2026! Purchased by Waverley Borough Council way back in 2022 the former M&Co unit has suffered delay upon delay - £4.5m spent and 3.5 years later the site still vacant to the detriment of Godalming High Street. The Lib Dems keep wanting to pour more money into the scheme but the waste is shocking - time for a rethink.
UNSTEAD LANE Still not much wiser after meeting with GBC CEO Pedro Wrobel and Claire Upton-Brown last week about the illegal encampment - with the planning application still not validated. Like locals I am very frustrated. This work was undertaken via a highly organised operation, something we are increasingly seeing across the area. Why? In part because of the lack of action by GBC and WBC on this and other sites across Guildford and Waverley is sending a message that we are a soft touch locally.
SURGERY CALLS My first call was to a Compton resident worried that young people are so down-hearted they want to leave the country. We talked about the lack of housing and the lack of hope - and the danger of new property taxes in the budget. I then spoke to a Cranleigh resident about a boundary dispute and the extraordinarily inefficient way Waverley handled it.
SPORT GODALMING AWARDS - DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS TOMORROW The awards are a brilliant celebration of local sporting talent. Do you know an individual, a team or a club in the Godalming area you would like to nominate? Take a look here for details of the 14 categories - nominations can be submitted by either completing the nomination form online or by video. All finalists will be invited to the Awards (along with their nominator) at the Wilfrid Noyce Community Centre on Friday November 28th. Good luck!
DEMISE OF THE CHILWORTH CHICKEN locals were distressed at the loss of the topiary affectionately named the ‘Chilworth Chicken’ accidentally felled last week during their ongoing work to upgrade the crossings - full apology received from Network Rail. The history is a very sad story indeed - the topiary had stood since 1892 in memory of Henry Wood who died in a rail crash. Read the full history in the Guildford Dragon article here.
SURGERY CALLS My first call was to a Compton resident worried that young people are so down-hearted they want to leave the country. We talked about the lack of housing and the lack of hope - and the danger of new property taxes in the budget. I then spoke to a Cranleigh resident about a boundary dispute and the extraordinarily inefficient way Waverley handled it.
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