GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my regular South West Surrey update No. 146. Congratulations to England on beating Germany in a major tournament for the first time in my lifetime (having been born exactly three months after the famous 1966 win). We now play Ukraine on Saturday – bring on the Battle of Rome! If you’ve been forwarded this email and find it useful sign up to get your personal copy here. You can of course unsubscribe at any time.

PANDEMIC STATS As of today, we had a total of 4,800,907 positive cases of COVID-19 with 128,140 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 6,183 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 239 confirmed deaths, with an estimated 205 active cases in Waverley. All data is accurate as of 11am this morning.

VACCINE UPDATE Nationally, 77,592,212 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, including 32,872,450 second doses – remarkable progress. 85% of the UK adult population have had the first dose (62% fully vaccinated), compared with 66% in the US (57% fully vaccinated), as highlighted by my favourite US academic Eric Topol in his Twitter thread. Public Health England and Cambridge University say that the vaccination programme has prevented around 7.2 million infections and 27,000 deaths in England to date. Researchers also found that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines produce immunity for years, meaning patients may not require boosters. However, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has produced interim advice which would see millions of people most vulnerable to the disease receive the third jab to improve protection in time for winter. In the meantime, check out this article which explores how the vaccines were made so speedily with all the proper processes in place – very impressive.

SCHOOL BUBBLES The Education Secretary has stated his intention to remove the ‘bubble system’ in England having seen data this week that shows that 375,000 children are currently being sent home from school and forced to isolate. Having one in 20 pupils isolating is clearly disruptive, both to pupils and parents, and it’s concerning that absences have quadrupled in the last month. At the moment if a child tests positive for COVID-19, all members of their ‘bubble’ must go into isolation for 10 days, even if they test negative. I will be monitoring the situation carefully and will keep you updated, but it’s likely the rule be lifted with the other restrictions on July 19.

COVID & CATS A new study has shown that pet cats and dogs can easily be infected with coronavirus if their owners have the disease. Most pets with COVID-19 are asymptomatic and exhibit mild symptoms. We bought our lockdown puppy after we had all had the virus so hopefully she is safe.  More information here.

The key number to remember for anyone with pandemic-related difficulties remains 0300 200 1008 the Surrey Helpline run by Surrey County Council (Mon-Fri 9 am to 5 pm).

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER

SOCIAL CARE On Monday I asked the new Health Secretary whether he has given thought as to how to prepare the NHS and care system for future pandemics, and whether at the top of his list will be putting more resilience into the social care system. Of course, COVID-19 restrictions will be top of Sajid’s in-tray but social care will be more important in defining his time as Health Secretary - time to fix it! Video here and my Herald article on what it is like to take up the reins in the Dept of Health and what Sajid’s priorities should be here.

HAPPY PRIDE! Earlier in the week, Boris Johnson held a reception to celebrate Pride Month – scroll down to check out some of the government’s recent work on LGBT+ rights.  We are very lucky to live in a generally tolerant and open country although there is always more to do. What is most striking to me is how much progress we make when social change manages to cross party boundaries: Tony Blair introduced civil partnerships and David Cameron gay marriage with the result that potentially controversial changes have been widely accepted with sensible British pragmatism. Another example incidentally is climate change: Tony Blair and Gordon Brown laid important foundations that was then built on by David Cameron, Theresa May and now Boris Johnson meaning we have reduced emissions by more than any other G20 country - less than 2% of our energy now comes from coal compared to 40% in 2012.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY

HASLEMERE LLOYDS CLOSURE I spoke to Patrick Leahy from the Lloyds Bank Public Affairs team yesterday about the closure of Lloyds in Haslemere. He said the issue was that only 166 customers are using the branch regularly every month. I was with Cllr Simon Dear, Haslemere Mayor and we raised the concerns of many local people about the issue. We discussed plans to make sure core banking services are offered for those regular customers through the post office going forward - Lloyds have a three-year contract with the Post Office nationally to provide such services. The other issue is losing a 24/7 cash machine which can't be provided by the Post Office as it is a listed building - the nearest outside cash machine will now be at the station. I have started discussions with Link as to whether they could provide one but also asked Lloyds for data on how many people use their cash machine so we can see just how many people are going to be inconvenienced. We also asked Lloyds whether they can help us on this (they part-own Link) and whether, given they have clearly made their mind up, they would postpone the closure till next year until suitable alternative arrangements can be made. They said they would get back to us on all these issues so I will follow up to make sure they do.

FULL FIBRE BROADBAND Openreach, the UK's digital network business have shared news about their plans to build ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband to more sites across the country, including 16,000 premises in SW Surrey. The build will start now and end in December 2026. This is in addition to other projects and government-funded programmes. You may remember that the Chancellor has made a £5 billion commitment to support the roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband to the hardest to reach areas of the UK. Great news!

See my list of local groups working to support vulnerable residents here.

THE ECONOMY AND JOBS

ELECTRIFYING NEWS Nissan will build an electric car battery factory in Sunderland. The government-backed investment is predicted to create almost 2,000 jobs. Moving forward, we need to ensure that driving an electric vehicle is convenient for people in SW Surrey and beyond - particularly in residential streets in our towns where it is not easy to access charging points. The government is financially supporting local authorities to build up their electric car charging infrastructure with £1.3 billion pledged to accelerate the roll-out but I want to see this happening locally much faster.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

CLIMATE CRISIS Following my earlier comment, the UK will stop using coal to generate electricity from October 2024, a year earlier than originally planned, underscoring the government’s commitment to tackle climate change. But with the green issues frequently appearing in the news, how much do people actually know about global warming? Check out this graphic which illustrates that Australians, Germans and Brits are relatively well informed, in direct contrast to people living in countries such as Russia and Nigeria. More heated debates (sorry) ahead of COP26 later this year…

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