We should have left the EU on March 29th and the electorate made their frustration & anger at this failure very clear in last week’s European elections. It was a dreadful night for both the Government and Labour, there is no escaping this.
As MPs we have been unable to break the deadlock, with seemingly everyone advocating compromise with the exception of their own position. As a minority Government we needed support from Opposition MPs, but we were never able to secure sufficient support.
Too often, MPs (who live in London rather than their constituencies) thought they knew better than the public and simply dug in – even when we had indicative votes, not one single option secured a majority. Even the nationally very poor local elections last month for the Government and Labour failed to focus minds as both sides of the debate took the poor results as a sign they were right – failing to grasp that not everyone can be right and a form of compromise was needed.
Whilst the PM could argue she had done more than anyone to seek a path that broke the deadlock, despite there not being a majority in Parliament for any single option – the combination of the local and euro elections, and the missed deadline meant the PM had reached the end of the road and announced that she would step aside.
The PM has remained steadfast, dignified, focused and driven. Brexit aside, our strong, growing economy has allowed her to deliver record funding for our vital public services including schools and hospitals, and record employment in every part of the country helping create genuine opportunity for all – for that she will rightly be recognised.
This means we now face a Leadership contest in the coming weeks. Both Robert Buckland MP and I have never been more popular in Parliament as the ever growing list of candidates seek our support! I have not yet decided who to support, but I will make my decision based on who I think can break the Brexit deadlock, continue to deliver a growing economy and crucially focus on a positive message – vital for restoring trust in politics.
But while all of this goes on, the work of the Government doesn’t stop. The issue of plastic pollution continues to be right at the top of the agenda, and without bold action to tackle plastic pollution our oceans will continue to suffer.
After they are used, these plastics are either burned, buried, or find their way into our oceans. There are 150 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s oceans, and every year one million birds & over 100,000 sea mammals die from getting tangled in, or eating, plastic waste.
It is believed that in the UK 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic cotton buds are used every year – most of which are thrown away to contribute to plastic pollution.
That’s why I was delighted to hear the Environment Secretary Michael Gove confirm that from April 2020 there will be a ban on them.
We have already seen the 5p plastic bag charge remove 15 billion bags from circulation, so I am hopeful that this ban will have a similarly positive effect.
