Business Rates and Schools Funding

What a joy to be in Cornwall last week, watching nature awaken from winter slumber and catching up with many local people and organisations.

Tackling the frustrating lack of progress in supporting the people sleeping rough in Truro was a priority. I am pleased to report that there are extra police officers in Truro now and the multi-agency working needed to resolve the current situation is beginning to take shape. Truro Safe will soon be distributing leaflets letting people and businesses know how they can help the Police, Cornwall Council and other partners tackle the totally unacceptable problems currently being experienced in Truro.

Business Rates are an important source of income for councils, paying for vital services such a social care. I was surprised that following a consultation on the future of business rates in 2015, the status quo with modest changes was the preferred option. As the value of property on which business rates are based changes over time, so there are periodic revaluations. I understand that most businesses won’t see an increase, with rates set to fall across Cornwall by an average of 4.9%. While improvements to small business rate relief mean many local small businesses won’t be paying any rates, concerns remain. I have raised these with the Minister and I am pleased he is listening. I regularly update my website with information:

https://www.sarahnewton.org.uk/

You can also find details of a consultation on a proposed new national funding formula for schools there. I have long campaigned for fair funding for schools in Cornwall. I am pleased that the Government listened and the current proposals are the second stage of a genuine consultation to get the formula right, including accepting the costs of small rural primaries. I remain determined to ensure that Cornwall’s children and schools get their fair share of funding and am working with Ministers to achieve this.

First published in the West Briton 22/03/17

Government support for Syrian refugees

Britain has a proud record of helping the most vulnerable children who are fleeing conflict and danger, and this Government is committed to upholding this fine tradition.

Our response to the migrant crisis has been to establish resettlement schemes from the region, where we can best target our support to help the most vulnerable. That is why between 2015 – 2020 we will resettle 20,000 Syrians also 3,000 children and their families from the wider region.

In the last year we have granted asylum to over 8,000 children. Of the more than 4,400 individuals resettled through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme so far, around half are children. 3,000 children came through family reunion – the Dublin process, and a further 3,000 came through as unaccompanied children asylum seekers, including from European countries. For example, 900 came from Calais as part of the camp clearance process.

Behind these numbers are vulnerable people so the Government works closely with local authorities to ensure that they have the resources that they need to provide support to unaccompanied migrant children and vulnerable family’s from Syria and the region. Following discussions with local authorities the amount they receive to care for the children was significantly increased to £41,000 a year for under 16s and £33,000 for over 16s.

The Government has been clear that we do not want to incentivise perilous journeys to Europe. The migration crisis is a global challenge and the government works closely with European countries and has provided £70 million to the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

In Syria and the wider region we continue to work with the UN and invest more humanitarian aid than any other country apart from the USA. The UK has pledged £2.3 billion in aid to the Syrian crisis – our largest ever humanitarian response to a single crisis.

First published in the West Briton 15/02/17

Antisocial behaviour in Truro

So another week passes and the people sleeping rough in Truro have not received the help they need. Antisocial behaviour has escalated into a stabbing. What have these unlinked but totally unacceptable incidents got in common? Cornwall Council’s lack of grip and getting their priorities right.

During the same week that Cornwall Council leaders are defending spending more than £500,000 on a risky bid for Truro to be the EU Capital of Culture in 2023, without even securing agreement from the Mayor, a fellow LibDem Cornwall Councillor.

We all support investment in Cornish culture and tourism. Record numbers of tourists visited last year with even more anticipated. Additional investment from the Government since 2010 is significant, £750,000 for the Cornish language alone. Last week, another £100,000 was announced to start a Cornish Culture Fund.

Yes, Cornwall Council is having to make savings, like most other public services, to deal with the record national debt racked up by the last Labour government but that does not excuse them. All elected representatives have to make tough choices, but the LibDems who are the largest group of councillors are failing some of the most vulnerable people in Cornwall, as well as everyone else effected by the resulting criminal activity.

Amongst other things, disproportionate cuts to Cornwall Council’s ‘Supporting People’ funding that helps vulnerable people sustain their tenancies in private and social rented homes have contributed to the present homelessness and anti social behaviour.

So come on Cornwall Council, get your priorities right, stop wasting money and don’t further cutting services that could prevent rough sleeping and crime in Truro. If you really want to help Truro, reverse the planned cuts to Supporting People and spend your considerable resources working more effectively with partners including the Police and NHS to keep people safe.

My Views on Donald Trump

Every country is entitled to set its own immigration policy, control its own borders and do what it thinks is in the best interests of its citizens’ safety. On those issues, no nation should interfere, but the UK has an obligation to speak out and to be a critical friend to the USA because of the ramifications of the President’s Executive order for the internal stability and security of our country and the rest of the world. The order undermines what our Prime Minister said so eloquently in her speech to Republicans of both Houses of Congress last week in Philadelphia about the need not only to defeat Daesh on the battlefield, but to defeat its ideology.

The Executive order is not only wholly counterproductive in combating terrorism and the narrative of Daesh, but could worsen the situation, playing into the hands of those who would see more terrorist atrocities, not less. Those sympathetic to Daesh will link the order to abhorrent recent events—most notably, the burning of a mosque in Texas and tragic shootings at another mosque in Quebec, Canada.

I was delighted that our Prime Minister and President Trump pledged to renew the special relationship between the UK and the USA—a relationship that has proven beneficial for both countries. The uniqueness of the special relationship has meant that the Prime Minister has rightly conveyed her concerns to the President’s Administration, with some success.

If this strategy of calling for a sensible review of the order is to continue, we cannot possibly have a constructive discussion with the President unless we maintain close relations. For this reason, I think we should welcome President Trump to the UK, so that we can engage in meaningful dialogue with our closest ally in the hope of a change of stance.