Over the last month, you may have already read about my activities in Parliament within the pages of this newspaper or on the Mercury website. But I wanted to take an opportunity to bring you up to date with some key issues affecting the Great Yarmouth area that I’ve been working on and highlighting to Government ministers.
The biggest, and most difficult, matter is the crazy policy of decanting asylum seekers from processing centres to hotels in tourist areas like Great Yarmouth. I’ve kept up the pressure, with the hope that we will see a swift change in policy, through letters to ministers, parliamentary questions, and meetings with Home Office officials. There is a fundamental failure in how bureaucrats have handled this without proper consultation, giving me and the local authority little or no notice of their intentions. I’ve supported the Borough Council with the legal actions taken to provide at least a temporary stop to the use of hotels within the key tourist areas of our town.
Using tourist hotels does not solve the fundamental problem of human trafficking gangs exploiting vulnerable people and the flow of people smuggling on small boats across the English Channel. In an article, in a national newspaper, I urged the Government to redouble its efforts to force the French Government to tackle this problem at the source – along the Channel Coast in France. I am pleased that the Home Secretary reached an important agreement with our French neighbours to increase patrols and resources in tackling this illegal migration. It is an important start, but we must go further.
I’ve also raised the changes to how renewable energy companies are taxed. I am concerned that this will have unintended consequences of reducing investment within the industry. It’s an important economic sector for Great Yarmouth providing business for local companies and employing local people. We will see what response I receive from ministers but I intend to call a debate on this issue early in the New Year.
Then I’ve tabled questions about sewage discharges into the River Yare, and the impact of Covid on the tourism industry and asked about plans to allow those living in park homes to receive the same help with energy bills as every other household across the constituency.
