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Michael Foster’s Parliamentary Bulletin

April 2009

Jack in the Green in just around the corner and there are hordes of Morris dancers waiting to descend on Hastings. A sure sign of Spring and the start of season which reminds us all how lucky we are to live by the sea.

As ever this has been a busy month with the Budget and G20 summit amongst other things.

Budget 2009- Building Britain’s Future

Alistair Darling’s 2009 Budget was perhaps the most difficult ever.  We face the tsunami of a world recession but Labour has two objectives:

a) To make that recession shorter and less deep than would otherwise be the case

b) To protect the most vulnerable until we reach recovery.

Labour’s approach of investing rather than cutting its way out of recession is the right one.  We are in unchartered waters; there has never been a world recession of this nature, but what we do know is that by cutting services at this time the situation would be made worse.

So the target has been for the support of employment, including new powers and new resources such as Jobcentre Plus and the Flexible New Deal.  From next year there will be a guaranteed job or training or work placement for every 18-24 year old who has been out of work for 12 months. 

We will also be helping individuals by additional Winter Fuel Payments for those over 60 (more still for the over 80s), by enhancing the Pension Credit limits and by most especially supporting home owners and home buyers with a £600m package.

Supporting the environment too with setting the world’s first carbon budgets and measures to encourage energy efficiency and low carbon growth.

And of course we realise it has to be paid for but we can do that because our national borrowing is much lower than others.  But we still need to increase revenue and that’s why it’s right that we impose a 50p tax rate for those on the highest incomes (above £150,000 a year); it’s right that those with the broadest shoulders should bear the most weight.

The G20 Summit

The London summit delivered major progress as an additional .1 trillion was committed to support the world economy through the crisis and to restore credit, growth and jobs. World leaders also agreed to strengthen financial supervision and regulation, rejected ‘beggar thy neighbour’ protectionist policies and increased funding for the International Monetary Fund so as to ensure support would be available to countries struggling in the crisis. Leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to international development by pledging to meet the Millennium Development Goals and to deliver on development aid pledges.

We face a global financial crisis on a scale never seen before.  And to get the British economy back on track we have to help get the world economy back on track too.  To protect jobs and businesses in Hastings and Rye we needed world leaders to work together to restore confidence, growth and jobs. Thankfully they have agreed the collective action that is necessary to stabilise the world economy and secure recovery and jobs.

Parking in Hastings

I have has asked the County and Borough councils to look again at the car parking arrangements across the Borough and in particular in the Old Town.

I appreciate that the council last year held a consultation and sought to implement arrangements that the majority supported.  I think however we need to look again given the downturn in the economy and the need to support local businesses and more especially the fact that they are now competing with supermarkets that can offer free parking. 

I understand that the County Council are considering reducing the charge for on-street parking in less popular areas and that’s good, but the Old Town seems to have been left out of the equation – that it is ‘too expensive’ to park, both in the local council’s car parks and on-street, and other options are therefore being chosen. 

I would like to see a complete review of the need to charge on Sundays and whilst I understand there is a cost, encouraging the tourist trade is really important, particularly when we are competing with nearby coastal towns.

NHS Health Checks for Over 40s

Starting this April everyone aged over 40 will be invited for a free NHS Health Check. The health check is designed to identify the individual’s risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.

This will ensure people have the right information about their health in order to make important lifestyle changes and reduce their risks of developing diseases like diabetes and coronary heart disease. I think this is a wise move - Preventing ill health is much better than trying to cure someone who is already sick. Screening at a younger age could prevent up to 9,500 heart attacks and strokes and save up to 2,000 lives every year. You get your car MOT’d regularly to prevent anything major going wrong. Our health is precious so I hope everyone takes up the opportunity to get their health MOT’d and stop any major problems before they develop.

Minister comes to see regenerating Hastings  

I recently showed Caroline Flint MP, Labour’s Europe Minister, two major regeneration projects in Hastings which, through EU and Labour government funding, are continuing to help regenerate the town despite the current recession.

Sea Space, the economic development agency for Hastings, received £2.14 million in EU funding for Lacuna Place. This is to enable local firms to expand and to help attract companies to the area, creating jobs. Previously, businesses said there was a severe lack of decent premises in the town. The Queensway Enviro 21 Innovation Parks, which received £7 million of Government funding, will provide an environmentally-friendly business development targeted at companies at the cutting edge of environmental technology.

Both Caroline and I were hugely impressed by what we saw, Hastings can take pride in these development projects.

That concludes my report for April but remember you can always keep up to speed with what I’m doing by logging onto my website www.michaelfoster.org.uk or get in touch with me by emailing mp@1066.net or calling 01424 460070.

With best wishes

Michael Foster DL MP