As surveys show increased levels of spending using Buy Now Pay Later products including Klarna and Clearpay during lockdown, I’ve joined more than 70 MPs from across parliament and Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert to call on the Government to protect consumers and regulate the Buy Now Pay Later industry.

Brexit

This is the first newsletter I have written with the UK outside the European Union.  December 31^st was a very sad day for many of us when the transition period ended, the UK officially became a “third country” and we lost the freedom to live, work, study and settle down in Europe.  I felt a huge sense of regret and sadness, but I know it isn’t the end. We will pick up the struggle for a future based on closer ties with countries which share our values. We are still European.

The Brexit debate in Parliament

This hardest of Brexit deals, for which there is no mandate, is one that cuts British jobs, sidelines our service sector, undermines hard won protections for the environment, workers’ rights, and consumers, and turns Kent into a diesel-stained monument to hubris and political myopia. 

It’s a deal that condemns us to living in a poorer, more unequal, more isolated Britain. 

And it leaves us less equipped to rise to the greatest challenges we face, the climate and nature emergencies.

CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2020 

At the start of my Christmas newsletter last year, I said it had been a tumultuous year in politics. It’s hard to believe that 2020 has been even more extraordinary in so many ways.  It is a year I think none of us will ever forget.   

The political agenda continues to be dominated by Coronavirus and the Government’s mishandling of the pandemic: the failing test & trace system, the lack of support for so many self-employed people, and the scandalous PPE procurement process to name just a few.  I spoke about some of these issues when I was a guest on the BBC’s Politics Live programme. 

Moving from lockdown to Covid restriction tiers 

The Patchwork Foundation do amazing work promoting, encouraging and supporting the active participation of young people from under-represented, disadvantaged and minority communities in democracy and civil society. 

Their MP of the Year awards celebrate and recognise those MPs that uphold the values of the Foundation, to champion disadvantaged groups.  The awards are adjudicated on by an independent panel who choose a winner from the public nominees. 

Many of you have written to me about the vote tonight on the Government’s new Covid restrictions, some asking me to vote for them, some against. 

Having listened carefully to the evidence, it’s clear that if we allow the virus to spread unchecked, infections would increase exponentially, and we risk the NHS becoming overwhelmed.  Coronavirus remains a serious threat to public health, and that’s why I accept the need for continued restrictions. 

Government’s 10-point plan for climate action 

We have been hearing for weeks that the Prime Minister would be making a major speech on the environment.  In the end, the “major speech” turned into a press release, sent out late at night – and that’s about all it was worth. There were some welcome initiatives, like bringing forward the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, but it completely failed to address the scale of the climate emergency, and there was next to nothing on the nature and biodiversity crisis. 

Boris Johnson
10 Downing Street 

12th November 2020

Re: Fix the failing COVID-19 testing system - petition

Dear Prime Minister

I am writing to share the significant concern expressed by my constituents - and many others around the country - about the performance of the current COVID Test and Trace programme.

Second coronavirus lockdown

The second lockdown has forced the Government to revise its plans to end the furlough scheme at the end of October, and I am glad it has now been extended to the end of March.  But the lack of support for so many of the self-employed is a stain on the Government’s response, and completely undercuts ministers’ claim to be “putting their arms around” everyone.