Chris Whiteside's Blog

The government has  launched a new Pension Credit Campaign , encouraging pensioners to check whether they are eligible for an average of £3,500 of support and a backdated £324 Cost of Living Payment if they apply by 18 December 2022. Around 1.4 million pensioners in the UK already claim Pension Credit but many eligible pensioners are still not claiming this support. That is why the goverenment has launched the new Pension Credit Campaign, encouraging pensioners to check whether they can access an average of £3,500 as well as a backdated £324 Cost of Living Payment if they apply by 18 December 2022. Pension Credit tops up pensioners income as well as giving claimants access to other benefits including help with housing costs, council tax or heating bills, helping pensioners with rising costs this winter.

  This week the government announced the   investment of almost £490 million into universities and colleges to give students access to world-class facilities and high-quality training , giving young people the skills they need to succeed. Investing in education and skills will unlock future growth, boost productivity and help build the skilled workforce of the future. That is why the government is investing almost £490 million in extra funding to boost skills training and upgrade colleges and universities across the country – delivering state of the art facilities at 100 colleges and universities, including new medical suites and cutting-edge engineering and science labs. This investment will improve teaching for students – supporting young people as they build their careers and growing the economy by getting them into the high-skilled, high-paying jobs that businesses need.

 

As the debate and discussion continues about the planning approval for Woodhouse Colliery, I thought it would be of interest to revisit my comments to the public inquiry some fourteen months ago. The Inspector who chaired that inquiry did, of course, recommend approval for the mine. My speech in 1991 to the public inquiry This is what I had to say in my verbal evidence on the West Cumbria Mining proposals for a new coal mine at Woodhouse Colliery to produce metallurgical coal to make steel. “Sir I represent the Egremont North & St Bees division on the County Council, an area which includes the locations of the proposed Rail Loading Facility and much of the underground works. I am speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the council.   I am concerned about time given the large number of speakers so I will not repeat everything in my comments previously submitted but concentrate on the main points and issues.   This is a huge and enormously complex application and the ...

 Also meeting on the morning of Tuesday 13th December, this time in Kendal, is the Cumbria Pensions Committee. I would normally attend this, but as it is impossible to be in two places at once I cannot attend the Health Scrutiny Committee in Carlisle and the Pensions Committee in Kendal at the same time. Another councillor will be substituting for me at the Pensions committee. The agenda, and those supporting papers which are in the public domain, can be found by clicking on the link below: Agenda for Cumbria Pensions Committee on Tuesday, 13th December, 2022, 9.30 am | Cumbria County Council

I shall be attending the Cumbria Health Scrutiny Meeting in the Conference Room at Cumbria House, Botchergate, Carlisle, CA1 1RD. on Tuesday, 13th December, 2022 at 10.30 am. The meeting will be open to the public. Two of the main items on the agenda are: Strategies for Digital Patient Records in both North and South Cumbria (this is a lot more important to both patients and staff than it may sound as relying on paper records in the past was incredibly time consuming, expensive and inefficient) Enhanced Acute and Rehabilitation Stroke Services in Lancashire and South Cumbria  The full agenda and supporting papers can be found by clicking on the link below: Agenda for Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 13th December, 2022, 10.30 am | Cumbria County Council

Yesterday the governments of Britain, Italy and Japan announced   a new international coalition to develop the next generation of fighter jets , harnessing the strength of our world-beating defence industry to protect us and our allies.  The security of the United Kingdom will always be of paramount importance to this Government, and we will continue to invest in our defence to guarantee this security for generations to come.  That is why we have announced a new international aerospace coalition, which will see us work with Italy and Japan to use our combined expertise to deliver the next generation of fighter jets, enhanced by new capabilities such as uncrewed aircraft, advanced sensors, cutting-edge weapons, and innovative data systems. This coalition will provide security both at home and in the Indo-Pacific, while creating high-skilled jobs here in the UK.  The UK, Japan and Italy have agreed to launch the Global Combat Air Programme to develop a future fighter...

Russia and Iran  Also in relation to Ukraine: 12,000 sleeping kits 7000 normal cold weather kits 150 heated tents 25,000 extreme cold weather kits As Winter approaches and the temperature plummets in Ukraine, the @BritishArmy provides Ukrainian recruits with extreme cold weather kits.

 

Ukraine has liberated around 54% of the maximum amount of extra territory Russia seized since 24 Feb 2022. Russia now controls around 18% of internationally recognised areas of Ukraine, including the Donbas and Crimea regions under Russian control since 2014.

I was shocked and saddened this week by the death at the age of 51 of my GP, Dr Johan Braber. He will be a huge loss to the NHS in Whitehaven and even more so to his family. I last saw him only a few weeks and I am just stunned that he is no longer with us. Dr Braber came to Britain from the Netherlands 24 years ago, married and settled in West Cumbria and gave two decades of dedicated service to the NHS. I can testify to his hard work, his professionalism, his care for his patients, and his sense of humour. I nearly always write in obituary posts that the person who has died will be missed, but in Dr Braber's case it is particularly true. He leaves a widow and a 19 year old son. Rest in Peace.

I see from The Guardian this morning that the first so-called "local" protest against the Woodhouse Colliery planning decision is being held today in Penrith. For those not familiar with the geography of Cumbria that is 45 miles and an hour's drive away. The people quoted in the article as "local" objectors are not exactly just round the corner, either. Some are from South Lakeland, on the other side of Cumbria. None of the objectors quoted are from the Whitehaven area, or even from Copeland borough.  Two of the "local" objectors quoted can legitimately claim connection with the new Cumberland authority area which will include Whitehaven. One lives in between Aspatria and Wigton, 26 miles and 40 minutes' drive from the Woodhouse Colliery site, the other appears to have a home in the Loweswater / Cockermouth area, probably a little over half an hour's drive away. So the objectors are really stretching the meaning of the word "local." ...

"Objections are met with a shrug on the streets of a town desperate for inward investment and regeneration. "That is because the main objection to West Cumbria Mining's scheme has always been about image rather than substance.  'What sort of a message does it send to the world, ' the critics ask, 'if Britain opens a new coal mine?'   To which Whitehaven's response could be summed up as follows:  'What sort of a message does it send to the people of the North West if Westminster politicians would rather leave them jobless and just carry on importing the very same stuff from Australia, America and even Russia? '  As they instantly point out here in Cumbria, this is not about digging up grubby old thermal coal. This will be quality coking coal for making steel. We are still going to need steel (not least to build all those wind turbines and electric cars). That means we are still going to need coking coal. So what is preferable? Producing (and exp...

"If it suddenly emerged there was a long forgotten coal mine operating in some slightly obscure part of the country - (not Islington, obviously) - and Ministers were planning to close it, every Labour MP would suddenly be up in arms in its defence." ( Dan Hodges on Twitter this evening)

Much local rejoicing in West Cumbria about the decision to approve a metallurgical coal mine, much of which is in my division: much sound and fury from people who think, wrongly in my opinion, that they are defending the planet by opposing it. I was accused of "hair-splitting" on twitter yesterday for making the distinction between thermal coal to burn in power stations, which the UK government wants to consign to history, and coking coal to make steel, The reason for the difference is this There ARE alternatives to using coal in power stations to make electricity , those alternatives are proven, reliable, economic, and indeed, have already been implemented in the UK to such an extent that we can go for hundreds of days at a time without using a single lump of coal to make electricity, and have used very little in the past couple of years. There are NO proven, reliable, economic alternatives to using coal in blast furnaces to make steel , at least not yet, whatever some overo...

The government is   investing almost £490 million into universities and colleges to give students access to world-class facilities and high-quality training , giving young people the skills they need to succeed. Investing in education and skills will unlock future growth, boost productivity and help build the skilled workforce of the future. That is why today the UK government is investing almost £490 million of taxpayers' money in extra funding to boost skills training and upgrade colleges and universities across the country – delivering state of the art facilities at 100 colleges and universities, including new medical suites and cutting-edge engineering and science labs. This will bring benefits to the country which justify investing the taxpayers' money in this way. This investment will improve teaching for students – supporting young people as they build their careers and growing the economy by getting them into the high-skilled, high-paying jobs that businesses need.

The British and American government have   announced a new UK-US energy partnership doubling US gas exports to the UK , bringing down prices and helping to end Europe’s reliance on Russian energy.  Families across the UK are seeing higher energy prices this winter in the face of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine because Europe has been too dependent on Russian energy.  That is why Britain has negotiated and agreed with the USA a new UK-US energy partnership which will double US exports of liquid natural gas to the UK over the next year following the Prime Minister and President Biden’s meeting at the G20 Summit in Indonesia. This partnership will drive down energy prices at a time when families are seeing rising costs and help to end Europe’s reliance on Russian energy in the wake of Putin’s war in Ukraine.

 Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 08 December 2022.

 The irony meter is off the scale: this is Sir Keir Starmer in The Times a while back:

Squadron Leader George "Johnny" Johnson, DFC, MBE, the last survivor of the members of RAF 617 squadron who took part in Operation Chastise, the raid on the German dams during World War two, has died at the age of 101. We have lost one of the last of a generation of heroes. Squadron Leader Johnson, who was born in Lincolnshire and lived in Bristol, was just 21 when he took part as a bomb-aimer in the 1943 operation, known popularly as the Dambusters Raid. The RAF used Avro Lancaster bombers to drop  experimental bouncing bombs developed by the engineering genius Barnes Wallis which could hurdle over the anti-torpedo nets protected the dams in the Ruhr Valley. By destroying the dams, the raid, released huge quantities of water into areas beings used to produce weapons for the Nazi war machine. It was an immensely difficult and dangerous operation and fifty three of the 133 British and Canadian aircrew who took part were killed. The skill and bravery of the pilots who flew at n...

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 07 December 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: http:// ow.ly/Cj6K50LX6NZ #StandWithUkraine

Michael Gove, the secretary of state for Levelling up, Communities and Local government has today approved the West Cumbria Mining planning application for a metallurgical coal mine to produce high quality coking coal for use in steel production. This is specifically not to mine thermal coal to burn in power stations, something that the government has promised to phase out, and therefore does not break that promise: there has been a lot of nonsense talked about this, much of it from people who should know better. As the county councillor for much of the area included in the proposal, I strongly support this decision. It is worth emphasing that Cumbria County Council's planning officers spent years crawling through the proposals for this mine in the most minute detail - and recommended approval. Councillors on the planning committee, voted on this three times, after reading reports running to hundreds of pages and listening to hours of reports, presentations, and representation - an...

The government has   announced the creation of a new Elective Recovery Taskforce and 19 new Community Diagnostic Centres , turbocharging efforts to tackle covid-related NHS backlogs.   In the wake of the covid pandemic the NHS is facing an unprecedented challenge to tackle backlogs and bring down waiting times for patients.  That is why the government has announced a new Elective Recovery Taskforce and the creation of 19 new Community Diagnostic Centres, following record investment into the NHS and social care with our Autumn Statement committing up to an additional £8 billion for health and social care by 2024/25. This will turbocharge the NHS response to covid backlogs, cutting waiting times and ensuring patients get the care they need when they need it.

This week the government has   announced that schools and colleges in England will receive £500 million to improve energy efficiency , helping them to reduce their energy consumption and save on bills.   Schools and colleges are facing much higher energy bills this winter due to Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.  That is why the government has have announced an additional £500 million for schools and colleges in England, helping them to implement energy efficiency upgrades and save on bills, on top of the extra £2 billion of funding for this year and next year announced at the Autumn Statement – the highest real terms spending on schools in history. Education is rightly a top priority for this Government and and the Conservatives will continue to strive to provide every child with a world-class education.

  Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 06 December 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: http:// ow.ly/pHS350LVXtH #StandWithUkraine

 

The government has   announced plans to give workers the right to request flexible working , strengthening workers’ rights and boosting productivity.   Studies have shown that flexible working creates a more diverse working environment, increases financial returns for businesses as well as giving workers more choice.  That is why the government has set out plans to give workers the right to request flexible working including job-sharing, flexitime, and working compressed, annualised, or staggered hours, as we work to strengthen workers’ rights and boost productivity.  This will mean millions of workers will be able to request flexible working from day one of their employment as we move toward making workplaces more productive.