Prime Minister’s Visit to Cornwall
Last week I was pleased to welcome Theresa May on her first visit to Cornwall as Prime Minister. While she is no stranger to Cornwall, it was fantastic that she started her SW tour with a visit to Newquay Airport.
She met with business leaders, including the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership as well as Cornwall Council to discuss plans for local economic growth.
It goes to show how important our Duchy is to her plans of creating a society and an economy that works for everyone.
Connecting Cornwall to the rest of the UK and the world is essential for growing well paid jobs here. I am delighted that the PM recommitted to record levels of investment in our rail and road infrastructure. Air links to Cornwall are important too. While I understand my London colleagues’ concern for their constituents, I support the expansion of Heathrow Airport, so long as we secure a Newquay to Heathrow service at least as good as the one we now have with Gatwick.
I was also delighted to see the government welcome the Bill to reduce homelessness, introduced into Parliament by my Conservative colleague Bob Blackman MP. This is something I campaigned for in the last Parliament and discussed with the Housing Minister when he visited Cornwall recently.
This Bill will significantly reform England’s homelessness legislation, and ensure that more people get the help they need to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. The Bill will place a duty on councils to help people at risk of homelessness secure accommodation before they are threatened with homelessness. Those who are homeless will be supported for 56 days to help find them accommodation.
The Government also announced £40 million additional funding for homelessness prevention.