It’s true we, the world, have begun to regulate some of the causes, significantly lessening CO2 emissions, but as we know, the harmful effects will be felt for hundreds of years into the future. Just look at what the world has become. Flooding rivers have drowned our small coastal towns, while large areas of the planet are bone-dry and barren, producing nothing. Then there’s the extinction of so many thousands of species, drought eliminating their food supply.
We all remember how the growth of solar power came as a burst on the world in the early years of this century, after we witnessed the beginning of this obliteration of our wildlife. That woke the world with a start, making us take notice of the warnings that had been rippling for years about how badly we were treating the Earth. Of course, some things have already changed for the better - I believe even the Speaker’s wife has acquired a solar-assisted electric bicycle!
Plenty is being done to try to back-track the disastrous lack of attention to the dangers of GW in the early late nineties to the early twenties, but I think we must do more. For instance, we need to look at the way we feed ourselves. We just eat too much meat and too many dairy products, even though we know the devestating effect of methane gas , not to mention how acre-rich is the requirement for growing their food. If we can persuade people to eat less meat, that would go some way to helping the problem. Once we’ve managed that, we might aim even higher, er.. or lower.
Oh dear, I seem to have climbed on that horse again! Anyway, yes, I’m looking forward to this new opportunity.’
The New Term
The Chamber was full. More than full. This was, after all, the first working session of the new parliamentary year and this opening debate would be the first real experience of their new job for three hundred new MPs. The past week of induction had taken them through the theory of working life, but this was the real thing.
The Speaker, no longer a sitting member as in the old days, called the house to order so that he could introduce the list of debates due to happen that day. The first was to be on the economy and would start with a statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a mild-mannered ex-accountant from Cheshire, Greg Baldwin.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to parliament. For those of you who don’t know me I’m Greg Baldwin. I spent the last session shadowing my predecessor and, subject to your continuing approval, I’ll be in this post for the next two years.
The main business of this government continues to be the economy. We are still re-paying our debts built up in the early years of this century and still coping with the world recession that had its roots in that same age. Growth has been very difficult to achieve over this period, when we have had to concentrate on getting the basic structure of our economy in order. Since 2015, ten years ago, the size of the State has reduced from just under fifty percent to thirty while, over the same period, the level of unemployment has remained at around two and a half million. Average wages over the same period have increased by twenty percent, just a fraction more than inflation. The Country stopped living beyond its means in 2015, with the moratorium on new capital expenditure and the drive to reduce the size of the State, but most of the financial benefit has, since then, gone to paying our debts. You should all have received an economic briefing from the Treasury laying out the numbers and, in line with the programme set out at the opening of Parliament on Friday last, I would now like to open a debate in the house. We are, as a nation, finally in a position to be able to start making some real investments in our future. It is proposed that during this session and the next one hundred billion pounds of new money will be available across the board for projects and policies aimed at securing employment for the future.
It is the view of the Treasury, and mine, that our priorities should remain in the field of macro-economic structure. We learnt many years ago that to rely on other countries to do our manufacturing for us not only reduced our own employment base but also left us well and truly up the creek when those manufacturers imploded, and the supplies dried up. The disaster that is now China has been a hard lesson for us and our European partners, and that story still has some way to run. Fortunately for us the resilience and imagination of the ordinary people in our country has helped us to weather the various storms. It is my view that we should now repay the trust they have shown in our Modern Parliament and come up with practical, well costed and controllable development plans.
You will see from the briefing paper that a number of MP’s have tabled specific proposals and I will now hand over to the first of these, the member for Yorkshire East, Joan Brampton.’
The Speaker called for Joan Brampton, the member for Yorkshire East, which, like many, was a new constituency mapped to include an average number of constituents. Joan lived in Malton, a market town under the North York Moors, but had her constituency office in York, the largest centre of population.
‘Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to start the ball rolling with a plea for the rural economy. As with all rural areas of widespread, but small, centres of population poorly connected with public transport East Yorkshire has greatly suffered through the inexorable rise in the cost of fuel and the lack of local employment. At the same time we have suffered from the reduction of financial support for hill farming. My constituents are accepting of the reasons for their difficulties but would now like to see policies enacted that could help them. On behalf of my constituents I would like to propose changes to Planning and Landowning legislation that, I think, will go some way to addressing some of the core problems that prevent a sensible realignment of the rural economy.
Despite the problems of the last two decades, it still remains true that a quarter of resources, such as land and property, of our Country rest in the hands of one percent of the population. In East Yorkshire this is most clearly demonstrated by the vast privately owned estates, unchanged for hundreds of years, that dot the landscape. These Estates add much to our lives, they give work to local people, they guarantee the stunning landscapes that tourists enjoy and they provide a link with our heritage. On the other hand their very presence distorts the local economy. The sheer size of their landholding squeezes the population and, coupled with regressive planning regulation and a second-home economy, leaves the native population struggling to keep its place. My proposition is that special provision should be made for populations that can show a connection to a rural area.
One of the problems is that housing, and housing costs, are too great for the relatively low-waged rural workers. Although house prices have reduced somewhat over the last decade it is still true that, nationally, the average cost of a home is around one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. In my constituency it is even greater, with the holiday home effect. Rental costs are related to the value of property. At the same time a farm worker can only expect to earn about twenty thousand pounds a year. We all know the story. Young families either stay and live in poverty or leave their roots and head for an easier life elsewhere. Many, of course, live in tied houses, or have inherited, and lead relatively idyllic lives. We mustn’t forget that. It’s not all bad news and there are many out there who do not wish things to change.
My proposal is to introduce a requirement for landowners to release under-used sections of their land to an agency, established by parliament, charged with distributing this land to qualifying local people. In my proposal the land will remain under the ownership of the original landowner, who will receive a rent based on the land’s agricultural value only. In most cases this rental will actually represent a net financial benefit for the landowner. The second part of my proposal addresses planning regulations.
For
