It was great to be back in the constituency for after a busy week for a full day of engagements out and about in North Cornwall. My first visit was to St. Eval to visit one of North Cornwall’s largest employers, the namesake company that makes high-end candles and luxury products. I have not been on a tour of the business for several years and I was very impressed by the huge expansion they have made. I was shown around their new factory, pond and wildlife conservation area, and science labs. It was a fantastic showcase for the fantastic work St. Eval is doing as a business whilst keeping sustainability at the forefront of their minds. My second visit of the week was tree planting with Wildanet. The company has now planted a thousand trees which is a fantastic achievement. I was joined on this visit by my colleague Sheryll Murray, MP for South East Cornwall and it was a really enjoyable day.
As many of you will be aware, the Prime Minister recently set out five key promises to the British people. I’m pleased to report back that we have seen significant progress in the short time since Rishi Sunak laid out his priorities. We promised to halve inflation, and the most recent figures show that it has come down. Of course, there is still a long way to go, but I believe we are on the right track and if we keep working hard, we will achieve the huge drop we all want to see. Hospital waiting times were another of the PM’s priorities and I am also pleased to note that Cornwall’s main hospital, the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske in the top ten nationally for shortest waits A&E. We have also announced £421 million in extra funding for local authorities to boost drug and alcohol treatment in England, reducing pressure on the NHS, improving health and wellbeing across the country, and saving lives. Cornwall’s share will be around £4.4m. Addictions drive around half of all theft, burglary, and robbery, so boosting treatment for addicts and tackling supply and demand for drugs through our ten-year Drugs Strategy will both help cut crime and save lives. That is why we are providing an extra £421 million to 151 councils across England up until 2025 to improve drug and alcohol addiction recovery, creating over 50,000 places in a range of drug and alcohol treatment services. This funding will help more people access the support they need and prevent nearly 1,000 drug-related deaths, while making our streets safer through recovery from the addictions that are known to drive offending, protecting our communities.
