Westminster Report - Leigh-on-Sea

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Leigh On Sea News: Westminster Report – BY David Burton-Sampson MP for Southend West & Leigh.

Westminster Report – BY David Burton-Sampson MP for Southend West & Leigh.

BY David Burton-Sampson MP for Southend West & Leigh.

We are really making progress with great new achievements that are going to seriously improve lives in Southend West and Leigh.

One of the most recent was our plan to prevent tooth decay in children with our supervised toothbrushing scheme. Unfortunately, one-in-five children under five suffer from tooth decay, so teaching good toothbrushing habits is really important.

We have also sealed a new deal for GPs with the first new contract for family doctors since Covid. Online booking for appointments should end the 8 a.m. scramble and an extra £889 million will help rebuild general practice.

Good news too for future homeowners in Southend West and Leigh. We are set to ban new leasehold flats and move to a system of home ownership, where people own a share of the buildings they live in as commonhold instead.

Havens Hospices in Southend has been awarded £261,310 by the government to improve their facilities. Hospices perform an incredibly important role and I have supported their work for many years. I am delighted to see this cash boost from the Labour government.

And I welcome the government’s move to hold a water consultation, something very close to my heart, as I campaign to end the scourge of sewage in our estuary. So, if cleaning up our bathing waters is important to you or indeed any other matters relating to the performance of our water companies, then you now have a chance to air your views on creating a water sector fit for the future. I would encourage you to get involved, you have until April 23. https://consult.defra.gov.uk/independent-water-commission/independent-commission-on-the-water-sector-regulat.

To mark the start of Southend’s first City Day, we unveiled the new information boards commemorating the life of Sir David Amess at Chalkwell Lifeguards station. I thought it would be a wonderful idea and a fitting tribute to commemorate the day with newly designed and refreshed information boards that will last for years to come.

The Deputy Mayor hosted the event and unveiled the new boards created in conjunction with the Amess family and funded by the City Council. They will be a permanent tribute to the former MP, who served the community for 24 years and campaigned tirelessly for Southend to become city.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Southend City Day celebrations. It was great fun joining in with art displays, seeing exhibitors, and enjoying some of the many performances. I would like to thank all those involved for organising the fabulous event.

In parliament I hosted an event on behalf of The Payments Association as part of my financial work on parliamentary groups. In the House of Commons I asked the Prime Minister whether he agreed that the 10 year partnership with Ukraine is now more important than ever and I spoke in in the Ukraine debate about my recent visit to the war torn country.

I travelled there as part of a UK delegation on a fact-finding mission as part of my role as Vice Chair of the Ukraine parliamentary group.

My two nights in an air raid shelter, while sirens interrupted our sleep, were exhausting and stressful and reminded me of what the people of Ukraine must endure every day.

While I was there, I met with residents, businesses, hospital staff, injured soldiers, MP’s, Mayors and The Speaker of the Rada (Parliament). We spoke about their country, their work and the challenges they face during this terrible time of war.

It was a very emotional tour. I visited the city of Chernihiv in the north, where the debris of war is everywhere. The city is near the border, and it is under constant attack.

The regional youth centre there was destroyed last year, killing dozens of people during that attack. Unfortunately, they can’t afford to rebuild it yet. The hospital was also hit, and the cancer unit had to move into the main building and in 2022, the Polytechnic University was bombed for the second time.

It helped me realise how stoical the Ukrainians really are. Many issues need to be resolved, but most pressing is the return of the children. Since 2014, children from Ukraine have been stolen and deported. I was told there are 20,000 verified cases of forced deportation recorded; support is needed to trace, return, and rehabilitate these children.

I was lucky enough to meet President Zelensky and exchange a few words at the service to commemorate the third anniversary of the war and it is something I shall never forget. I was impressed by his conviction, his passion and his gratitude for our support.

Ukraine’s people show an incredible amount of resilience, and I was delighted to be able to join them and support them.

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