FROM STEVE
BRINE MP
As the new parliamentary session gets
underway following last month’s Queen’s
Speech (I still take a moment to pinch
myself when Black Rod knocks on the
Commons door!) we are seemingly set for
some passionate debate ahead over
sentencing reform, gay ‘marriage’, the
implementation of the coalition’s welfare
reforms and controversial proposals to
increase the government’s ability to
monitor email, web and social media traffic.
There is also the small matter of House of
Lords reform which threatens the entire
legislative agenda of the coalition.
Personally, I want to see the Lords
reformed but we should start by thinking
what we want a second chamber to
actually do, not what we need to do to it for
the expediency of the coalition. Let's
reduce its size (by allowing retirement and
introducing disqualification), remove the
remaining hereditaries once and for all and
create a really independent appointments
commission. We can do that now and get
on with far more pressing issues facing our
country.
It was good for me and Popcorn to get
down on the farm recently when we paid a
visit to Goscombe Farm in Gundleton to
meet Sarah Jackson and hear about the
challenges of cattle breeding in the current
climate, and running a 350 acre estate,
pretty much single-handed.
I am more than happy to support Sarah in
her push to grow the business and create
new employment in the area and as I do
that I will be reminding local planners of
the clear direction Parliament has given
them to support sustainable growth and
the expansion of business and enterprise
in rural areas. The new National Planning
Policy Framework clearly promotes the
development of agricultural businesses
and sets out the special circumstances for
new dwellings in the countryside,
particularly where there is an essential
need for a worker to live at his or her place
of work.
Finally, I am looking forward again to a
summer of various events (fetes and
festivals galore) in and around Alresford
this year. Things start in ambitious frame
of mind; I am scheduled to meet celebrity
chef Sophie Grigson for her demonstration
at the world-famous Watercress Festival
as Village Voice goes to press. It will be
quite an experience but I am not so sure
Sophie will be calling if things don’t work
out for me in Parliament! June of course
sees the Alresford Music Festival and I
pray for some warm sunshine so I can lie
back on the grass and watch my freespirited daughter Emily dance to her
heart’s content.
Since my last column I have brought the
Prisons Minister to HMP Winchester and
the Education Secretary (Michael Gove) to
Peter Symonds to hear about their
remarkable success again this year in
getting local students into Oxbridge and
the impressive results the college
continues to score in maths tuition. I have
also visited Copenhagen and Norway with
my Justice Select Committee as part of our
inquiry into how we might handle youth
justice issues in the future. Our report will
be out later this year and I will be sure to
report what it says to my constituents,
including via this column.
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