FROM STEVE
BRINE MP
A great little Alresford secret is out in the
open after Broad Street based Caracoli won
a national award for its coffee. Barista Dhan
Tamang has won the title of best latte artist
in the country and, as a customer myself
when I am in the town on a Saturday
morning with the kids, I think the judges
chose well. Congratulations to James and
the team.
Now, you don’t hear too much about the ‘Big
Society’ these days but in my opinion it is
stronger than ever – especially here. One
great example locally is a new group I have
been helping, set up to act as a forum for
local parents with children on the autistic
spectrum. The Winchester Autism Group (or
W.A.G. for short) is doing good things and
providing support for a growing number of
my constituents. I joined them recently for
coffee to meet members and hear of their
experiences with the education system and
other public services. If you think W.A.G. can
help you, please get in touch with them via
www.facebook.com/WinchesterAutismGroup
In Parliament we have now received our
work for the next session courtesy of the
Queen’s Speech. My view is, at this stage in
any Parliament (especially given this country
has in my humble opinion too many laws
already) it is tempting to ask Her Majesty to
simply say ‘My Government will ... just get
on with it’ but I guess I remain just a
hopeless romantic. What we have is not a
large legislative programme but some
important Bills to consider.
This Queen’s Speech is all about backing
people who work hard and want to get on in
life. Highlights for me: we will introduce
further reforms to control and reduce
immigration, deterring those who would
abuse our system and we will finally cap
care costs and extend the means test
threshold for financial assistance to ensure
that no-one has to sell their home in their
lifetime to pay for residential care. As a
member of the influential Justice Select
Committee I expect also to have quite a bit
of work around the proposals for the
rehabilitation of offenders and reform of the
probation service. All issues will be much
discussed and reported in coming months.
Finally for this time, I am currently chairing a big
Parliamentary inquiry into breast cancer, its
causes and effects, as well as the way older
women are handled when they develop the
condition, via my role as Chair of the All-Party
Breast Cancer Group. You may be interested to
take a look at my special web-page
www.stevebrine.com/breastcancer and we
launch the report on 17th July in Parliament with
Radio 4’s Jenny Murray.
I hope to see some of you at the Alresford
Music Festival on 8th June; I am working on
a special guest so mum’s the word for now
and let’s pray for sunshine!
Lots more going on - in Winchester and in
Westminster – and you can catch up on
much of it via www.stevebrine.com.
Steve Brine
MP for Winchester & Chandler’s Ford
01962 791110 (constituency)
0207 219 7189 (House of Commons)
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.stevebrine.com
Steve Brine TV: www.stevebrine.tv
Sign up to receive Steve’s email newsletter www.stevebrine.com
17