Growth: a Marvellous Medicine

Growth and Gatwick

Growth was the name of the government’s game last week, resulting in a speech from the Chancellor, and ahead of that, much speculation about expansion of UK airports including Gatwick in West Sussex. 

I have been on the record for some time as sceptical about increasing airport capacity. For Mid Sussex which is a neighbour to the airport there are many people who are impacted each day by the airport’s operations either as employees or as result of noise, pollution and congestion on the roads and trains.

For the last five years or so, Gatwick Airport has been seeking permission from the government to bring the emergency runway into commercial use. A decision by the Transport Secretary is imminent. After a weekend of speculation, on Tuesday, The Speaker granted an Urgent Question which compelled the Aviation Minister Mike Kane MP to come and explain what the government was planning.

It was clear during the questioning that Mr Kane did not want to pre-empt any announcements that the Chancellor had planned for Wednesday on Heathrow, and he also refused to answer questions about possible expansion at Gatwick and Luton, citing live ‘Development Consent Orders’ in with the Planning Inspectorate for both airports. He was left with little to say, and was somewhat on the defensive as a result.

I wanted to challenge the assumption that growing airport capacity results in a boost to the economy. Both the Conservative spokesperson and the minister had said this, but in fact the case is not that clear cut. So I asked the minister to share the evidence for this assertion. As you can see from this clip he chose not to answer my question. 

If you are interested in understanding why I think this is worth probing, then have a look at what the New Economics Foundation has published. Not only does growing the airport sector not grow the economy, but jobs within aviation have not increased in number as passenger numbers have grown, and once you have controlled for inflation, wages haven’t improved either.

Growing Gatwick and other airports flies in the face of our climate goals, and I am concerned that the government is going to push ahead with expansion at Gatwick in order to be seen to be ‘pro growth’ when it is likely that the consequences will be more pollution, more noise, and little benefit to the Sussex economy.

Marvellous Medicine

During January, I visited two life science companies who have operations in Mid Sussex. 

Roche Diagnostics are in Burgess Hill. They are a healthcare company that develops diagnostic tests and medical devices to improve disease detection and treatment from infectious diseases, to cancer to genetic conditions.

CSL Behring are in Haywards Heath. They specialise in developing and manufacturing life-saving biotherapies for rare diseases, including immunodeficiencies, bleeding disorders, and neurological conditions.

There was a great deal for me to learn from those two visits, and I now have a better appreciation of the enormous effort that it takes an organisation to develop and bring a new treatment or test to market. Both Roche and CSL Behring described to me how hard, slow and bureaucratic this is in the UK compared to other jurisdictions that they operate in. This is almost certainly stifling the sector, and whilst larger companies can weather this, it is very hard for smaller organisations to overcome.

In a week that was meant to be about growth, AstraZeneca pulling out of a manufacturing plant is not the news the Chancellor needed. A government determined to grow the economy would do well to look at its support for life sciences and its approach to medicines regulation.

Education latest

Finally a round up on what I have been doing on local education issues. 

UBAT.

Last week I met with the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson MP, and separately, the Department for Education’s Regional Director for the South East. At both meetings I sought clarity on what will happen next now that the University of Brighton Academy Trust (UBAT) has decided to go through a ‘rebrokering’ process. For parents, teachers and pupils at The Burgess Hill Academy, Lindfield Primary and Blackthorns Primary who have been part of UBAT, I know that it will be an unsettling time as each school is assigned to a new multi academy trust (MAT). The Department for Education has a well trodden path for rebrokering schools, but it was also clear that this is a decision that the Department will take alone. It is not a process that members of the public (including me) will be invited to participate in. I would prefer for this process to be more participatory, as I think that will be key to restoring confidence that the schools will be well managed by a future MAT. I will continue to keep lines of communication open with the Department as I represent the interests of each school community during what is a tricky time.

Sixth Form Strikes

I was also able to press the Secretary of State to bring the strikes at some of our sixth forms to a close. I remain concerned that the government has got themselves into a stalemate on this, and whilst the strike days rumble on, students are missing out on their learning. 

Getting in touch

My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch.

Best wishes,
Alison

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