A comment on Mims' activities through the week, and the latest news from Parliament.
On numerous occasions I have written in articles and columns, such as this, about my commitment to protecting and enhancing the environment. Here in Eastleigh it is vital that we stand-up for our local woodland areas, watch over our waterways and make ever bigger steps to tackling air pollution; nationally we must support our farmers in their role as stewards for the land that they farm; and internationally, we share a responsibility to rid the seas of plastic, protect the world’s wildlife, and face climate change head on.
The Manifesto upon which I stood in June outlined how, if the Conservatives were to form a Government, it would be our ambition to ensure our environmental world is in a better state than we found it and would take the lead on change.
Just over six months later, and we have propelled forward this work, aligning future farming subsidies with improving the environment, banning harmful pesticides to protect our bees, cutting single-use plastics, banning harmful microbeads, kick-starting the UK Blue Belt programme and banning the ivory trade.
Meanwhile, on animal welfare, we have also committed to increased sentencing for animal abuse and made it compulsory to have CCTV in slaughterhouses.
There will, however, always be more that can be done, and, having met with the former Environment Secretary prior to the election over the Government's 25 Year Plan for the Environment, I was delighted to see it launched by the Prime Minister this month, providing a vision for a greener future.
This landmark plan will see us crackdown on plastics, help wildlife to thrive, be a world leader in environmental protection around the world, deliver a Green Brexit, seek to deliver environmental improvements alongside development and connect people with nature. As you would expect, there is a lot more detail associated with each of these headlines, and to find out more, please head to my website www.mimsdavies.org.uk.
As some of you no doubt have already seen, as part of the Prime Minister's reshuffle, I have been moved to support the PM as an Assistant Whip, and with so much amazing work taking place at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), I am delighted that I will be working closely alongside this Department in particular going forward alongside my role as your constituency MP.
I am proud of my previous work as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and am now keen to get to work on this new challenge.
Please be assured that I will continue to be a diligent and community focused MP and keep on working hard for everybody living in Eastleigh, Hedge End and the local villages, both in the constituency and in Westminster.
As always, I’ll be sure to keep everybody updated via my website, social media, and this column, and if you need to contact me, please do pop me an email or post me a letter.