Truly a week is a long time in politics-could not have been more correct. It was with sadness, I resigned on Wednesday afternoon as Minister for Employment, which I’d held for last 3 years, but I could see no other way forward. A new PM and party leader is being sought and will be in place in early September. I’ll meanwhile continue to be a busy local constituency MP championing our area at every opportunity.
This week sees the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy Bill go through the House. Oil and gas companies have seen extraordinary windfall profits due to global spikes in commodity prices, driven in part by surging demand after the pandemic and Russia’s war. The Government has introduced a new levy which will be charged on profits of oil and gas companies at a rate of 25 per cent, on top of the existing 40 per cent headline rate of corporation tax, raising around £5 billion extra over the next year to support struggling households. The levy will capture a period of high energy prices and phase out when oil and gas prices return to more normal levels.
The remaining stages of the Online Safety Bill are also being debated this week. The Bill delivers on our manifesto commitment to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online by improving protections for users, especially children, whilst vitally protecting the balance of freedom expression.
I recently joined Chiddinglye based Garden Army, a great new charity with big plans for the future that helps people with their mental wellbeing via being busy outdoors and engaging with horticultural therapies and crucially NHS social prescribing.
Last Friday, was the second SussExport, at nearby Wiston House and it was great to have invited businesses and producers from Mid Sussex there. The feedback highlights how beneficial it was to help make new trade connections to aid future planning and boost global sales for our brilliant local businesses and sectors.