Last week I was in Greenland with the Foreign Affairs Committee. We met the Prime Minister and the Minister for Civil Preparedness to discuss the threats made by President Trump, as well as the malign influence of Russia. While there, we also met climate scientists funded by the UK and took a trip to view retreating glaciers.
The existential threat posed by climate change is not just visible in the Arctic – it is also here in West Dorset. The increased frequency of extreme weather conditions was made clear by the flooding we experienced earlier this year. This is why on Thursday I convened a meeting with Dorset Council, the Environment Agency and Wessex Water to discuss what steps we are taking, and can take, to increase resilience locally. We cannot prevent all flooding, but we must do more to be prepared and to avoid catastrophic cost to homes and the local economy. The council has allocated significant additional funding and is currently consulting on where that money can best be spent to help residents.
Rural policing
Parliament is currently in recess for Easter, which provides me with an opportunity to be in the constituency, uninterrupted by the need to be in London for half the week. I’ve been taking the chance to meet some of our neighbourhood policing teams to discuss combating shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. As with so many of our public services, Dorset Police gets a bad deal when it comes to central government funding: this is because the Treasury funding model does not recognise ‘rurality’. Our constabulary has to police more than 1,000 square miles of countryside with about the same amount of money as a small city receives. It makes visible policing very hard to deliver, but neighbourhood policing is incredibly important. People want ‘Bobbies on the beat’, and we know that where the police have a visible presence on our high streets, shoplifting is reduced. Where police regularly patrol hotspots, anti-social behaviour is less likely to occur.
I will continue to lobby Government for fairer funding for Dorset Police, and also the constabulary to prioritise neighbourhood teams.
Edward Morello
LibDem MP for West Dorset
