Depending on whether you are an early and avid reader of this fine magazine, or you have let the politics section languish for a couple of weeks, you will either be waiting for, or chewing over, the Chancellor’s Budget decisions and statement on 6th March. But whichever side of 6th March you read this, the clock is ticking down on the current government – which explains a great deal about the approach the Chancellor appears to be taking. First, let’s recall that it’s only been a few months since the PM promised ’long-term thinking’ and that he was ‘the change we desperately need’. Now, apparently, it’s about short-term thinking to prevent the change we need …
Last week I saw some of the national papers warning us of Jeremy Hunt’s ‘tax sandwich’. This is where some thin – but hopefully sufficiently distracting – tax-cut filling is briefly inserted between two doorstop wedges of highly taxed bread.
One of those bread slices is already in operation, and the other will be applied on the other side of the election – not by a new Labour government but by current Conservative plans already set out to 2027-28.
As the clock continues to tick on the slapstick and dramas of the current government, surely they owe the country a more dignified and competent final act? For a while, there were glimpses of grown-up decision-making, with worthy tax breaks for business investment, but taxes remain at their highest level on record. This is due to a continued freeze on tax thresholds while public services are starved.
The budget should be the opportunity for redemption. Instead, the Whitehall whispers suggest depressingly political tax cuts, shamefully aimed at political survival.
These choices risk making the nation’s long-term challenges harder to fix – much like applying a Band-Aid to a wound that needs stitches.
What choices would I make?
The focus would be on what I see we need in North Dorset and across the UK: prudent spending and investment in public services, infrastructure, health and defence. Giving people back their money is right when other factors are under control, but people are worried about critical, shared public services.
Cutting taxes now is ill-advised. My feeling is that the Chancellor should act more like a doctor and “do no [more] harm”.
Conservative populists who steered the country towards so many cliff edges owe the nation a period of quiet governance on their way out. They must resist the political game playing and fantasy fiscal football.
Gary Jackson
North Dorset Liberal Democrats

Along with the looming spectre of unstoppable climate change, the urgent need to resolve the crisis in Gaza stands out at the moment. The horror of the barbaric Hamas attack in Israel on 7th October last year has been followed by the horrors of Israel’s response, which has continued for months now.
While our Parliament ties itself in knots simply trying to agree how to word the call for an end to it all, innocent Palestinians, many of them women and children, are being slaughtered in their thousands. The UK is complicit while it continues to supply Israel with military equipment. You can’t claim the moral high ground and condemn the authoritarian behaviour of other countries’ rulers while happily making money doing business with them.
I applaud the continuing public protests of many Israelis against the actions of their own hard right government.
A lot of hot air
The right to challenge a government’s actions is one of our most precious fundamental democratic rights, but our present UK government is actively seeking to suppress public protests, especially those of environmental groups. The last thing it wants is for attention to be drawn to its disastrous environmental record, and it only wants protests to be allowed when they are done in such a way that they can easily be ignored.
Scientists began warning decades ago of the dire consequences of global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Since 1995, annual international conferences have generated a lot of hot air but completely failed to stop the steady increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Increasingly desperate protests by concerned citizens have mostly drawn hostility from right-wing media, with the Daily Mail, for example, branding protesters ‘eco-zealots’ and recommending French police tactics of tear gas and baton charges.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 are designed to have a chilling effect on public protests, along with the Government urging judges to prevent protesters telling juries why they are protesting. Now there are proposed amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill.
We’re on a slippery slope, and we lose our right to effective protest at our peril.
Ken Huggins
North Dorset Green Party

Simon Hoare MP’s March musings: championing British farming, lambing season, community advocacy and Government collaboration

For this month’s column I thought I would look at some varied topics rather than a thematic piece.
Farming and food production remains one of the largest part of the UK’s economy – it outstrips the automotive and aeronautical industries by some distance. North Dorset born Dr Luke Evans, MP for Bosworth, launched a campaign in 2023 to persuade supermarkets to have a ‘buy British’ section on their websites. It started small, with just a few of us supporting him, but it grew and took root, with a raft of my Parliamentary colleagues adding their voice. Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Aldi have all now created Buy British tabs on their websites – and we have to hope that other retailers will follow suit. I would encourage readers to write to the chief executives of businesses urging them to do so. Such action would augment and support the recent announcements made by the Prime Minister at the NFU Conference, strongly supporting farming.
Still on the subject of farming – we are on the cusp of lambing season. We dog owners need to remember that our adored companions are not that far removed from the wolf and that latent instincts can kick in. Please please please ensure your dog is on a lead when around livestock. I have seen for myself the mauled carcasses and also the mutilated yet still (barely) alive ewes and lambs that have been attacked by dogs. It’s not pretty. One cannot claim to be an animal lover and then act (or rather not act) in a way that leads to devastating, painful and costly attacks. Please be sensible and cautious.

Blandford ghetto
On the subject of being sensible, I was delighted that the Planning Inspectorate refused the appeal to create a ghettoised caravan park for Ukrainian refugees on open land near Blandford. We have all welcomed Ukrainians fleeing the war as they seek sanctuary from the horror, and we have housed them with families to provide stability, support and comfort.
We have not stuck them in a caravan in some isolated field.
Residents, Blandford Town Council, I and others recognised this proposal for what it was – a not particularly well-disguised Trojan Horse to support a future application for housing development (on a site which has already been explored and rejected for new homes). The Inspectorate listened to our policy-based concerns and dismissed the appeal. It was the wrong scheme, on the wrong site, promoted for entirely the wrong reasons.

A good base
Many of us will be familiar with the phrase ‘joined-up Government’. Sometimes it feels more like an aspiration rather than a way of actually working. Against this backdrop, I thought readers might be interested to hear briefly about my joint work as part of the DHLUC ministerial team with my opposite numbers. We are all concerned about ‘bed blocking’ – people in hospital who are ready to leave but due to delays in their at-home care packages find themselves stuck in hospital. The Department of Health & Social Care and I are working closely to ensure maximum integration between our councils (who provide the care) and the NHS. Likewise I am working very closely with ministers in the Department for Education on issues relating to SEND policy, home-to-school transport and policies towards combating child abuse and exploitation. The role of local government (for which I have ministerial responsibility) is absolutely pivotal, given its place in service provision.
There’s more to do, I know, but steady delivery of joined-up government on policies that really matter to the lives of so many in North Dorset is a good place to begin.

Power of a title
One of the most satisfying parts of an MP’s role is the Advice Surgery. Constituents who have been wrestling with a problem for months come and see me to explain the issue and seek my help. No MP is a miracle worker, but the magical properties that the words Member of Parliament have still amazes me. With those three words, attention is gained and action summoned up.
We can’t solve all of the problems but we do give everyone a damned good try. If you think I can help please email me at [email protected] to arrange an appointment.