We have a very strong military heritage here in Somerset and I held a small fundraising event for Veterans’ Lifeline at the weekend. It’s a great charity and supports people perhaps struggling to adjust to life after working for the Armed Forces which is a career unlike any other. The war in Ukraine and other tensions around the world make it more important that we have an effective global presence, and I would like to put on record our gratitude to every man and woman working to keep our country safe.
It feels like we are facing a fair few challenges at the moment and I am doing what I can to support the Government especially on the economy. We did have some good news that we had some growth in April but in my view we still need to simplify and reduce taxes to incentivise business and jobs and make the state more efficient. Somerset has the potential to be a really strong force in a lot of areas from food production to high tech and hospitality and as the country moves away from being so focused on London there are huge opportunities. The media seem to focus on individuals and I can understand people's interest in them but at the end of the day the things that really matter are competence and delivery against those goals.
There is some debate at the moment about inheritance tax and please do get in touch if you have a view on that. It can certainly be a disincentive to save and work hard but I am also keen to reduce taxes for working people.
I am still working on getting more NHS dental provision in South Somerset and will meet with NHS bosses about it again shortly. I met Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, on Tuesday to discuss it and I have been lobbying the Treasury and Health department to increase the funding for dentists so they are not disadvantaged by having NHS patients. Lots of people have been in touch with me on this issue but I am determined to increase support and make sure those appointments are available.
Finally a short warning to residents of Chard that on June 24th there is the Town Crier competition which promises to be very noisy! It is great that we keep these traditions going though and very best of luck to all involved.