My Private Member’s Bill to reduce the maximum annual increase in pitch fees for park home residents from RPI to CPI passed all its stages in the House of Commons on Friday, November 18.
It is the first time since 1998 that a Backbencher has achieved this which is some consolation that it took me several attempts in earlier years to persuade the Government to agree.
The Bill will now be considered in the House of Lords and, hopefully, will become law in the New Year.

This is good news for thousands of park home residents across Dorset. As Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Park Homes, I recognise that there is still much work to do on their behalf because Government still treats them as a forgotten minority.

Listening to the Autumn Statement setting out the Government’s latest plans for taxes and spending was a grim experience.
The extent of the Chancellor’s attack on the living standards of almost everyone was highlighted by the fact that MPs were left cheering the retention of the triple lock despite both the current Prime Minister and his predecessor having publicly affirmed their commitment to honouring that pledge in the Conservative 2019 General Election manifesto.

Earlier, the Government had inexplicably asked Conservative MPs to abstain on a motion in the House of Commons to honour the Government’s own pledge. As the only Conservative MP who supported that motion, it was gratifying to receive a congratulatory email from a constituent in the following terms: ‘I do like the fact that you are prepared to take a stand for what you believe in. I love a rebel – that is what democracy is all about and it obviously went just a small way towards the Chancellor’s decision. Well done’.

The strong line which Liz Truss rightly took against China is in danger of being weakened by Rishi Sunak.
I, therefore, asked him whether he agreed that: ‘Putin was emboldened to attack Ukraine by the continual appeasement from west democracies over many years’.
I enquired as to why he doesn’t think that a similar appeasement of the Chinese dictatorship will result in a similar disaster. The Prime Minister’s response was: ‘Our approach to China is in complete alignment with the United States, Canada and Australia.
‘It is one that is clear-eyed about the challenges that China poses to our values, interests and economic security, which is why it is right that we take robust action to defend ourselves against that, as we saw with the recent decision on Chinese investment in a sensitive industry in this country’.
Please let me have your assessment on whether you are reassured by the Prime Minister’s response.