In recent weeks, I have received many letters from parents and teachers urging me to endorse the Safer Phones Bill which I then committed to do.
This was a private members bill which initially aimed to ban smartphones in schools, raise the online data-sharing age from 13 to 16, and prevent social media companies from exposing children to addictive apps. Unfortunately, the Labour government last Friday effectively ‘gutted’ the bill and it was passed with a mere commitment to conduct further studies and no firm actions. I still agree the original bill’s firm stance on banning phones in classrooms is the correct measure. In an age where digital devices dominate our lives, schools must be safe spaces with no distractions.
With my background in business, I keep a close eye on Westminster from the perspective of how things will help or damage firms – particularly the small enterprises of which West Sussex has many. This week in Parliament sees a particular ‘horror show’ with the Employment Rights Bill which is over 220 pages of new red tape and that is a blatant favouring of trade unions and employment lawyers over British businesses and employees. It will create a rigid labour market, killing economic growth and making it much harder for businesses to take a risk on hiring anyone. It will hurt the most young people trying to get their first foot on the ladder as without a track record that is the point at which someone took a chance on all of us. ‘Day one’rights to sue an employer may sound good to some but will see unemployment rise.
With the sun out at the weekend, I was pleased to join the team at Duncton Speed watch for a shift. Sussex Police’s Operation Downsway against noisy and speeding motorists starts again soon. ‘Thank you’ to all the speed watch volunteers and,motorists, please use our roads safely and with consideration for residents.
