So, we now know the two people who are in contention for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, one of whom will become the UK’s Prime Minister in September. I will be keeping a close eye on the hustings throughout the next month, and listening to the views of the Brentwood and Ongar Conservative Association members before casting my final vote.
Although I was disappointed the candidate I backed, Kemi Badenoch, did not make it through to the final two, I’d like to thank all those from this constituency who got in touch to express their support for her, and I am sure she will go on to great things in the not too distant future.
I look forward to working with the person who is elected to lead our party, and to continue making Brexit work and tackling the current cost of living rises in the best way possible for all affected.
In more local news, my praise and thanks to the Essex firefighters who have been working so hard in the last week to tackle a number of field fires caused by the ongoing dry weather and intense heat of the last week. I know farmers across the constituency are keeping a close eye on their farmland, and can only imagine the despair of seeing several hectares of ripe crops going up in smoke, as has happened in Ongar. I also understand fast work in Mountnessing stopped a field of peas being lost, although the hedges and trees dividing the fields were badly damaged.
We all need to do our part in preventing field fires. The obvious start is to avoid lighting any fires or barbecues in or near tinder dry crops, and not discarding lit cigarettes or glass items which might spark a blaze.
On a far larger scale, we need to address the way in which our climate in changing and what we need to do to protect ourselves, now and for future generations. Excellent progress has been made by this Government to strengthen global cooperation in the fight against climate change and, following COP26 last year in the UK, many other countries are following the UK’s lead by committing to net zero emissions, ending their contribution to climate change.
