Author Archives: John

Happy New Year! The run up to Christmas in Parliament involved a lot of debate about the Levelling Up Bill and changes to the planning system. As Michael Gove’s PPS at the Department for Levelling Up, the rules mean I’ve not been able to comment about this publicly, but the Bill will do many important things, like end the requirement for councils to demonstrate a ‘5-year land supply’ if they have an up-to-date local plan. There was a lot of debate about housing targets set by central government. Targets have their place, but the way in which they have operated has too often forced homes into areas where local people feel they are not needed.
Under the changes, while there will still be central calculations for housing numbers, they will be advisory, and local authorities will determine how many homes can be built, taking into account what should be protected in that area, from the Green Belt to heritage assets.
Areas that have ‘overdelivered’ on their housing numbers, which has often been the case with South Oxfordshire and the Vale, will be able to make the case to lower the number they need to plan for.
The Government will also consult on allowing councils to refuse applications from developers who have built too slowly; end the duty that lets cities impose their housing needs on surrounding areas; and will look at further measures to incentivise brownfield land being built on over greenfield land. These are all things that are very welcome for this area.
As you may have seen I am supporting the new Cornermen initiative down at South Moreton Boxing Club to help tackle mental health problems among men. Too often men bottle up their feelings instead of talking about them and it’s part of the reason they have a higher suicide rate than women. Steve and John are getting men down to the club to try boxing and talking to them while they do it, referring them to services as appropriate. They’ll even pick them up. It’s a very worthwhile cause and I was pleased to get the BBC down to cover it, filming me throw some punches myself!
Some other things in brief. I’ve been campaigning on behalf of the AEAT Pensioners locally and have secured a breakthrough for them – watch this space! I’m working to support access to cash in Wallingford, which has been chosen as 1 of 12 pilot areas for new approaches to access cash. I’ve brought Sharon Gaffka who campaigns on drink spiking, with 16-year-old Niamh, who came to see to campaign against negative behaviour from boys and men, together to join forces and am pleased Sharon will help Niamh. I’ve had a series of enjoyable visits to Parliament from schools like Wallingford School, Drayton Community Primary and Aureus School as well as Ukrainian refugees in recent months – do get in touch if you’d like to bring a group down or if I can help with anything else via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

My work experience campaign has been a great success and I’m very grateful to all of the employers who offered placements to local young people this year. I visited a number of the young people participating while they were on their placements and they had all enjoyed their time. They found the workplaces friendly and felt they had learned new things. The whole point of this campaign was that work experience placements had dried up as a result of Covid and lots of people working from home – but they remain a vital way for young people to learn the skills the workplace needs.
It was standing room only in Westminster for the first meeting of the Community Energy All Party Parliamentary Group, which I chair and which is sponsored by Power for People. As readers know, I am the lead sponsor of the Local Electricity Bill, which is designed to remove the barriers to local generators of renewable energy selling that energy to local people.
The bill now has support from 311 MPs, within touching distance of half of the House of Commons. There was a great atmosphere in the room with people having come from as far as Scotland to attend! The bill has changed significantly as a result of conversations between the campaign team and civil servants and we remain hopeful of seeing it incorporated into other legislation.
Another issue I have campaigned on is anti-social behaviour. In my first couple of years, most of the complaints I received were about anti-social behaviour from unauthorised traveller camps. This is something I raised in the House of Commons as it was frequently accompanied by local people being subjected to abuse, theft and damage to their properties.
In the past few months, I have received increasing complaints about broader anti-social behaviour and crime, including drug dealing and business burglaries. I have made visits to businesses that have been burgled – sometimes repeatedly – and I held a crime summit in Wantage for local people to raise the experiences they’ve been having directly with Thames Valley Police. See my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/davidjohnston4wantage) for updates about the outcomes of this.
We also saw Back British Farming Day this month. I am a regular visitor to the constituency’s first-rate farms – and a regular consumer of their meat and dairy products! – and I see first-hand how hard our farmers work. We should do all we can to support them, not least by buying local wherever possible.
I’ve continued my visits to every kind of organisation we have in the constituency – including sports clubs. I am a big sports fan and have recently been to both Grove Rugby Club and Wantage Town FC games. We have lots of sports clubs in the constituency. They are almost all run by volunteers and act as a great resource for the community – do visit the ones near you when you can.
As ever, if I can help with anything then do please contact me via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

The next Council meeting will be convened in the Village Hall at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 9th November 2022.

Here is the agenda and supporting documents.

I’ve been pleased with the response of local companies to my work experience campaign. We’ve now got a great set of placements happening for over 30 sixth-formers at schools across the constituency, from Wallingford to Faringdon Community College. I’m very grateful to organisations from Oxford Sigma and Hachette UK to Rebellion and Astroscale.

The point of this campaign is work experience is really important to help young people understand the world of work, but placements have dried up due to Covid and lots more people working at home for at least part of their week, meaning young people are not getting the opportunities others used to, particularly disadvantaged young people. I’m hoping this will grow in the years to come.

We were given the shortest time limit for speeches I’ve had yet in my time as an MP this month – 90 seconds each! – in a debate about sewage discharges, secured by a Conservative colleague of mine. The reason for the short time limit was there were 33 MPs present for just a 90 minute debate. It was still enough to make some key points: that we all agree too much sewage is released into our waters – it should be rare but water companies don’t adhere to this – it is not a new problem and it can’t be fixed overnight as the alternative is sewage backing up into people’s homes instead.

It was also important to highlight that the claim MPs voted to allow it to happen have been shown by independent fact-checking organisation, Full Fact, to be false – whichever way the vote in question had gone the sewage would not have stopped. I welcomed the new legal duty the Government has put on water companies to reduce this harm and the £56 billion that is being unlocked by its Storm Overflows Plan to tackle the problem. I particularly welcome that the Government is increasing the maximum fine that can be levied from £250,000 to £250 million.

Sixteen-year-old Niamh from Wantage came to see me about negative behaviour she and her friends have been experiencing from boys and men, including rape ‘jokes’, which adults around them have dismissed as ‘boys will boys’. She is keen to campaign on this area and I am going to help her – I am setting up for her to meet Sharon Gaffka, whose campaign on spiking I have helped and I raised what Niamh had told me in the House of Commons the following week. As I have said before in Parliament, it seems pretty obvious that if we can ensure boys grow up respecting girls, they’re unlikely to become men who disrespect women.

Lastly, I will be hosting a Local Crime Summit with Thames Valley Police in the coming weeks, so constituents can share their concerns about local crime and anti-social behaviour. Details will be published on my website and Facebook soon.

As if ever, if I can help with anything please do contact me via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

A special meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Monday 10th October 2022 in the Village Hall and will start at 7.30 pm.

Residents are very welcome to attend.

Contributions to debates should be through the Chair.

Planned speeches should be no more than 3 minutes and made at the start of an item.

Agenda and relevant documents can be viewed here.

When the announcement was made that Her Majesty had passed away, I cried in the way I do when told someone I am close to has passed away, even though she was not someone I had ever met. It felt like we had lost our anchor, the person who has seemingly always been there to help get us through whatever troubles the country has been facing, most recently Covid.

Parliament does not usually sit on Fridays or Saturdays, but it did so both days in order that MPs could give their tributes. In total across the 2 days, 321 MPs gave their tributes to Her Majesty, including myself, shortly before 10pm on the Friday (you can watch it at www.david-johnston.org.uk). Before that, we received the live broadcast to the nation from our new King in the House of Commons, a perfectly pitched, moving address.

The MP speeches were emotional, funny and heartfelt. Over and over the same themes emerged: that even when you hadn’t met her you felt like you knew her; that she had given an incredible service to our nation; that she was sharp, passionate, selfless and mischievous, with twinkling eyes.

I bounced between different ceremonies in the constituency and in Parliament during the period of mourning, each of them poignant, but none so emotional as filing past Her Majesty’s coffin in Westminster Hall when she was lying-in-state. This truly brought home what had happened, although I think it will take some time to properly sink in yet.

It is a momentous time for our nation and for the Royal Family. Our new King assumes his responsibilities at a time of great sadness for him and his family. I’ve no doubt he will be an excellent King. He has shown in his time as Prince of Wales the care and concern he has for this country and has had decades to learn from Her Majesty (who became Queen at just 25) the best way to conduct the role. May Queen Elizabeth II Rest In Peace and God Save the King.

The period of mourning of course affected the activities that I undertook this month, but around it were still several visits and events, including the Didcot Twinning Association’s reception for the Mayor of Meylan, an area of France Didcot is twinned with, and a fundraising launch for a 14th century chantry window in All Saint’s Church, North Moreton. Two other things to note: September is Alzheimer’s Month and I know a lot of your families – like my own – have been affected by related conditions, so as a ‘Dementia Friend’ I encourage people to take part in activities supporting this. Similarly, the 2nd of October is Silver Sunday, the national day for older people, with plenty of events going on which I have been asked to encourage people to participate in or run. You find out more at https://silversunday.org.uk

As ever, if I can help with anything then do please contact me via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

The next Council meeting will be convened in the Village Hall at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 7th September 2022.

Here is the agenda and supporting documents.

I’m very grateful to the companies that have offered work experience to local young people so far as part of my work experience campaign. They’re from a range of different sectors and highlight the depth and breadth of employment opportunities – and creativity – across the constituency. I have been hosting the young people interested in politics myself – 6 so far – and, given what has been happening in recent weeks, they’ve seen some quite eventful times in Westminster, albeit still at a bit of a distance. It’s clear lots of organisations have got out of the habit of providing work experience as a result of Covid, so if your organisation can help, please do get in touch: I’m arranging placements for October half-term.
You might have seen a debate in parliament has been renamed the Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment Debate. This debate happens just before we go on summer recess and allows us to raise any issues of relevance to our constituencies. Sir David’s contribution was always a tour de force as he could get 30 or so topics into a 4-minute speech, so naming the debate in his memory is a fitting tribute.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t manage anything like 30 topics. I managed to get in a few, including the Didcot Good Neighbour Scheme and my campaigns on GP surgeries, Grove Station, building homes to the latest environmental standards and the Local Electricity Bill, as well as problems constituents have been having with passports and driving licenses (and a couple of other things). But as I said as I started, none of us can get close to what he used to do in that debate.
Recess is its usual mixture of activity: surgery appointments across the constituency and visits to local businesses and charities, alongside attending summer events and the usual casework, door-knocking and planning for the autumn. It’s good to be able to spend a lot more time at home in Didcot – even if it is as hot as it is! – but contrary to what some people suggest, it’s far from a 5-week holiday. I am getting to read more than I usually get to when parliament is sitting, which I very much miss most of the year, and I will have a week abroad for a holiday, but few of us down tools.
By the time I write the next piece we’ll know who the next Prime Minister is. Based on the conversations I’ve been having, I suspect the race is closer than people expect. Whoever wins has a big set of challenges facing them, starting with the cost of living, particularly energy. While I don’t know exactly what each candidate will do if they win, I know whoever does will take further action to support people as every one of us realises how difficult things are.
As ever, if there is anything I can do to help then do please email me via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

As some of you will know, I resigned from my role as PPS to the Department for Education earlier this month. Education is a great passion of mine and I did not take the decision lightly, but I could not defend what was taking place at No 10 this month or indeed these past few months.
When I decided to move from being a charity chief executive to becoming an MP in 2019, most of my family and friends thought I was mad to do so. They are interested in politics and know how much it matters, but they wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole due to the hours, the abuse and the low regard in which many in the public – wrongly in my view – hold politicians.
Politicians should uphold the highest standards and act in a way that is best for the country. We should also consider the politicians who will come after us. It is very important to me that we do all we can to encourage good people into politics so that the country is well served, but events in recent months have made the view of politics and politicians worse and will only put more people off entering it, which I deeply regret. I know some disagree with my decision, but I didn’t believe the Prime Minister could provide the leadership the country currently needs and I think it was the right decision for him to resign.
Such is the funny way things pan out, just before I handed in my resignation, I had a PMQ to deliver. I had arranged to host some of the Ukrainian refugees being hosted in North Moreton at Parliament the previous week and secured them PMQ tickets to sit in the gallery. I had written to the Speaker asking if I could be called on to ask a PMQ that week. I then got word the PM would be abroad for the week I had arranged, so we moved it to the following week. It had been weeks in the planning and now, suddenly, it was one of the most dramatic days for PMQs. I decided to go ahead after I checked with the North Moreton hosts that they were happy with me doing so, which they were – and the refugees they’re hosting were delighted to be referred to. I got a small handful of furious emails from regular correspondents wanting to know why I hadn’t used my PMQ to call on the PM to resign, little realising I had already decided I was going to straight after I had delivered it.
This year’s climate summit was another successful one and I was very pleased to receive input from a range of local and national experts, alongside Alok Sharma and – a particular highlight – children and young people from local primary and secondary schools. If you missed it, you can watch it on my website www.david-johnston.org.uk
As ever, if I can help with anything then do please email me via

As some of you will know, I resigned from my role as PPS to the Department for Education earlier this month. Education is a great passion of mine and I did not take the decision lightly, but I could not defend what was taking place at No 10 this month or indeed these past few months.

When I decided to move from being a charity chief executive to becoming an MP in 2019, most of my family and friends thought I was mad to do so. They are interested in politics and know how much it matters, but they wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole due to the hours, the abuse and the low regard in which many in the public – wrongly in my view – hold politicians.

Politicians should uphold the highest standards and act in a way that is best for the country. We should also consider the politicians who will come after us. It is very important to me that we do all we can to encourage good people into politics so that the country is well served, but events in recent months have made the view of politics and politicians worse and will only put more people off entering it, which I deeply regret. I know some disagree with my decision, but I didn’t believe the Prime Minister could provide the leadership the country currently needs and I think it was the right decision for him to resign.

Such is the funny way things pan out, just before I handed in my resignation, I had a PMQ to deliver. I had arranged to host some of the Ukrainian refugees being hosted in North Moreton at Parliament the previous week and secured them PMQ tickets to sit in the gallery. I had written to the Speaker asking if I could be called on to ask a PMQ that week. I then got word the PM would be abroad for the week I had arranged, so we moved it to the following week. It had been weeks in the planning and now, suddenly, it was one of the most dramatic days for PMQs. I decided to go ahead after I checked with the North Moreton hosts that they were happy with me doing so, which they were – and the refugees they’re hosting were delighted to be referred to. I got a small handful of furious emails from regular correspondents wanting to know why I hadn’t used my PMQ to call on the PM to resign, little realising I had already decided I was going to straight after I had delivered it.

This year’s climate summit was another successful one and I was very pleased to receive input from a range of local and national experts, alongside Alok Sharma and – a particular highlight – children and young people from local primary and secondary schools. If you missed it, you can watch it on my website www.david-johnston.org.uk

As ever, if I can help with anything then do please email me via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

The next Council meeting will be convened in the Village Hall at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 6th July 2022.

Here is the agenda and supporting documents.