“A number of new measures were announced in the budget last month. One I know will be very popular is £420m to fix potholes in England. A £28.8 billion National Roads Fund, paid for by road tax, is also being set up, the largest ever of its kind. Overall this Budget marked a turning point in public finances. Since 2009-2010 the deficit has fallen by four-fifths, from 9.9% to 1.9%. On average, spending on public services will grow 1.2% above inflation a year from next year until 2023-24. This is all brilliant news and I am very pleased that our efforts to combat the deficit over the last eight years are showing results.
Once again UTC Oxfordshire in Didcot is proving itself a trailblazer for secondary schools in the UK. Last month they officially opened a state-of-the-art cryogenics laboratory, in what’s believed to be a first for a UK school. Ahead of the first set of projects in November, students will visit the world-facilities of the Science and Technology Facilities Council – based at Harwell Campus – to find out more about the benefits of and uses for cryogenics.
Congratulations to all those involved in organising the excellent Wantage Literary Festival last month. From talks on history, politics and sport to comedy and gardening tips the festival was by all account a great success. I was very pleased to host Sir Oliver Letwin MP for a wide ranging evening covering British politics from Thatcher to May. Thank you to all who came and asked questions.
It was a great pleasure to open the new headquarters of Oxford Immunotec this month. Based in Milton Park and set up here as a start up in 2004, the company is now worth $450m and is helping fight TB. I was also pleased to visit EMS Physio in Grove and see the progress on Grove Business Park.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any pressing issues that you would like help with. You can contact me on any matter at the House of Commons, SW1A 0AA, dicksonce@parliament.uk or 01235 768 888. Email is the quickest and most reliable way to get in touch, as I keep a very close eye on my emails and can reply very quickly. Details of my activities in Parliament can be read on my website, https://www.vaizey.com. I also send out occasional general interest emails about developments in the Wantage and Didcot Constituency. You can sign up here: http://bit.ly/EdVaizeyMP.”