Category Archives: Politics

Modern liberal conservatism

Weekly round-up #Working4Wycombe

What I have been up to this week #Working4Wycombe: Supported Samaritans’ #BrewMonday to encourage people to have a virtual cup of tea (or coffee!) together to keep in touch with friends and family. You can find this here: https://twitter.com/SteveBakerHW/status/1351135030442135557 Helped raise awareness for Cervical Cancer Prevention Week. You can find this here: https://twitter.com/SteveBakerHW/status/1351543698996269056/photo/1 Highlighted serious human rights abuses in Kashmir & asked the FCDO for a coordinated international effort to have UN human rights officials on both sides of the […]

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Consideration of Lords amendments – Trade Bill

Today the House of Commons is discussing the genocide amendment to the Trade Bill.    There are some appalling atrocities happening around the world – for example, against the Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, the human rights abuses in Kashmir, and there are continuing concerns in Sri Lanka.   But the UN has found itself incapable of responding. We certainly need change.  First, Government should bring in a new UK human rights policy to ensure we can respond unilaterally and multilaterally when gross human rights abuses […]

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Weekly round-up #Working4Wycombe

What I have been up to this week #Working4Wycombe: Spoke in the Government’s response to forced labour in Xinjiang. You can find a summary of this on a Twitter thread and on another blog post: https://twitter.com/stevebakerhw/status/1349062699569864704 and https://www.stevebaker.info/2021/01/the-governments-response-to-forced-labour-in-xinjiang/ Called on Dominic Raab and his colleagues at FCDO to take the situation in Kashmir as seriously as the situation in China. You can watch this in a Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/SteveBakerHW/status/1349319993700331520 Wrote a letter to Nigel Adams in his role as FCDO […]

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The Government’s response to forced labour in Xinjiang

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  •   Jan-12-2021
  •   Politics
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As early as 30 October 2018, I asked the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, “what assessment have the Government made of extremely alarming reports of internment camps for Uyghur Muslims in China?”. This afternoon, the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, detailed the Government’s response to forced labour in Xinjiang.  The evidence of the scale and severity of the human rights violations being perpetrated in Xinjiang against the Uighur Muslims is extensive and harrowing. The Foreign Secretary confirmed these violations include: The extrajudicial detention of over 1 million Uighurs and other minorities […]

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Axing the Tampon Tax – I am glad to set the record straight

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  •   Jan-4-2021
  •   Politics
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My letter to constituents on my role in axing the Tampon Tax follows below. Thank you for writing to me about the abolition of the “Tampon Tax”.  Having fought for it, I am very pleased a zero rate of VAT now applies to women’s sanitary products.  This is part of wider action by this Conservative Government to end period poverty, which includes free sanitary products in schools, colleges and hospitals.  You can find the Government’s announcement here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tampon-tax-abolished-from-today In particular, “The Chancellor […]

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Our response to Covid must be rational and balanced, not driven by panic

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  •   Dec-19-2020
  •   Politics
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The following article was submitted to the Mail on Sunday in our joint names. It was edited in ways which changed its meaning which we positively rejected. The following is the copy we provided as our final version. By Rt Hon Mark Harper MP (Chair of the Covid Recovery Group) and Steve Baker MP (Deputy Chair of the Covid Recovery Group) For those vulnerable to it, Covid is a dangerous disease so it’s vital we control it effectively.  That’s why we […]

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£702,736 in Government funding for cultural organisations in Wycombe

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  •   Dec-15-2020
  •   Politics
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As part of the £1 billion Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF), six cultural sites in Wycombe have received funding through the CRF, totalling £702,736. This money will ensure our arts and heritage sites survive throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The CRF has to date protected at least 75,000 jobs across the arts sector, with 70% of revenue grants and 87% of capital grants allocated outside of London. The programme has been overseen by an independent Culture Recovery Board, made up of industry […]

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Epidemiological predictions – Analysis of prior model failure

Epidemiological predictions – Analysis of prior model failure, a presentation provided to ministers on 26 November 2020 further to this report: Summary of methodological issues in epidemiology, all by Mike Hearn, plan99.net.

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Comprehensive Spending Review 2020

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Today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced his Comprehensive Spending Review. The review set out the Government departments’ resource budgets for the years 2021/22 to 2023/24. Here are some of the Chancellor’s main points: New funding that takes the budget for coronavirus vaccines over £6 billion, part of over £18 billion to fund preventative coronavirus measures An additional £254 million investment to help reduce rough sleeping and homelessness The new £2.9 billion restart scheme to help more than one million […]

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UK-Canada Trade Agreement

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Following my timely question to the Trade Secretary on Thursday, I am delighted that the United Kingdom has secured a trade agreement with Canada, one of our oldest and closest friends. This was agreed on a video call on 21 November between Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and her Canadian counterpart, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng. This trade agreement will: Provide continuity in trade between […]

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Liberty – for peace and prosperity

Steve Baker is the Conservative MP for Wycombe.

Steve was first elected to Parliament in 2010. He was previously an RAF engineer officer then a consulting software engineer. Find out more...

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