Prince Philip 1921 – 2021
Royston Smith2021-04-09T15:05:54+00:00Prince Philip 1921 - 2021 Such sad news today. HRH, Duke of Edinburgh, has been a father figure to us all. RIP Prince Philip.
Southampton Awarded £300k to Improve Air Quality
Royston Smith2021-03-15T10:14:28+00:00It is good news that Southampton has been awarded almost £300,000 of funding by the Government to help improve air quality within the city. Southampton City Council has been awarded the funding which will allow it to work in partnership with other local councils to more carefully monitor air quality and to help make [...]
Chancellor Announces a Freeport for Southampton
Royston Smith2021-03-03T14:25:20+00:00It is excellent news that the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced today in his Budget that Southampton has been awarded freeport status. The Solent Freeport will cover sites across the region, including the Port of Southampton and Southampton Airport and will facilitate billions of investment and promises thousands of high quality jobs for the region [...]
Statement on the Fire Safety Bill
Royston Smith2021-02-25T19:23:14+00:00Yesterday there was a debate in the House of Commons on the Fire Safety Bill. I and a fellow MP, Stephen McPartland had tabled a number of amendments to the Bill which sought to ensure that no leaseholder would be held liable for fire safety remediation work. Although unfortunately there was not the opportunity to [...]
Announcement on the Awarding of Grades
Royston Smith2021-02-25T13:08:00+00:00The Education Secretary confirmed yesterday that for upcoming GCSE and A-Level results, teachers will decide the right grades for their students. This decision means that schools will be allowed to independently determine grades, using a combination of mock exams, coursework and essays to best suit the needs of students. Results will be published two weeks [...]
Prime Minister Publishes Roadmap for Lockdown Relaxation
Royston Smith2021-02-22T19:28:59+00:00Earlier the Prime Minister set out his roadmap for relaxing the lockdown restrictions. He set out his plan to relax restrictions carefully and gradually whilst it continues to be safe to do so. He established the earliest dates from when, all being well, it will be possible to relax restrictions. The first two steps will [...]
Times Red Box: Cladding crisis is a living nightmare for thousands of people
Royston Smith2021-02-04T10:56:01+00:00This week I had an article published in The Times on the cladding crisis and how the government now has an opportunity to fix it. Many residents in Southampton have been caught up in this crisis through no fault of their own. You can see the full article which I wrote in support of leaseholders [...]
Update on Free School Food Parcels
Royston Smith2021-01-14T14:03:21+00:00Images have been circulating online of some unacceptable food parcels which have been given to students entitled for free school meals but are not able to attend school. Some were claiming that the food parcels were supposed to feed children for two weeks and were costing the taxpayer £30. Both of these claims are not [...]
Southampton Coronavirus Treatment Enters Next Phase of Clinical Trials
Royston Smith2021-01-13T19:46:18+00:00Trials of the new coronavirus treatment developed by Southampton based company Synairgen at Southampton University Hospital have now moved into the next phase of clinical trials. This new treatment has shown very promising results, reducing the odds that patients in hospital develop serious disease by almost 80% in initial trials. I am pleased that Southampton [...]
New National Lockdown Restrictions – Stay At Home
Royston Smith2021-01-04T20:57:11+00:00The Prime Minister has announced this evening new national lockdown restrictions which will come into force tonight. As back in March this year, everyone must stay at home. I know even tougher restrictions than under Tier 4 are disappointing. All schools which haven’t already will move to online learning from tomorrow, except for vulnerable [...]
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