Well what a week! It has been an extraordinary experience over the last few months since being elected but nothing could have led me to anticipate what has happened this week.
Starting with the Budget last Wednesday when the chancellor delivered a package that included £30 billion support for people and businesses affected by the Coronavirus and promised to do more if required, less than a week later he has introduced £330 billion of loans and guarantees to further support business.
The scale of these interventions is eye watering and difficult for anyone to comprehend the magnitude of but we can all recognise that they are very substantial. This is written early Wednesday and we anticipate further interventions directed more towards employees.
The Health Secretary then announced measures supporting the NHS and advising on actions to try and control the spread of the disease. This includes, if you or anyone in your home has a high temperature or a new and continuous cough then you should stay at home for 14 days. If at all possible you should not go out even to buy food and essentials, instead you should ask for assistance with your daily necessities.
There are many false stories circulating on the internet and it is important that you take the correct advice, please use the Government and NHS websites, www.gov.uk and www.nhs.uk, as your primary sources of information. For more local information use www.durham.gov.uk and watch their Facebook and Twitter pages for updates.
Locally the support services are working flat out through their local resilience plans to coordinate and help. Please support them by helping and checking on any neighbours who might require help.
My staff and I are part of this process but it is the normal teams from the NHS, Social Care and the Emergency Services who are the real front line team and we thank them for their extraordinary efforts at this time, bearing in mind that they are people too and will have the same concerns and issues as the rest of us.
Please stay safe and look after yourselves and others.
Paul Howell
Member of Parliament for Sedgefield
