MP pleased Minister had his eyes opened by visit
Liberal Democrat MP for West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Andrew George met with Cabinet Office Minister, Dan Jarvis MP yesterday (16th January) at the Eden Project, and at Helston, in his constituency. Commenting on the visit, Mr George said:
“As our communities work to restore, clear and rebuild, I’m grateful to Resilience Minister, Dan Jarvis MP, for coming to Cornwall yesterday to gather as much as he could of what actually happened rather than what his advisers tell him.
“It was clear he came with an open mind. He had his eyes opened. I don’t doubt his sincere intention to listen and assist. However, having been invited last weekend to an Emergency Ministerial Strategic Response Group meeting, I fear Ministers seem to be surrounded by people who exist in a culture of always presenting reassurance that ‘everything is under control’ and that they’re doing their jobs phenomenally well! It seems Ministerial briefings lean too heavily on optimism.
“I was pleased he heard from people who were and are handling the realities on the ground. To report that: the Red Alert was declared too late: the Emergency Alert wasn’t received by many (or was received after the storm passed); though frontline workers and community volunteers’ actions were heroic, it was difficult to manage when communications collapsed; the elderly and vulnerable were left without support for too long; priority registers of different services didn’t correspond and left many people without assistance; naive faith in modern digital technologies proven to be ill-advised; government funding support (Belgian) formula may not help Scilly and Cornwall; many of our communications – especially broadband – have not been restored and may take many weeks before they do; and the strong sense that if this devastation had been visited on London and the home counties a stronger national response from the government and media would have been forthcoming.
“I’m grateful the Minister visited and I will follow up each of these issues and more with him and other ministers.
“Thank you to all those who have done so much to assist our communities so far.”