I met Thames Water at Conference to review progress with handling surface water, waste water and future drinking water supply.

Thames said they were making good progress with reducing leaks and  installing meters which cut demand. They expected to need a new large reservoir at Abingdon in due course, as a  rising population will need more water despite measures to cut waste and to manage demand.

I am all in favour of making good provision for water, and do not want water to  be rationed by high prices  and restricted supply as it is a necessity for us all.

I asked them to work with Wokingham Borough and West Berkshire on ensuring surface water can be handled when there is persistent and heavy rain. Above all we need to avoid more cases where surface water swells the levels in waste water systems to the point where they overflow.

At Conference I was handed the following figures taken from NAFC Marine Centre Study 2016

EU (ex UK) boats land 10 times more fish from our waters than we land from theirs

14 times more cod and haddock

173 times more herring

16 times more mackerel.

This is a very one sided Common Fishing Policy.

There is growing agreement amongst politicians and their advisers that housing is a central part of the new political battleground. Years of inviting in large numbers of people to live and work in our country against a background of building too few new homes for them and for the natural growth of the settled population has left us short of decent homes at affordable rents or prices.

Some years ago there was a strong establishment view that the UK needed to be more like the rest of the EU with a larger private rented sector. This duly came about as a new generation of private landlords rushed to purchase Buy to Let properties. Frustrated by taxation of other savings and the restless changes made to the taxation of pension plans, many thought owning a Buy to let or two would make provision for their retirement years and represent a good store of value. The establishment  visionaries seemed to think younger people would benefit from renting rather than buying, though most of them making this recommendation were safely housed in a property they had bought at  much lower prices when they were young. They argued that renting was more flexible, and kept the young person free of mortgage debt.

I disagreed at the time with the view that renting was superior to buying. I pointed out renting is bound to be dearer over a lifetime than buying and owning. The longer you delay buying a property, the more rent you pay. You usually end up having to pay much more for the home you do eventually purchase. Rental agreements are not that much more flexible than buying if you sign a commitment to a longish fixed period of paying the rent. Finding a suitable rented property is not intrinsically easier than choosing a place to buy.

The Conservative party needs to commit itself anew to creating a new generation of home owners. Polling shows many people who rent would like to be able to buy their own home. The problem is they do not think they can afford to do so, owing to the high transaction costs, the need to find a large deposit, and the availability of mortgage credit.  In contrast there are few  opeople who own who would rather rent, and of course there is nothing stopping someone who owns from switching to rent if they did wish to do so.

The government can and should do more to lower the transaction costs of buying and selling properties. Lifting more people out of Stamp Duty altogether, or cutting the lower rates would help. To make the market work better the government also needs to see how Stamp Duty and CGT are impeding sales of BTL homes and larger properties owned by people who might otherwise downsize. The older generation include people who have more property than they want, reluctant to sell owing to the tax costs in doing so and buying something smaller. The younger generation includes many people who would like to buy the family homes but cannot afford to.

Getting house prices more in line with wages needs to occur at a sensible pace. Controlling the numbers of people coming to live here each year would help by cutting demand. Encouraging more building, as the government is doing, will assist by expanding supply. The  Chancellor committed himself to helping get real wages up, which also will assist.  The Bank of England and the commercial banks can also help by recognising  that most young people will b e good risks to lend to to buy a home, just as their parents did before them.

I look forward to more positive announcements from the government on how it will transform more dreams of ownership into reality,

At Party Conference in Manchester I had a meeting with the Chief Executive of Heathrow to get up to date on tackling noise nuisance from the airport.

They have now launched their Fly quieter, Fly cleaner programme and publish how different airlines are doing. This is a way to spread better practice and to get airlines with noisy planes to see how they can improve. Actions include avoiding abrupt turns or changes of level, not deploying the undercarriage too early, and staying higher for longer.

They are encouraging faster climb for the noisy Airbus A 380 planes, to reduce noise contours in our area.

They are seeking fewer night flights.

They will soon announce a consultation on the Compton Gate route arrangements. It was changes to this without proper consultation which triggered additional noise for residents of the Wokingham constituency. I will keep people posted, as we need to respond to this document when it issues.

Heathrow is accepting more responsibility in a system where blame can be shunted between airport, airlines, regulators and government.

I will continue to press for more work to cut noise by better flying, limited hours, sensible routes, and getting planes higher sooner and keeping them higher for longer on descent.

I have now read through all the submissions about what we need to prepare to have a smooth Brexit with No Deal.

Most of the worries are ones which have been argued over and discussed endlessly. In many cases I dealt with these worries on this blog before the referendum. Most are general in nature.

I will summarise my response to these old issues below:

What will happen about passported products in financial services?

The most common is the UCIT Investment fund. As these are all registered companies in countries that will remain EU members there is no problem. The UK will retain the contracts to help manage them, whilst the funds will continue to be available throughout the EU. The UK will be happy to allow UK nationals to continue to buy and hold these funds. Other  passported products resident in the UK will be able  to continue under  the  doctrine of regulatory equivalence.

What happens about the future of the City if there is No Deal?

We will be able to trade as do other non EU members, using the doctrine of equivalence and world trade rules.

Will derivative contracts still work?

They should. The market has plenty of advance warning of our departure on 29 March 2019. Markets adjusted easily and rapidly to the abolition of the DM and the introduction of the Euro in 2000 which was  bigger set of changes. As the markets start to offer contracts that go beyond exit date they will reflect this in the contract small print.

Will there be more red tape to export?

No Deal will entail customs filings for tariff based goods for No Deal. This can be an additional line in an electronic filing. Importers and exporters already need paperwork or electronic files to handle product specs, safety and a wide range of compliance maters, which can remain the same.

How can there be a smooth Irish  border?

The UK government has issued a paper on this setting out how. If the EU does not like the UK proposal it needs to make a counter proposal, as its member state the Republic of Ireland is keen on a smooth border continuing ,as is the UK.

Will universities suffer?

No. The government has  made clear there will be plenty of visas for students and faculty members coming from the eu as there are today for non EU. E U funding will be replaced by UK money. The UK may negotiate to continue to contribute to and belong to various European schemes.

Will we reassert our territorial limits and set out a UK fishing policy

That is the current plan