Off the Fence | Penny Mordaunt MP vows to help weather the cost-of-living storm

It was wonderful to see the return of the much-missed Paulsgrove and Wymering Carnival this year. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make it such a success. The terrible years of Covid are behind us and we’re free again to enjoy our summer sporting and social events.

Typical of a British Summer though, there are dark clouds. Covid-19 has left us with a legacy of inflation. How did this happen? During the crisis, governments around the world injected funds into their economies to offset the worst affects of the pandemic. The alternative would’ve been unthinkable – not to invest in a vaccine, not to stand up extra hospital capacity and supplies of ventilators and PPE. Along with the generous furlough subsidies that were made available, it’s not difficult to work out why we have inflation.

Not helped by the war in Ukraine as it supplies the world with a large proportion of its wheat and cooking oils and sanctions applied to Russia have taken a large proportion of the world’s oil off the market.

Helping our Ukrainian friends is still the right thing to do. We will find ways to deal with the impact of the war. In Portsmouth, we’ve always been connected internationally, we know the world can affect us. It’s been the source of so much of our prosperity over the years. We have to take the rough with the smooth.

I will fight this battle alongside you, every inch of the way. When we stand together as a community, we can achieve anything. We stopped Aquind in its tracks. We saved our football club and our lido. We’ve got new schools and flood defences built, despite lack of public funds.

My focus is twofold- get our economy flying and helping you to live well. Requiring us to control public spending, reduce taxation and the costs of living. I know you are feeling the strain via household bills and petrol. Things will be tough as we approach the end of the year, but we will come through it and I will do everything I can to make it easier.

We found the resources and innovation to fight Covid. We must find the resources to fight its legacy too. That is what I will work and campaign for.