Amber Rudd
Main Page: Amber Rudd (Independent - Hastings and Rye)Department Debates - View all Amber Rudd's debates with the Leader of the House
(13 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Vaizey
I hear what the hon. Lady says. The Government have set aside £530 million of funding to increase the roll-out of broadband. We have four pilots already announced that are up and running, and we have received, I think, 25 applications for a second wave of pilots, which we are due to announce at the end of May.
Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye) (Con)
I am sorry to say that many colleagues and Members may have missed the extraordinary sight of nearly 100 Morris dancers, Green men and Bogies up from Hastings to make the point that we do not want to move our bank holiday, because it is so important to tourism and the commercial reality of Hastings. Does the Minister agree that this strength of feeling demonstrates that he should reflect carefully on whether to move that bank holiday?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (John Penrose)
I was delighted to accept a petition from the assembled throng of Morris men, Green men and everyone else from Hastings, and I made the point to them at the time that the Government are determinedly neutral on this issue. We want to consult on the various options. The country has not had a proper debate about this for decades, if not longer, and we are therefore consulting from a neutral position, rather than with a preferred option at this point.