Valedictory Debate

Andy Carter Excerpts

Friday 24th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Andy Carter (Warrington South) (Con)]

Mr Speaker, I am delighted that you have come back into the Chamber, because it gives me an opportunity to start by saying how delighted I am that your team and my team will be in the Challenge cup final in a few days’ time. I know that your father, in particular, would have been delighted in the Wire taking on the Wigan Warriors.

I have been incredibly humbled this afternoon to sit here among colleagues, friends and people I remember watching on TV when I was not a lot smaller than I am now. They have been truly fantastic servants to this House. I feel that I am a bit of a fraud, really, because I have only been here for four and a half years. It is a remarkable place. I listened with great interest and genuine fondness to the references made to the cross-party support and camaraderie that exist in this place. There is a wonderful spirit that occurs every day when people come to work in this magnificent place. I am regularly stopped in the Warrington South constituency by constituents who ask, “What’s it like to be an MP? What does it feel like?” I can genuinely say that it is the proudest thing that anybody can do. Every day when I walk into this Palace and walk past the statutes of great people of our history, I remember that I am here serving the people who have elected me: the 86,000 people I represent in the Warrington South constituency.

As I have only been here for four and a half years, I will keep my remarks relatively short. I want to go back to before I was elected, because I had never planned to get into politics. In fact, I took the view that, having spent 20-odd years in business, if I got into politics I would probably never get anything done. But that is not the case. You can make a difference. You have to focus your energies and you have to be certain about what you want to achieve. I have looked back over the past four and a half years at the work that this Government have delivered for my constituents, and at the work that I have done to ensure that the people I represent have better lives, and I am incredibly proud.

We focused on improving access to public transport, and we have 105 new zero-emission buses in Warrington, paid for by this Government. I am incredibly proud that people in Warrington travel on public transport at levels not seen for many years. We have also focused on healthcare and broadband, and securing a broadband service for the people of Higher Walton has been an incredible achievement. We have campaigned to strengthen flood defences following the terrible flooding of Storm Christoph in 2021 in the Dallam area.

I have held an annual jobs and apprenticeship fair to help young people find jobs, which has been one of the most rewarding annual events. Each year, a thousand young people come to meet more than 40 local employers and talk about their future with their parents. And it has been brilliant to receive emails afterwards saying, “I am going on an apprenticeship. Thank you for the opportunity.”

I am so pleased that we used the town deal cash not simply to build new buildings, but to help people in the constituency gain new skills. We opened a next-generation health and social care academy, which is training future healthcare assistants and social workers at Warrington and Vale Royal College. We are about to open an advanced construction academy to help the future builders of our homes and settlements get the skills they need.

I have managed to get around every single school in Warrington South over the past four years. I have met every headteacher, and I have spoken to a group of children in every school about democracy and the importance of getting involved with politics as they grow up. I thank the teachers for their efforts. I genuinely appreciate their work, because every school in Warrington South is now good or outstanding, which was not the case when this Government came into office in 2010.

I have not always pushed things forward, as I have sometimes pushed to stop things when constituents have asked for my help. I have opposed development on the green belt, including schemes such as the Six56 distribution centre and the ginormous Stobart distribution centre. Both have gone to a public inquiry because I raised them here in the Chamber of the House of Commons. I quickly proved myself wrong, as you can come to Parliament and make things happen.

I particularly thank the local councillors in Warrington South. When I came to office, we had one Conservative councillor on Warrington Borough Council. Councillor Kath Buckley, who retired a few days ago, is a remarkable woman who fought cancer twice and has flown the flag for conservatism in Warrington for many years. I thank her greatly for all the support she has given to me. I also thank Ken Critchley, Mark Jervis, Linda Butler and Ghazala Chapman, my Warrington South Conservative councillors. Thank you for the work that you have done over the years to fly the flag in Warrington South.

Here in Westminster, I am particularly pleased to have played a small part by serving on a couple of Committees, on Bills with which I have had some involvement outside of this world. The Media Bill, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, and the Online Safety Act 2023, all of which we legislated for in this Parliament, will set the course of this country for the next 20 years.

I have listened to every speech, and nobody has mentioned the people who make us sound and look great on the TV and radio every day. The people who turn on the microphones, twiddle the knobs and push the faders—they will probably cut me off now—do the work to make sure that our constituents at home can see and hear the work that goes on here. I pay particular tribute and thank the team who work behind the glass in this Chamber.

My first question to the Prime Minister back in early 2020 was about funding for the Peace Centre in Warrington. It was set up by Colin and Wendy Parry following the Warrington IRA bomb that took their son Tim and also killed Johnathan Ball. The circumstances were tragic. This speech would not be complete if I did not mention the Peace Foundation, as the Peace Centre moves into a new phase. I am incredibly grateful for the work they have done in the town I represent.

I want to say thank you to my team in Warrington and here in Westminster: Stephen Taylor, who also served as my agent at the last election and who has stayed with me all the way through as my office manager; Stewart Gardiner, my senior caseworker; Lyndsey Olsen, who gave up being a teacher to come and answer letters from parents about schools—I could not have asked for somebody who has more detailed knowledge to help people navigate their way through the SEND system than Lyndsey; James Parker, who has run my office here in Warrington; Julie Groom, who has joined to make sure I turn up at the right events at the right time; and most recently, Alec de Jongh, who has joined and is a bit of a technical whizz—I have discovered I can do things on Facebook I never knew I could do because of his work. They have been an inspiration and support, and I thank them for their hard work. I also thank them on behalf of my constituents for all the casework and the responses they have given to the 31,000 emails or pieces of casework I have received over the last four and a half years.

Finally, I want to thank my wife, Aggie, and my son Harry. I could not have done it without them; they have made a world of difference.

Standing up for our constituency, I think, is the greatest honour we can have here as a Member of Parliament. I am looking forward to getting behind whoever the Warrington Conservatives choose as the new parliamentary candidate for the new Warrington South seat and putting forward the Prime Minister’s clear plan for securing Britain’s future as we move forward to the general election.

Finally, I want to say thank you to the voters in Warrington South who sent me here. The former Defence Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace), said that if the electorate don’t get you, the boundaries will. The boundaries have got me this time; I hope they do not get me next time.