International Women�s Day

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Many women in my constituency are doing incredible things, and I am pleased to speak in this debate on International Women�s Day. Judith Ballard, Moira Allen, Molly and Rachel Fitton, and Joy Russell are all leading members of the Save Pawlett Hams action group, who successfully convinced EDF that it should not destroy a beloved local area of natural beauty with an unwanted salt marsh. Rose Stacey is a successful local business owner, who I nominated for an MP HERoes award for her work in our community and the local people she employs.

Niki Miles visited me in Parliament to raise awareness about the dangers of gambling addiction, in memory of her brother Del. Amy Branson, along with her husband Ben, has campaigned on the injustice of sentencing guidelines, in memory of their daughter Bethany who was killed by a drunk driver in 2022. Emma-Elizabeth Murphy is a special constable who brought my attention to the fact that specials cannot request unpaid time off work like magistrates or councillors. She inspired me to table an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, and Labour Members can show their support by co-signing new clause 30.

I particularly want to pay tribute to the Nelson Trust Somerset women�s centre, based in Bridgwater. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Nelson Trust provides one-stop shop support to more than 5,000 women annually, from its network of women�s centres across the south-west and Wales. The centres are safe women-only spaces, provided for women who are experiencing multiple unmet needs, such as homelessness, addiction, mental ill health, domestic and sexual abuse, and familial separation. Having seen the huge difference that the centre makes to some of the most vulnerable women in my constituency, I pay tribute to Gemma Berry and Lorna Griffiths for their incredible work, and for their service not only to women but to our whole community.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

We are working with the Department for Transport. We need to keep communities safe, ensure that proper safety standards are met and tackle antisocial behaviour. I have also seen the work of Staffordshire police, who are using drones to follow riders of dangerous off-road bikes and take action.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Does the Home Secretary agree that it would be easier for the police to tackle antisocial behaviour if they had more support for special constables? The number of special constables has fallen in recent years, particularly since the pandemic. Will she agree to consider amending the Employment Rights Act 1996 to bring special constables within section 50?

[Yvette Cooper]

I agree that special constables can play an important role. Their numbers have dropped by around two thirds over the past 14 years. I think that is damaging, and we want to increase their numbers. We are working with police forces on how best to achieve that so that they can play their part, both on the streets in neighbourhood teams and in supporting other specialist aspects of the police’s work.

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

Ashley Fox Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 10th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Many people in my constituency are angry and frustrated at Britain’s approach to illegal migration. They see hundreds of people every week getting into small boats to cross the channel. Those people pay for a place in a small boat because they know that once they set foot on British soil, there is almost no prospect of their being deported. That is morally wrong. It brings the whole immigration system into disrepute.

Earlier in the debate, the Home Secretary was invited to say how many of those she has deported in the past seven months had arrived in a small boat, and there was no answer. I suspect the reason is that the answer is zero, but no doubt the Minister can provide an answer when she responds.

It is self-evident that most of the migrants standing on beaches in France are not refugees; they are economic migrants. They have not only reached a safe country, but have had to travel through a succession of safe countries to arrive at that beach in France. The National Crime Agency has made it clear that to stop the boats, we need an effective removals and deterrence strategy. The Bill does not deliver that. In fact, it does the opposite: it removes the key deterrents that we had put in place.

The last Government were correct in passing the Illegal Migration Act, which would have stopped those who enter the UK illegally from claiming asylum or being eligible for British citizenship. Twenty days after the election, Labour put it on hold, and it is now repealing those provisions through the Bill. It is a privilege to live in this country and to apply for British citizenship. The Government are removing the barriers to accessing that privilege and are therefore inviting thousands more people to join the queue. That is why the asylum backlog has grown under this Government. That is why the number of people in asylum hotels has risen by 6,000 since the election. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly) stated, this is a seriously under-powered Bill. It actually does very little, and it reveals the Home Secretary’s policy of “smash the gangs” to be just a slogan.

Former chief immigration officer Kevin Saunders said,

“You need a big deterrent to stop the migrants. Forget about the gangs—if you stop the migrants wanting to come to the UK, the gangs won’t exist.”

Unfortunately, the Bill provides no deterrent. In fact, it removes the deterrents that were working. It has no vision for controlling illegal or legal immigration, no plan to protect our borders and no strategy to ensure that those who break the law by coming here illegally are removed quickly and effectively. The Home Secretary claimed this evening that the Government are repealing our legislation because it did not work. Did it not work when we struck landmark deals like the one with Albania, which drastically reduced the number of Albanian migrants arriving via small boats? By making it clear that they would repeal the Rwanda scheme before it started working without coming up with any alternative deterrent, the message that the Labour party has been sending to would-be illegal migrants is, “Come and have a go”. Is it any wonder that illegal crossings are up 30% since the election?

The Government are not in control of the borders, so we Conservative Members will reject the Bill. Our reasoned amendment will give Members a chance to say that we want strong action on illegal immigration.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Monday 13th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Diana Johnson]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the conflicting and competing interests in the Metropolitan police. We have committed to putting police back on the beat through the neighbourhood policing guarantee. A neighbourhood policing team will be in every area. It will be out policing, with intelligence-led, visible patrols, and will ensure officers are protected from being deployed elsewhere. That is part of the guarantee.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

13. What progress her Department has made on closing asylum hotels.

[The Minister for Border Security and Asylum (Dame Angela Eagle)]

The Government are committed to reducing hotel use through reform of the asylum system, including through streamlining asylum processing and establishing the Border Security Command to tackle people smuggling gangs at source. Since the general election, there has been a net increase of six hotels in use, but nine are scheduled for closure by the end of March.

[Sir Ashley Fox]

The Government’s new policy of smashing the gangs has enabled them to close seven asylum hotels, but unfortunately they have had to open another 14. Will the Minister tell us when the number of asylum seekers in hotel accommodation will be lower than when she took office?

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 9th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Matt Vickers]

I could not agree more. There is huge anxiety among businesses about challenges and pressures—whether the national insurance contribution increases on employers or the huge change to small business rate relief affecting small businesses in leisure, hospitality and retail, slashing it from 75% to 40%. These are challenging times, including for very small family businesses, and also, as my hon. Friend points out, for the voluntary sector and many organisations that prop up our communities and play a central role. By perfecting this Bill, we can relieve those anxieties and allow those organisations to follow on with confidence and comply with the measures in the Bill.

I would appreciate some reassurance from the Minister about how he expects to use the powers to change daily penalties. I hope he will demonstrate that the ethos of the Bill is collaboration between the state and private organisations, not the establishment of an increasingly costly financial penalisation system. We believe that would help to settle any underlying anxieties and allow both the Government and venues to focus on working together to ensure that the roll-out of this Bill is the very best it can be.

Amendments 25 and 26 stop the Secretary of State changing qualifying tier amounts by regulation. They are simply designed to provide future certainty to organisations as they work to become compliant with the Bill. They would remove the power of the Secretary of State to lower the threshold for the standard duty premises and enhanced duty premises from 200 and 799 individuals respectively. The current qualification levels have been determined after consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny. These are significant policy choices and I believe the Government have reached this position after listening to that feedback. As I have set out today, the industry and venues are actively supportive of the Bill and actively want to play their part in improving venue security. We worry about the uncertainty caused by the potential of the Secretary of State to change the thresholds for the standard and enhanced duty premises in future. How is that power compatible with allowing the industry to plan long term, in the knowledge that the qualifying criteria for each tier will not change?

We want to ensure that venues have the confidence to commit the required resources to adopting the provisions of the Bill, knowing that the rules will not change suddenly. Impact assessments have shown the challenges that face different types of venues. Smaller venues and lower capacity premises such as places of worship, village halls and community centres showed particular concern about the impact on fellow smaller businesses and their ability to meet the revised requirements within the small resources available to them.

About four in 10—or 39%—of respondents from premises with a capacity of 100 to 299 agreed that those responsible for premises within the standard tier should have a legal obligation to be prepared for a terrorist attack. Nearly half—46%—disagreed and said that only larger premises should have a legal obligation. About half—51%—reported that revised requirements would be difficult to take forward. Six in 10, or 58%, were at least somewhat concerned that the cost of meeting the standard tier requirements would affect their organisation’s financial ability to continue operating. Among those from places of worship or village halls, only around three in 10 agreed that those responsible for premises within the standard tier should have a legal obligation to be prepared for a terrorist attack.

More than 54% of those from village halls and community centres, which typically have a smaller capacity than premises across other sectors—72% had a capacity of 100 to 299—disagreed and said only larger premises should have a legal obligation. Over half of those from places of worship and village halls felt the revised requirement would be difficult to take forward, mainly due to the perceived burden in time and effort. I therefore ask the Minister in what circumstances he would envisage needing to lower the floor for either standard or enhanced duty premises and what consultation would take place before the Government did so.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that proportionality is particularly important? While clearly venues like the Manchester Arena should have a properly worked out plan, it is inappropriate for village halls and church halls to worry about the cost and bureaucracy involved. Can we have the lightest possible touch for those small community venues?

[Matt Vickers]

That is right. The community organisations that are affected, whether parish halls, village halls, churches, or small businesses such as the local pub, are invaluable to, and sit at the heart of, our communities, and it is essential that we protect them. There is a balance between what everyone who supports the Bill wants from these protections, be they on the Opposition or Government Benches, namely to prevent the most horrific atrocities, and ensuring that those businesses and community organisations can continue to exist.

--- Later in debate ---

Let us consider just a few of the smaller venues in my North Cornwall constituency such as the St Kew Inn, St Petroc’s church, Haywood cider farm, the Bosvena Events Arts Theatre in Bodmin and the Old Inn—there are countless others—which host ticketed events. Some are likely to fall close to the 200 threshold, and others may even fall close to the upper 800 threshold and be considered enhanced duty premises, yet many of the smaller venues are run by volunteers or communities with little or no formal training in event management or public protection procedures. The new clause would address that issue directly by ensuring that all venue staff and volunteers, whether they work in a pub, a church hall or a farm shop, would be equipped with the right training to prepare them to keep the public safe.

[Sir Ashley Fox]

On that point, does the hon. Member not think that those volunteers in church halls and other small venues would be put off by the thought of having to go through a training course, implementing a training plan and all the other aspects of new clause 2? While those may be worthy objectives for larger venues, does he really think them desirable for small venues? Does he not perceive the risk that they may put off volunteers who would otherwise freely give of their time?

[Ben Maguire]

I spoke to many venues across my constituency this weekend, and actually they were more put off by the ambiguity of the Bill and the lack of specifics that they will be required to undertake. New clause 2 would give them that clarity and ensure that they knew exactly what was required of them under the Bill.

Respect Orders and Antisocial Behaviour

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dame Diana Johnson]

I hear very clearly that those bikes, along with off-road motorbikes, are a problem up and down the country, and we are looking at that. What we can announce today is that we will be getting rid of the requirement for a warning, but we are certainly considering what else we need to do to ensure that the problem is dealt with properly by the police.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

I welcome the Minister’s commitment to tackling antisocial behaviour. There is a particular problem in Fore Street, in my constituency, where those who abuse drugs and alcohol gather and make a nuisance of themselves. Will she please consider adding Bridgwater to her list of possible candidates for the pilot scheme?

Small Boat Crossings

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dame Angela Eagle]

That is certainly the balance that this Government are aiming to achieve.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

The Minister has said that her policy to smash the criminal gangs will reduce the number of migrants crossing the channel. Can she give the House her estimation of when that policy will start to work?

[Dame Angela Eagle]

I said in an earlier answer that there are no magic wands in this area. Tough operational processing and international co-operation will begin to bear down on this, and work by the National Crime Agency and by prosecutorial authorities, often cross-border in different jurisdictions. The fact that we have made such a good start with international co-operation and the significant shift in attention here will bear down on this, but I will not stand at this Dispatch Box and pretend that there is an easy timeframe or answer for when that will have the effect that we all want it to have. We will bear down on it and we will make progress.

Immigration and Home Affairs

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson) on his excellent maiden speech, and I am pleased to follow him.

It is a great honour to be elected to this House to serve the people of Bridgwater. I thank them for putting their trust in me. Bridgwater is a most diverse constituency. It combines the three historic towns of North Petherton, Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge, and Bridgwater itself. The constituency runs from the coastal villages of Berrow and Brean in the north to the villages of Nether Stowey and Enmore in the foothills of the Quantocks in the west and Middlezoy and Othery on the Somerset levels in the east.

The battle of Sedgemoor was fought near Westonzoyland in 1685. It was the end of Monmouth’s rebellion and we should all be grateful that it was the last battle fought on English soil.

Bridgwater was one of the original boroughs to send elected Members to this House in 1295, although it is not an unbroken record. In the 1868 general election the two Liberal candidates defeated the two Conservative candidates by just 44 votes. Such was the evidence of bribery and corruption—on both sides, I must add—that the two MPs were unseated and the borough disenfranchised. A royal commission later found that over £1,500, more than £200,000 in today’s money, had been spent on bribes. Mr Deputy Speaker, I can assure you that I have paid particular care to my election expenses.

Bridgwater has a radical tradition. One of our most famous sons is Admiral Robert Blake, regarded by many as the father of the Royal Navy. He represented both Bridgwater and Taunton in this House in the 17th century and fought on the side of Parliament in the civil war. Another of my radical predecessors is Vernon Bartlett, who won the seat in the 1938 by-election in what at the time was a remarkable defeat of the Conservative Government. He stood as an independent progressive, endorsed by both the Labour and Liberal parties, opposed to the Munich agreement. In this country, we often credit Winston Churchill for his opposition to the policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany, but it is less remembered that the Labour party under Attlee, Bevin and Dalton was the strongest opponent of that disastrous policy. I am sure that all Members, but especially Labour Members, will be mindful of their party’s proud history of opposing appeasement as this Government decide how to support Ukraine and how best to deter future Russian aggression in Europe.

I pay tribute to my predecessors from the two former constituencies that make up the new seat of Bridgwater. James Heappey is the former Member for Wells. He stood down at the last election, and he is well liked and respected in Burnham and Highbridge. He served with distinction at the Ministry of Defence. He was also a kind and helpful colleague when I was selected as a candidate, and I thank him for his service.

Ian Liddell-Grainger represented Bridgwater and West Somerset for 23 years and is remembered for the support he gave our rural communities following the terrible flooding in Somerset during the winter of 2013-14. Ian visited the affected areas every week and persuaded David Cameron to visit Somerset to witness the devastation for himself. It has not been forgotten that the former Prime Minister turned up without wellington boots. Ian led the campaign for a barrage over the River Parrett, which is now in the early stages of construction. I will continue his work to ensure we dredge our rivers and maintain our defences, so that we minimise the threat of flooding.

I also want to mention Tom King, now Lord King, who represented Bridgwater for 31 years, until 2001. It is a mark of the respect and affection in which he is held that his name was mentioned so many times on the doorstep during my campaign. Tom also wrote a helpful endorsement saying why people should vote for me, which only goes to show how wise he is.

Bridgwater is an industrial town. It has many small businesses, and I will do all I can to support them. We need to encourage entrepreneurial spirit, because that is how we create prosperity for all our citizens. We welcome thousands of tourists every year to enjoy our beautiful Somerset coastline. I want to encourage those tourists to spend longer in Somerset, to visit more of our beautiful countryside and to consume more of the excellent produce from our farmers and growers. Bridgwater is also the home of the Guy Fawkes carnival, the UK’s oldest carnival, and one of the largest illuminated carnival processions in Europe. Hundreds of volunteers work tirelessly to create this fantastic spectacle and to raise thousands of pounds for charity.

Much has been achieved for Bridgwater and for Somerset over the past 14 years. Hinkley Point C is being constructed and will provide secure and low-carbon energy to the whole region for generations. The electricity it produces will power Gravity, the smart campus where Agratas will build one of Europe’s largest gigafactories. These two projects will provide jobs and opportunities for years to come. The town of Bridgwater was awarded £23 million under the previous Government’s town deal initiative. That will fund many important local projects, including restoring our historic docks and refurbishing the arts centre and the town hall theatre, but there is more to do.

I will work with our new police and crime commissioner to tackle the antisocial behaviour that affects our towns. I will campaign to protect Pawlett Hams and stop it being turned into an unwanted salt marsh by the Environment Agency. I will keep the promise I made during the campaign to Aaron Reid, the headteacher of Haygrove school It is one of the top-performing schools in Somerset, but also one of three schools in England built by Caledonian Modular and now condemned as unsafe. The last Government promised to rebuild Haygrove, and I trust that the new Government will honour that promise. I will support the school as we work with the council and the new Government to find a solution that benefits the pupils and staff of Haygrove.

I am proud to have been elected by the people of Bridgwater. I will serve them faithfully and to the best of my ability.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Edward Leigh)]

To make his maiden speech, I call Richard Baker.