Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee

Debate between Blake Stephenson and Caroline Nokes

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Blake Stephenson (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)]

I congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your election and for taking your place. I thank the House for the warm welcome to the Chamber. I am grateful to be called to make my maiden speech in this debate on second jobs and the modernisation of Parliament. It is a tricky, but important subject, so in preparation I thought I would flick through “Erskine May”. I popped into the Library the other day and did so, and swiftly fell asleep. I came to the swift conclusion that a bit of modernisation in this House would not go amiss. Members will find that I engage in that debate constructively and thoughtfully as we think about how this Parliament and future Parliaments should progress.

I first congratulate the hon. Member for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray)—I have probably not pronounced that correctly, and I apologise not only to him, but to all his constituents—and thank him for that whistlestop tour of his constituency. I think I should take up the offer and go to Edinburgh in August over recess. I thank Members for all the excellent maiden speeches that have come before us. Members have set a high bar, which bodes well for this Parliament.

I am sure that all newly elected Members feel as I do that we have been given a great honour in being elected. I feel that most strongly because Mid Bedfordshire has been my home for 10 years, so I am deeply grateful to the electors who placed their faith in me at the ballot box. Prior to being elected, I had a 15-year career in the City, where I was responsible for compliance and conduct, keeping overenthusiastic traders and lightning-sharp minds in check and ensuring that they stuck to the rules—although perhaps not with your aplomb, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Within the constituency, many people are doing fantastic work in public service, running businesses, farming and investing for the future in their community or their family, or both. I am here to support them all in their aspirations by championing our dynamic economy and opportunities for all.

I pay tribute to my predecessor, who is now the hon. Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern). He is a Bedfordshire lad who returned from London last year to win the long and hard-fought by-election in our county. After working as a maths teacher and at the Bank of England, the hon. Gentleman became the first Labour MP to represent Mid Bedfordshire. He should be very proud of that achievement, and of course I will be very proud if he remains the last Labour Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire.

Except for that recent interruption, Mid Bedfordshire in its various guises has been represented in this place by Whig, Liberal and Conservative MPs. I have some big shoes to fill. Lord Boyd, who represented the constituency from 1931, was a leading advocate for decolonisation and served in Churchill’s post-war Government. Stephen Hastings helped create the circumstances that led to the first steps towards the independence of Zimbabwe. More recently, Lord Lyell, who I believe is still the longest-serving Government Law Officer, was a Member up to 1997. Samuel Whitbread even represented part of the constituency, although I believe he may be more famous for founding a moderately successful brewery.

Many people pass through Bedfordshire on one of our major roads or railway lines—sadly, without a second’s thought for the county. Though lying within one of the smallest counties in England, Mid Bedfordshire has in its borders a beautiful and varied landscape. The outstanding chalk escarpments of the Sundon hills, the Sharpenhoe clappers—I do not know what a clapper is—and the Pegsdon and Barton hills offer stunning views across the county. The Greensand ridge, stretching for 40 miles, offers spectacular high level walking, and in the community forest of Marston vale—one of only 13 in the UK—trees are being planted in the pits dug to supply clay to the nearby Stewartby brickworks: a great example of how we can restore and enhance our local and natural environment.

While commuters may blink and miss it, constituents are deeply passionate about our beautiful countryside, our communities and our heritage. That is why proposals to build thousands of homes on green-belt land near Barton-le-Clay, Silsoe and Gravenhurst have been met with stiff resistance from local action groups, as have proposals to concrete over Steppingley road field, a site on the edge of Flitwick that is home to skylarks, deer, badgers and hares and sits alongside semi-ancient woodland. Similar concerns exist throughout Mid Bedfordshire, whether in the green belt or not, and those communities have my full support. Let us remind ourselves that the green belt is a Labour policy, and one that I am happy to support, but not if, in the words of Lord Prescott, it is one that they intend to build on.

As beautiful as Mid Bedfordshire is, it is not a sleepy hollow. It is within easy reach of Cambridge, Oxford and London. We host the world-class Cranfield University, numerous start-up technology companies, a Nissan research and development site, the Millbrook proving ground—for those who fancy a nice trip on a wobbly road—and Lockheed Martin, which is a significant defence partner working hard to keep us all safe at night. We are home to a vibrant high-tech economy and boundless opportunities to get on. I hope to spend time in this House and at home ensuring that our economy is working for young people from modest backgrounds like mine.

Let me conclude my tour of Bedfordshire by mentioning our county’s son, John Bunyan. He was the legendary puritan evangelist—not quite a man after my own heart—who was famous for writing “The Pilgrim’s Progress” in the 17th century while incarcerated for preaching without a licence. After the Bible, his novel is said to be the most published book in the English language—a record that perhaps one former Member for Mid Bedfordshire is intent on challenging. No doubt, if a ban on second jobs for Members comes to pass, those on both sides of the House may find that they also have a natural flair for writing similarly successful fiction.

We are a large intake of new Members. We have an opportunity to challenge the status quo and to breathe fresh life into our politics. Modernisation must be thoughtful, reflecting a consensus, which certainly emerged in my election campaign, that our politics must improve. But we must recognise that this place needs the experience and knowledge that comes from working in industry, commerce, law and, yes, even in politics, lest we become a House of politicians interested only in the next election, the next poll and the next headline. That is not what the people out there want. They want a competent Government to address the issues that they are concerned about and an effective Opposition to hold that Government to account. I will play my full role in scrutinising the plans that come forward to ensure that the Parliament that I am so proud to be a Member of embodies the standards in public life that the people of Mid Bedfordshire and across the country expect.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Alex Barros-Curtis to make his maiden speech.