Debate on the Address

David Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 25th May 2010 Commons Chamber

[David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Con)]

This is my first speech in the House, and I am extremely humbled to be here. I am the newly elected Member of Parliament for Morecambe and Lunesdale, a beautiful constituency backdropped by the Lake district across Morecambe bay and encompassing the area from Sunderland Point all the way up to Silverdale, across to the Yorkshire borders and diagonally through Lancaster back to Sunderland Point.

My predecessor, Geraldine Smith, is a lovely woman and shone particularly brightly in the cockle-picker disaster of about five years ago. I pay tribute to her and wish her well in her future endeavours.

It is strange to stand here after trying to get into the House for 11 years. I have always fought the corner of seaside resorts. A correspondent from The Times, whom I will not name, stated that even though David Morris is a landlubber from a seafaring family, he likes a seat by the seaside, and I have finally got one. On a serious note, I find that seaside resorts have the demographic of an inner city, with all its problems, but a much smaller population. Tourism in this country has declined rapidly over the past 20 years, and in its place there is a lot of deprivation. I should like the coalition Government to do something to address areas of deprivation and the fact that sometimes in the forgotten-about coastal areas, social issues slip through the net. I would like to be a champion for the town of Morecambe and its regeneration plans, and I wish to say here and now that I will always fight the corner of the disadvantaged, not just in Morecambe but in all the other areas of the country that have similar problems.

There is an area in Sunderland Point, in my constituency, that used to be the main port of Lancaster where the slave trade flourished. It was because of an incident there, in which a cabin boy died and was buried in an unmarked grave, that the start of the abolition movement found its way to our House and we were one of the first countries to abolish slavery. The area is like a time capsule—one has to go across to it at low tide, and when one gets there it is like stepping back in time. Under the last Government, the Environment Agency had the criteria for historical recognition withdrawn from the “Hold back the line” coastal defence scheme. As a newly elected MP, I believe that it should be restored, and I will fight to see that it is. Once that area has gone—it is one of probably only two such areas in the whole world—it will be gone for ever. It should be a world heritage site, but it went unrecognised by the previous Government under their plans for coastal initiatives on stopping the tide.

One issue in the Queen’s Speech that I should like to pick up on is the low-carbon energy policy. In my constituency, we have two nuclear power stations side by side, Heysham 1 and Heysham 2. The decommissioning of Heysham 1 has been ordered, and a new power station will, I hope, be built in its place. The power stations are the major employer in the Heysham area of my constituency, which accounts for 20% of the constituency’s electorate. I am pro-nuclear power, as I said I would be from day one on the doorsteps. I will always fight the corner of the nuclear power industry, because I believe it is the future. The House should recognise that, because if we do not, in 10 years’ time the lights will go out.

I also welcome from the Queen’s Speech the fact that localism is starting to be recognised. Again in my constituency, Carnforth station, which some Members will probably know was the setting for the classic movie “Brief Encounter” by David Lean, was left to go to rack and ruin over a period of 30 years. A group of people there called the Carnforth Station and Railway Trust, headed by a gentleman called Peter Yates, started to raise money from the community to restore the station. What is ludicrous about the situation is that Carnforth station is the centre of the railway universe in this country. Everything goes through Carnforth, but it does not stop there. One of my campaigns as a candidate was to say that I would like the Virgin trains to stop there. It is a form of madness that the train stops there for 20 minutes in the morning, afternoon and evening but cannot take on passengers. We are trying to be more efficient in our transport policies in this country—we are trying to get more people on to trains and public transport of all kinds, yet that happens at Carnforth.

Localism has a strong part to play in not only rebuilding the station but amassing the passion to restore the link because Carnforth used to be a west coast main line link stop, but it is no longer one. In the upgrading of the lines that will be unveiled in the course of the Parliament, we should consider Carnforth. It used to be a railway town, where trains were built and serviced, and from where they ran. Its strong heritage should be recognised again.

In my constituency, we have the Lune valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty, yet for some inexplicable reason, wind farms will apparently be planted there if the planners and the companies have their way. I have nothing against renewable energy or wind farms, but I do not want to see them like Martians on the landscape in the middle of areas of outstanding natural beauty. Thankfully, sense has prevailed and wind farms are being placed more out to sea, where the wind comes in. That is common sense.

Much of what has been outlined in the Queen’s Speech applies to my constituency. There has been much criticism of the coalition Government, but in diversity is strength. I represent a very diverse constituency and I repeat that there is strength in diversity. I would like to be the champion of that diversity.

When I was a young man, growing up the 1970s, my father, for whatever reason, could not afford to live in this country. He blamed it on the taxation of the day, so I ended up growing up abroad and I came back in the Thatcher years. In the John Major years, I set up my first business in a recessed town in the north of England, and I made a success of it. That is one of the reasons for my being in Parliament. I can see things that many people cannot—I can see entrepreneurial flair in areas where others might not see it in a month of Sundays. Under Major, I prospered. Over the years, I proudly fought as a candidate under the leadership of my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), who, in my opinion, was the best Prime Minister we never had, and I am proud to say that I am here in this Parliament with my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) as Prime Minister. The coalition Government are the product of the strength and diversity of this country.