Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on the success of her campaign. There is a very clear responsibility to ensure that people have free access to cash. Many people rely on it, and it is critical for certain community groups. I will ensure that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has heard her concerns, and that officials contact her office with advice about the courses of action open to her to insist that ATMs are reasonably dispersed across her constituency.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)]

Crime and antisocial behaviour are a big concern across Carshalton and Wallington, particularly violent crime, burglaries and shoplifting. More police officers are on the street and crime is falling across the UK, but under Sadiq Khan’s watch in London, we have seen crime go up, the Met miss its recruitment targets by nearly 1,000 additional officers, and a complete failure to get to grips with major issues plaguing our local communities. Could we have a debate in Government time about how we can better hold the Mayor of London to account, as he seems to not care about Carshalton and Wallington and the crime levels that it faces?

[Penny Mordaunt]

My hon. Friend is not the first hon. Member to raise concerns about the Mayor of London’s performance on crime and, most disturbingly, increasing violent crime. My hon. Friend asks how we can hold the Mayor to account, and whether we should debate that. I would suggest another course of action: vote him out of office.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 11th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady is right that we have been through some very difficult challenges; responding to a global pandemic was one of them. Despite all those difficulties, we still manage to have people in England paying lower tax than people in Scotland and we have managed to have a balanced budget, as opposed to the Scottish National party, which is £2 million adrift over the next four years.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)]

St Helier Hospital has been saved, thankfully. Accident and emergency and maternity services are now protected within the London Borough of Sutton, and a second state-of-the-art hospital is being built in our borough as well. Work is already under way to prepare the land and improvement works are happening at the hospital, but can we have a debate in Government time on the progress in delivering the Government’s new hospital programme and the benefits it has for my constituents in Carshalton and Wallington?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on all he has done to secure the new facilities—I think he has two new healthcare facilities in his local area. He will know how to apply for a debate; I envisage that it would cover not just capital infrastructure, but the massive uplift in healthcare professionals, as it is no good just having bricks and mortar. He will know that we have smashed our manifesto target of recruiting 50,000 new nurses.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 14th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

We have just had the autumn statement, and the hon. Lady will know that the Office for Budget Responsibility said that we have more headroom than had originally been forecast. Only an SNP MP could ask such a question when we are about to hear the Budget of the Scottish National party—a Budget in which it has no plan to pay for the public pay settlements that it has committed to, and which is expected to have a massive black hole.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)]

May I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and all the House staff a very merry Christmas? Carshalton and Wallington residents are excited to see the progress that is being made on the improvements at St Helier Hospital and on the building of a second hospital in Sutton, protecting A&E and maternity services locally. Can we have a debate in Government time to discuss the progress of the new hospital programme?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on all his campaign successes in getting those new facilities. It is not just about the bricks and mortar, but about the healthcare professionals who will operate in them. Having a debate on this matter to look at progress against our capital programmes, and the fact that we have smashed our manifesto commitments on recruiting healthcare professionals, would be a jolly good idea.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 15th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I was in the Chamber for the urgent question. I know the issue has been a concern for many Members over a long period of time, not just because of the recent case, which will have brought the matter to the fore again. We have just had an urgent question, but I can assure the right hon. Lady that my door is always open to discuss the things that are within my gift. I am talking to colleagues about what we can do to alleviate concerns. At the moment, there is little opportunity for Members to bring forward private Members’ Bills, but I am aware of what the possibilities are and I will continue to talk to colleagues to enable them to carry out what they wish.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)]

Residents of Canon Court in Wallington have been fighting for many years with the block’s developer, Weston Homes, which has now reneged on its promise to replace the dangerous cladding on the building and is failing to engage with the leaseholders. May we have a debate in Government time about the rights of leaseholders to hold such developers to account and to have access to remediation that they were promised?

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that point. I am very happy to write to the Department and get them not just to contact the hon. Gentleman, but to make the timetable for that clear. It is important that we give people the information they need to plan, and I am sure that the information will be forthcoming very soon.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)]

It is the case that the ultra low emission zone scandal is getting worse and worse by the day. Not only were the majority of Londoners ignored in the consultation and not only is there a lack of evidence on air quality, but now, according to a freedom of information request and media reports, it appears that the Mayor of London may have lied to the London Assembly. Can we have a debate, in Government time, about the integrity of public consultations—[Interruption.] We can hear Opposition Members groaning, and it is notable that not a single London Labour Member is in the Chamber. May we have a debate about the integrity of public consultations, about holding the Mayor of London to account and about the powers of the London Assembly?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I understand that there are very serious concerns over not just the decision that was made, but how it was arrived at. I thank my hon. Friend for getting those concerns on the record today. The real damage that this is doing to many small businesses across the capital and elsewhere, the knock-on effects on household income and the ability of those companies to get on the front foot are incredibly serious. It is understandable that people want to scrutinise how these decisions were arrived at. I thank him for getting that on the record today.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 1st December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for drawing attention both to the plight of those women and to the very brave women and organisations trying to alleviate that suffering. He will know that we recently hosted an international conference on preventing sexual violence against women, particularly in conflict situations. There is a further Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office questions before the Christmas recess, and I encourage him to raise the issue there too.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)]

Today we mark World AIDS Day. I appreciate that we have a debate on that later today in this Chamber, but, given the huge success of the opt-out HIV testing scheme around the country, can we have a debate during National HIV Testing Week about the success of the programme and how we can expand it further?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am proud that the UK was the first to pledge to end new HIV cases by 2030, and we are determined to be the first country to deliver on that. In just 100 days of this particular service being stood up in 33 hospital A&E departments, it diagnosed 102 people with HIV, as well as finding a further 60 people who knew they were HIV positive but were not engaged with services. We need to ensure that that is standard practice and I put on record my thanks to the healthcare professionals who have made it happen.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 15th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Obviously the only place that people want to travel to is Somerset. The idea that everyone wants to travel to London is, I think, a mistaken one, so I am in agreement with the hon. Gentleman. I think he raises a really important point. These timetabling changes are very difficult, and he is also right that it is important that there are good connections within regions and not just to London, so I will take up his points with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con) [V]]

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Culvers House Primary School in Hackbridge in my Carshalton and Wallington constituency, after pupils wrote to me to raise concerns about the levels of plastic pollution around the world. They told me more about why this issue is so important to them, so can we have a debate about plastic pollution so that we can discuss and hear more about the UK’s efforts to crack down on it?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his assiduous work in his constituency, which I had the pleasure of visiting not that long ago. The Government have done many things, with some inconvenience to consumers. We have accepted the price to be paid in banning plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds, and also in increasing the tax on plastic bags to 10p per bag. The 5p tax has cut usage by 95%, and there will be a new tax coming in from April 2022 for products that do not have at least 30% recycled content, so great steps are being made for unnecessary plastic, but I think he is right to suggest that the subject should be debated, because one should not forget how important it has been to have plastic for personal protective equipment during the course of the pandemic. It is about ensuring that plastic is used for good and essential purposes, and not ones where other materials are available, but I am afraid it will not be a debate in Government time; I think this is another request for the Backbench Business Committee.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

2nd reading & 3rd reading
Thursday 1st July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I have great zeal for ridding this House of EVEL.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)]

The Croydon bottleneck is a major rail junction for the Brighton main line, but also serves suburban London, such as Carshalton and Wallington. Congestion here is causing massive delays and also prevents more frequent rail services from being run to outer London, which the Croydon area remodelling scheme is designed to fix. Can we have a statement from the Department for Transport about Government support for this scheme so that we can deliver additional rail services to Carshalton and Wallington?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Improving track layouts, remodelling the Selhurst triangle and constructing new tracks and two new platforms at East Croydon station would remove the bottleneck, which causes delays and disruption, improving the punctuality and speed of services. As I understand it, Network Rail has consulted on proposals to unblock the Croydon bottleneck and progress is expected later this year. I understand the concern that this must be to my hon. Friend’s constituents as so many of them are likely to be dependent on this service.

Let me say how much I enjoyed visiting my hon. Friend’s constituency recently, going to the Sutton vaccination centre and meeting Wendy, who was the subject of a Commons mention. May I say how surprised I am that he has managed to find something in his constituency that is not the fault of an incompetent Lib Dem-run administration? I hope that next week he will try harder.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con) [V]]

Tomorrow, residents in Carshalton and Wallington and across England will celebrate St George’s Day. Although many celebrations cannot take place this year due to covid restrictions, could we have a debate to mark this day and celebrate all that is great about this green and pleasant land?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

This week is actually a very interesting one for English saints’ days, because the 19th is that of St Alfege, who was murdered by the Danes for refusing to pay extra tax—a saint I have always particularly admired—and the 21st is that of St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had a great row with William Rufus over the powers of the Church against the state. Then of course there is St George, who famously slew the dragon and did other great and noble things, and became our patron saint really in the reign of Edward III. He is the patron of the Order of the Garter as well, and a chivalrous saint, or very much thought to be. We should celebrate and discuss the great history of our nation and the interesting agglomeration of saints who pray for us on a daily basis, praying for the success not just of England but of the whole of the United Kingdom. St Andrew, St David and St Patrick—all the great saints—should be celebrated and commemorated.

Business of the House

Elliot Colburn Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

May I join the hon. Gentleman in wishing the Jewish community a happy Passover? I recall that when studying A-levels I looked in some detail as to whether the last supper was a Passover feast or not. In St John’s gospel it seems not to be, whereas in the synoptic gospels it seems to be. I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s good wishes and for his telling us the first debate in the next Backbench Business Committee business.

[Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con) [V]]

Last week, I was delighted to visit the new vaccination centre at the St Nicholas centre in Sutton, where Carshalton and Wallington residents will soon be invited to come forward to receive their vaccinations. Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking the site matron, Wendy, and all the staff and volunteers who have made this possible? May we have a debate on how we can recognise them and everyone who has stepped up throughout this pandemic?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend is so right to raise this and the incredible work that has been done by staff and volunteers at vaccination centres across the country. I am looking forward next Tuesday to going to the Bath racecourse, which is in my constituency—it is not actually in Bath—for my vaccination. For the record, I am not giving up my racecourse to Bath. I particularly congratulate Wendy, the site matron. She sounds absolutely splendid and deserves the commendation of the House. People like Wendy have played a vital role in the vaccine roll-out, and thanks to their incredible work about 28 million people have now received their first dose across the UK, which is more than half of all adults in our country.