Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Tuesday 1st October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We will hear from a Devon knight, I think. Sir Gary Streeter.

[Sir Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

Is not the closure of ATMs linked to the decision by high street banks to close their branches left, right and centre? Will the Minister, in his regular meetings with the chief executives of high street banks, remind them that they do have some duty to elderly customers and small businesses?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Wednesday 13th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

What a pleasure to call a west country knight, no less—Sir Gary Streeter.

[Sir Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

I strongly support DFID Ministers’ approach to the prosperity fund, which looks to promote economic reform in middle-income countries, where 70% of the world’s poorest people live. Are not trade and economic reform still the most effective ways to lift people out of poverty?

Business of the House

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 15th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I join the Leader of the House in congratulating the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff), whose message to colleagues will have been heard and digested.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend seek to install a sense of urgency into Departments, perhaps starting with the Department for Transport? Once again, following heavy rainfall, the line from London to Plymouth has been cut—I hope, temporarily—due to flooding in the Exeter region. There is a plan to fix it, but it is taking far too long, and my constituents are fed up about it—and so am I. Will she please help?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 13th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

I am delighted that my hon. Friend supports the Electoral Commission’s recommendation that registration and identification should be introduced at polling stations. It is now for the Government to respond.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Barry Sheerman. Where is the fella? He has beetled out of the Chamber. That is very unlike the hon. Gentleman. I call Mr David Hanson.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 10th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

My hon. Friend speaks powerfully and with a modicum of common sense, as always. He may well have half a point, but this is not a matter for the Electoral Commission and it is not a matter for me.

[Mr Speaker]

Shame!

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 17th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

The Electoral Commission will continue to get the message across with targeted press releases to English-language papers and radio stations in the countries where there are large numbers of expats, but its predominant means of seeking to do so is through online campaigning and advertising on websites most likely to be read by expats. Of course, all of us who use social media—my hon. Friend is very skilled at using it—can get this simple message across: “You can now register online!”

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman should always be careful not to put divisible propositions to the House. I will leave it there.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

It is important to allow British citizens living abroad to register to vote, but it is also important that they are able to cast that vote and that it can be counted in good time. What discussions is the hon. Gentleman having with the Electoral Commission to improve the ability of people living abroad to have their vote counted?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Streeter]

The multi-media advertising campaign is indeed targeted on groups less likely to be on the register, but it is for our electoral registration officers to decide what campaign they run in their own locality. My advice to all Members of Parliament is to sit down with the ERO in their locality and to make sure that the campaign they are planning for the next six months is adequate and that registration reaches the hardest-to-reach groups.

[Mr Speaker]

I call John Pugh. Not here.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 27th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

The assurances I have received from the Electoral Commission are that the technology will work and that this scheme is ready to run on time. The hon. Gentleman has been a trailblazer, because it is very important that all of us visit our electoral registration offices to discuss with them the plan they have to get people on to the register. He has done that. We should all follow his example.

[Mr Speaker]

Trailblazer Sheerman; well, there’s a thought for the day.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 9th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

Every time—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear the voice of South West Devon.

[Mr Streeter]

Every time we have floods in the far south-west, our vital rail link with the rest of the country is either severed completely or severely disrupted. Is my right hon. Friend confident that, within the existing resources and his excellent existing budget in the Department, sufficient priority is being given to flood prevention measures for vital transport infrastructure?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 21st November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Streeter]

I certainly agree that it is a shocking figure. Many people are working very hard to try to increase the numbers of British people who are registered to vote. There is a target to increase the number of overseas voters who download the registration form for the 2014 European election to three times the number there were in 2009. If we were to increase the 2010 figure threefold, that would take us to about 100,000 downloads in 2015, which would perhaps be much more beneficial.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Mr Barry Sheerman—not here.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 24th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant]

And as my hon. Friend says, that is shocking. Will the commission investigate precisely why we are in this appalling state of affairs, and explain what it is going to do about it?

[Mr Speaker]

Given the illustrious post held by the hon. Member for South West Devon (Mr Streeter), I am not sure it is fitting to wave a pen at him.

[Mr Streeter]

I completely agree and I did feel rather intimidated, although it was only a cheap biro. My hon. Friend raises an important point that many colleagues on all sides of the House have raised over the years, and it is time for action to be taken. Any change in the law or procedure is obviously a matter for the Government and this House, not the Electoral Commission. However, I am persuaded by my hon. Friend’s rhetoric that more needs to be done, perhaps by conducting some qualitative research into why more Brits living abroad do not register to vote. I will make that suggestion to the Electoral Commission, and it will be up to that commission whether to take it forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady has changed her mind. We are saddened. Mr Gary Streeter.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

I thank you, Mr Speaker, and my hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Tessa Munt).

I am glad that the Secretary of State has been to Exeter. From that visit, he will know that the recent floods disrupted the vital train link between the far south-west and London. Will he ensure that any future investment in flood defences takes into account protecting vital transport infrastructure, not just homes and businesses?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

Rather than spending money we do not yet have, would it not be better for the Department to continue to work with the Department for Communities and Local Government and others in unlocking major housing schemes which have become stuck in recent years, such as the proposed new town of Sherford in my constituency? Is that not a better way of building affordable homes and boosting the economy?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Gentleman is a very experienced Member. The question is about using the revenue from the auction —

[Mr Streeter]

I am talking about affordable housing.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. That is the term of—[Interruption.] Order. No assistance is required from the hon. Gentleman. He will accept my ruling and he can like it or lump it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gary Streeter and John Bercow

Tuesday 27th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Brennan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that answer. Individual voter registration is something that the Electoral Commission has always favoured and has passed through this House on the promise that steps would be taken to ensure that it did not impact on the number of people registered to vote. Has he had any discussions with the Commission about what it is going to do to ensure that individual voter registration, which has now been speeded up by the current Government, will not mean that thousands and thousands of extra people are not registered to vote?

[Mr Speaker]

Let me say to the hon. Gentleman and others that there are other questioners. Questions need to be a lot shorter and sharper.

[Mr Streeter]

The Electoral Commission is extremely concerned to maintain the accuracy and completeness of the register, and the hon. Gentleman is right to raise the point. It now awaits the Government’s bringing forward of their proposals on speeding up individual electoral registration. It will then, of course, give its advice to Government in the usual way.