Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I call the Chair of the Transport Committee, Huw Merriman.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

This issue also came up in the Transport Committee session with the Secretary of State. We asked her whether there would be any intervention. She made it clear that it would not be financial, but that all technical assistance would be offered in the hope that there would be a solution similar to that for Teesside International Airport, where the Mayor of the Tees Valley found a solution.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

You’ve got to be joking!

[Huw Merriman]

I ask the Minister, notwithstanding the disrespect from the sidelines, whether she can provide more detail about what that technical assistance could be for those of us in the Chamber who do not think it is a laughing matter.

[Katherine Fletcher]

I thank the Chair of the Select Committee for the question. As I do not have the aviation portfolio, I will not commit from the Dispatch Box to things that are not exactly accurate; I will ask Baroness Vere to write to him with the specifics of the technical assistance. I do know that there have repeated meetings at a number of levels. When it comes to regional airports, he makes a good point. As I outlined in my opening remarks, in Manchester, Liverpool and the Tees Valley, among others, local authorities are investing to support a commercial solution. That option is available to the South Yorkshire mayoral combined authority and to Doncaster Council in this case.

Tributes to Her Late Majesty The Queen

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Friday 9th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

I rise at this sombre time to represent my constituents in East Sussex to send our condolences to the royal family for their deep loss of Her late Majesty the Queen. East Sussex is a county that Her Majesty visited many times. She helped to commemorate the 900th year since the Norman invasion, visiting Pevensey bay where William the Conqueror first landed and then going to Battle town, where the battle of Hastings took place.

For many, we are mourning not only a glorious reign of public service for the past 70 years, but the one constant who glued together our past and the present. That encapsulates the service of Her late Majesty. She represented the historic traditions of the past, but she also sought to champion and support the ideas of the future and of the generations to come. Perhaps I may use Her late Majesty’s link to transport in that regard.

There are many modes where she would be remembered, in land, air and sea, but I will go to the London underground. As a 13-year-old in 1939, the then Princess Elizabeth joined her sister Princess Margaret for her first trip on the London underground. The network’s staff magazine, Pennyfare, reported:

“Both Princesses were greatly interested in the escalators, automatic ticket-machines and automatic doors”.

Despite their status, the princesses sat in a third-class smoking carriage of the District line train.

Thirty years later, a further trip on the underground marked the opening of the Victoria line. There she operated the controls in the cab of the first train on that line, going from Green Park to Oxford Circus. Although the tube line was the first to be operated automatically, the Queen could be said to have been its very first driver.

The Queen took the controls at the front of the train on the opening of the Piccadilly line extension and the docklands light railway. Only this year, we remember her in those amazing photos as she operated an Oyster card at the opening of the Elizabeth line. She truly was an innovator and always interested in innovation.

Many in this Chamber and across the nation and the Commonwealth will not have met Her late Majesty. That matters not; what matters is that we all remember her and keep her as part of us, celebrating her duty to public service, her graciousness, her kindness and her devotion. We will not just keep that with us, but every day demonstrate it, and we will become better in her memory. May Her late Majesty rest in peace. God save the King.

Oral Answers to Questions

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for drawing my attention to that ongoing work. Of course, I will happily look at that work and come back to him, if I may.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to help protect women’s rights in Northern Ireland.

[The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Chris Heaton-Harris)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. This Government support any work undertaken in Northern Ireland to tackle issues that disproportionately affect women. In May, my predecessor made regulations that remove the barriers to ensure that women and girls in Northern Ireland have the same access to healthcare as those in the rest of the UK.

[Huw Merriman]

Despite the lead taken by the Government and the votes of this House, abortion services are still not being commissioned in Northern Ireland. I ask the Secretary of State to give a timeframe for when that will finally occur.

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I will happily write to my hon. Friend with more details about that, but the regulations laid in May take a dual approach. On 20 May, the previous Northern Ireland Secretary wrote to the Health Minister in Northern Ireland requesting that he provide a clear and unambiguous commitment that he will comply with the regulations. There has been lots more action since, about which I will write to my hon. Friend.

Oral Answers to Questions

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The whole House would agree, I hope, that it is quite a thing to sanction parliamentarians, and that is what we are doing, and not only that—just in the past couple of days, we have put forward the biggest package of sanctions against Russia that this country has ever introduced, and we are coming forward with even more. They will have an impact not just on Duma Members and people who voted for the secession of the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, but on the entire Putin regime, and I am glad that the Labour Opposition, at least for now, support the sanctions.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

This is day six for thousands of households across East Sussex who have no power and no water. As we become more and more reliant on electricity, we must become more resilient. Can I ask the Prime Minister to ensure that the utility companies work together, that water companies have to have generators in place so that the water does not fail when the power does, and that local resilience forums are fit for purpose and communicate with their local communities? We need more help on this, Prime Minister—please help us.

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend very much for what he says about people in East Sussex. I know how tough it is for people who have been short of power for days on end, and it is no consolation to them for me to say that 97% of those who lost power have now been reconnected. We are working as fast as we can with local authorities and the electricity companies to ensure that they get their power back, but also to ensure that we build in more resilience for the future.

Living with Covid-19

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Monday 21st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I should have thought that 10 days was quite a lot of notice.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

I agree with the Prime Minister that now is the right time to make these changes, so may I ask him how retaining the passenger locator form can be justified, and may I ask him for a commitment to end it by Easter? That would give the travel industry a much-needed shot in the arm.

[The Prime Minister]

I hear my hon. Friend loud and clear. I have already heard several pleas on that matter today, and I repeat that we will be looking into it before Easter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Thursday 25th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

As is so often the case, the hon. Gentleman is so right in his focus on education. Of course, the Government recognise the importance of education for all our young people, at primary, secondary and tertiary level. That recognition manifests itself in the extra funding that the Government have supplied, through the Department for Education, to the education sector. There is the £3 billion education recovery fund, and I will be very happy to write to the hon. Gentleman with more details about the breakdown of those sums.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

10. What recent assessment the Government have made of the transparency of decisions taken by Government agencies.

[The Minister without Portfolio (Nigel Adams)]

The Cabinet Office’s tailored review programme ran from 2015 to 2020. The programme considered transparency in its review of over 100 bodies. Further, the public bodies reform programme was launched earlier this year. A key output of the programme is a new series of public body reviews, which will focus on four areas of assessment: governance, accountability, efficacy and efficiency.

[Huw Merriman]

I look forward to perhaps participating in those reviews with the Minister, and I thank him for his response.

On a recent trip to Berlin, the Transport Committee heard from German health and transport officials how they had formed the rules on international travel restrictions, the rationale behind them, and how they had explained those rules to the industry, which seemed to be working happily alongside them. In contrast, our own decision makers were, sadly, taken to court in order for those in the UK international travel industry to better understand the rationale. With this new review approach, will it be possible for us to better find a way in which the public and private sector can understand what the rule making and decision making is really about?

[Nigel Adams]

I thank my hon. Friend, the Transport Committee Chairman, for his question. I know how important this issue is to him and to the sector. Ministers and officials have engaged extensively with the aviation and travel industries throughout the pandemic, including through our global travel taskforce report, which set the framework for the safe return of international travel. The Cabinet Office continues to be a friend to industry. We will keep on engaging with businesses as we undertake a further review of our international travel policy early in the new year to provide certainty for the spring and summer 2022 seasons.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Barclay]

I can add to what I said in my earlier answer to the hon. Lady. I agree with her about the importance of York, and I also agree with her wider point. It is not simply a case of one Department moving to York; what is key—and this is one of the lessons that we learnt from previous initiatives of Governments—is the ability to build a career in a location, and that requires a number of opportunities. For example, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is also considering placing 190 roles in York.

Now that the spending review has ended, there will be an opportunity to finalise departmental plans and see which other Departments can coalesce in York, but it is not only a question of Departments. I urge the hon. Lady to bear in mind arms’ length bodies that are often responsible for operational delivery across Government and are often located predominantly in London. Both Departments and arms’ length bodies will have the opportunity to consider how they might come together in areas such as York.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

I realise that there is a political operation taking place on the Opposition Benches with regard to the House of Lords. It is entirely fair to look at our democratic process systems and propose reform; what is not fair is denigrating people who work incredibly hard to improve our legislation. I am thinking of, for instance, the Environment Bill and the impact it will have on sewage discharge in my constituency, and the help that was given to us by the House of Lords, whose proposals the Government agreed with and our side voted for. Does the ministerial team agree that a little more respect is warranted?

[Mr Speaker]

Talking of which, I call Michael Ellis.

Health and Social Care

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am very sorry to hear about the suffering of the hon. Member’s mother. Dementia is a very cruel affliction, and it is because of the cruelty of that lottery about who gets it and who does not that we are putting in the measures that we are. But we are also funding extra research into dementia, and my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary is determined to ensure that we continue with the moonshot that I was referring to earlier.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

May I ask the Prime Minister why he decided to reject other forms of insurance as a model? The Germans brought in an insurance model back in the 1980s, facing the same problems that we had, and it relies on the private insurance sector. The noble Lord Lilley from the other place has brought forward a Bill that would see the Government set up a state insurer. Those retired householders would then pay a premium, which would be fixed as a charge, and then that charge would only be paid upon the death of that individual. Do not those models do a little more to intergenerational fairness?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his thoughtful question. We looked at all those models of course, Mr Speaker, as you can imagine. I think that the problem is that we need to go for an insurance system that works and has a genuine chance of being set up, and the only way of encouraging the financial services industry to come in and offer products, whether they are insurance or annuities or whatever, is to take away that risk of catastrophic cost. That is a very substantial risk for too many people and it means that the insurance market has not been able to develop. We believe that this is the best way forward for the country.

Covid-19 Update

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Member is making an important point, but my strong view is that the best thing possible for all those sectors, including aviation, is to try, cautiously, to make sure that we get through the road map and allow their businesses to grow again. That is the single best long-term and medium-term solution.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the Prime Minister’s statement and the inquiry. As our fantastic vaccination programme continues to be rolled out and our vaccination continues to be effective against all mutant strains, and as other countries catch up, will the Prime Minister look at widening the green list of countries to which travel is permitted? Will he ensure that the airports have the border control and digitisation resources to deal with more passengers? Can he also warmly encourage President Biden, when he sees him next month in Cornwall, that other Americans would like to come over to this great country and, indeed, we would like to go over to theirs?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about the United States of America. We are on that issue with our American friends, but people have to recognise that we are still at risk of importing new variants into this country. We have seen the arrival of B1.617.2 and we must be cautious. On that basis, the green list—as my hon. Friend knows, some counties are already on that list, and they are very attractive-looking destinations, as far as I can see—will be subject to review every three weeks.

Lobbying of Government Committee

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

Following the suggestion from the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards) that like snooker players—I perhaps look like one right now—we should emblazon ourselves with any sponsors we might have, I am minded to say that I have absolutely nothing to declare in that regard, having never received a penny apart from my very generous MP’s salary since I have been in this place.

With the local elections coming up in May, I am concerned that we are in danger of playing party politics in this Chamber. I should not be naive; that is what this Chamber is always about. At the start of this week, this Chamber was at its very best, and, of course, that is why I am dressed as I am. We referenced the Duke of Edinburgh and warmly referenced how popular he was because he was direct, loyal and non-partisan, and here we are today talking about election leaflets and playing party politics.

Of course, there is a serious point behind this, and I want to make a point in defence of the Select Committee process. I am very fortunate to be Chair of a Select Committee, and I note, as I sit alongside the Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, that we will be in very safe hands in any inquiries that are needed or for any changes that have to be recommended.

It is not very well known that Select Committees can now group together. We have done so for the COP26 scrutiny, so we have Select Committee Chairs all the way across. We have it through the Liaison Committee. We can also move members of one Committee to another, so if there is a great requirement to review across Government Departments or for Parliament to look at an issue, it can be done as the structure is in place.

The Select Committee on Transport met this morning, and it would be fair to say that for even the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Witney (Robert Courts), who was appearing before us, it would have been impossible to tell which party each MP came from, because we all united as one in wanting a particular approach. To make a Select Committee more partisan with a sole aim would be poisonous and would diminish the role of Select Committees in scrutinising Government, which, having always been a Back Bencher, I absolutely support.

It is not very political of me— it is perhaps a bit naive—but I am also a firm believer in loyalty. I touched on this at the start of my speech. I first became an MP in 2015 under David Cameron. I found him to be an inspired leader, a genuine man and someone who really wanted the best for his country and for his party. He modernised our party. He took the country from the very desperate economic position that he had inherited in 2010 and worked across the divide with the Liberal Democrats to try to make something better. He succeeded, as we see if we look at the 1,000 jobs a day that he created. There was much he did well, and he was a genuine, sincere and very public spirited man. It may be naive of me to stand up and say this as a politician, because we tend to bury those who go before us, but sometimes in life, loyalty—remembering virtues and trying not to bury those who are no longer here—is a good thing. That would serve us much better as a House than what others seek to do.

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Huw Merriman Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

When Prince Philip was asked at the age of 90 if he thought he had been successful in his role, he remarked,

“I couldn’t care less. Who cares what I think about it, I mean it’s ridiculous.”

Quite what Prince Philip would have made of 140 Members in this place, most of whom he had not met, singing his praises today is best left as a matter of conjecture. We do so, however, in our desire not just to honour a figure of great public service, but to recognise the virtues and the achievements that the man himself embodied. The consort, the leader, the pioneer and the war hero—he was a remarkable man who has forever left his mark on this great nation. We may never see his like again.

Prince Philip was modest. On being lauded for the Duke of Edinburgh’s scheme, he said that he could not take credit for the highly successful scheme:

“I don’t run it—I’ve said it’s all fairly second-hand the whole business. I mean, I eventually got landed with the responsibility or the credit for it.”

That is in direct contrast to the modern art of taking the credit for everything, no matter how limited the involvement, and taking the responsibility or blame for very little. He was self-effacing. It was His Royal Highness the Duke of Wessex who said that the best piece of advice his father gave to others was to

“talk about everything else, don’t talk about yourself—nobody’s interested in you.”

Those are wise words to us in this Chamber.

Prince Philip championed the causes that mattered to him—not just those that met the approval of the status quo or the social media brigade, but those that advanced change for the people who needed it the most, even if that meant swimming against the tide of public opinion. From raising the plight of the environment and conservation in the 1950s to the quest to reconcile evolution with Christianity in the 1980s, the prince was not interested in what was fashionable or acceptable at the time; his quest was to make this place a better one for future generations. His determination to give young people the best of opportunities must be the compass that guides us all at this particularly difficult time.

It is notable that Prince Philip reached hearts and minds in a manner in which we as politicians often come up short. His life, as reflected by the respect given in his passing, must give everyone more confidence in the powers of persuasion. His approach demonstrates that language that is direct, blunt and non-partisan is actually very welcome in this country. His advances demonstrate that people can be won round by reason if the argument is genuinely held, even for a cause that does not initially appeal.

This year, the Transport Committee has launched an inquiry into how we can deliver electric vehicle capability by the 2030 deadline. Prince Philip, always ahead of the curve, was driving around London in an electric Bedford Lucas van 40 years ago. Over the years, he also enjoyed driving school coaches, tanks, double-decker buses, bikes, classic cars and his eco-taxi. He was a supporter of the pioneers of transport. It is fitting that a man who was so fascinated by science and technology, while appreciating the simple things in life, will be carried to his final resting place in his modernised Land Rover Defender.

From the constituents of Bexhill and Battle and across this land, we send our condolences and thoughts to Her Majesty the Queen and all members of the royal family. We thank Prince Philip for his life and service, and we strive to uphold and further the causes and values that this truly great pioneer would himself have advanced.