Coastal Communities: Government Support

Debate between Jayne Kirkham and Neil Duncan-Jordan

Monday 1st June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Neil Duncan-Jordan]

Yes; I agree with my hon. Friend’s point and I will develop it further.

Like my hon. Friend’s constituency, towns such as Poole are desperate for good quality, affordable and secure housing—I would argue council housing—for local families, rather than the developer-led luxury waterside apartments that have sprung up.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

Again, that sounds similar to Cornwall. Does my hon. Friend agree that speeding up a registration scheme for holiday lets would help to deal with all the second homes and holiday lets proliferating around our towns? Maybe if we had that, we could move towards more affordable housing.

[Neil Duncan-Jordan]

My hon. Friend is right. There are some areas of Poole where no one lives; they are all holiday lets, second homes and so on.

Pension Schemes Bill

Debate between Jayne Kirkham and Neil Duncan-Jordan

2nd reading
Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is good that, in the local government pension scheme, representatives of both employers and employees can sit on the pension committees, and that we often have trade union representatives on the committees as well?

[Neil Duncan-Jordan]

My hon. Friend is quite right. Trade unions do sit on many of the LGPS committees. I was making the point that it is on the pools where there is less representation for those member voices to be heard, and that is extremely important.

Finally, I want to talk about the pre-1997 pensioners. We know that those who have seen the biggest drop in income are those who built up pensions before 1997. They have not received an annual inflation-linked increase to their pension and, over time, particularly when inflation is high, the value of their pension is eroded. Some 80,000 Pension Protection Fund members, mostly older people and disproportionately women, including some of my constituents, find themselves in this position. I hope the Government will therefore consider legislating to provide inflation protection on pre-1997 benefits, and to give the PPF greater flexibility to use its surplus to give discretionary improvements to members.

In conclusion, the idea that workers’ pension funds can be used to build much-needed social housing and invest in green technology and jobs is something that a progressive Labour Government should be proud of, and I hope we can ensure that the Bill delivers a win for pensioners, a win for our environment and a win for society as a whole.