General Election

Jim Dickson Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in this debate, and I very much thank those behind the petition who are here to listen to the debate. I know from the emails that I have had from Dartford residents who signed the petition that those residents have real concerns about some of the tough decisions that the new Government have had to make. I absolutely hear what they are saying to us.

As other hon. Members have said, the petition is also a sign that many people across this country have seen their faith that politics can bring positive change diminish altogether. That is extremely unfortunate and we need to rebuild that faith. It is hard to argue that people are wrong to lack that faith, however, given the legacy of 14 years of Conservative Government. The basics of government went uncompleted, especially over the last decade, when far too little infrastructure was built and a coach and horses were driven through public services and the public finances, leaving both in dire straits.

In my constituency of Dartford, the plan for a new lower Thames crossing, first proposed in 2009 by the last Labour Government, saw far too little progress and has still not been built, leaving my constituents facing growing traffic chaos. The current crossing continually operates over capacity, struggling every day with 50,000 more vehicles than it was designed for. Yet, as far as Dartford residents can see, nothing has been done to make their lives better.

It is instructive that some hon. Members present believe that the £22 billion black hole in the public finances that we identified on assuming office is an underestimate of the problem faced by our new Government. I urge Opposition Members to honestly consider whether they can defend the record of the last Government: a decade of growing NHS waiting lists—even before the pandemic—and stagnating living standards. The last Government never saw a crisis that they could not make worse. The asylum system was broken, but they passed a law that stopped the processing of applications, leaving thousands in permanent limbo, with only a vague hope that the £700 million Rwanda scheme would fix anything.

If we are talking about broken promises, the last Government pledged many times to bring NHS waiting lists down and instead they grew and grew, with no resolution to the strikes that were making them worse. The last Government set a target of 300,000 new homes a year and yet, in a desperate attempt to appease their Back Benchers, they made changes to the national planning guidance that led to the supply of homes falling through the floor. Is it any wonder that people have doubts about the ability of any Government, or the ability of us as elected Members, to deliver positive change for their lives?

Yet, like other hon. Members who have spoken in this debate, I remain hopeful. Yes, democracy can seem slow and change can seem incremental, but I have faith in this Government to deliver the change our country needs and to prove that people’s votes at the ballot box can lead to better lives across our country.

We set out our plans in our manifesto, which was intended to be for the full length of this Parliament—let us not forget that—and we have recently announced, in our Plan for Change, that we will make changes for this country. Unlike the last Government, we will build the homes that families across this country so desperately need. In Ebbsfleet, in my constituency, a further 10,000 homes are planned over the next decade.

We will get the NHS back on its feet—today’s announcements were enormously encouraging—so that those neighbourhoods most in need will see a reduction in waiting lists, so that we see a health service that has the capacity to support all our residents, and so that in my constituency of Dartford, our Darent Valley hospital will have the capacity it needs to treat my constituents. I believe that we will build the infrastructure that our country needs for the 21st century, and I hope that in this new year the lower Thames crossing will also get the go ahead, and that we will also see investment in home-grown clean energy that will bring with it jobs for the future.

At the end of this Parliament we will be rightly judged as to whether we have delivered on our manifesto, improved lives and set the foundation of our future prosperity. That will be the time for electors in Dartford, and across the country, to make their choice of a future Government, not now.