Business of the House

John Cooper Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving us a moment to remember Keith Palmer. Many of us were there that day, and we will never forget that he gave his life protecting those of us inside this place. My hon. Friend is absolutely right—it sounds like a really good idea to have an injury retirement medal for those who would otherwise have got a long service medal. I will ensure that the Home Secretary hears his call for that and that he gets a good reply.

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

The A77 and A75 roads are critical to the people of south-west Scotland, but they are also critical to the UK, because they service the exceptionally busy ferry port of Cairnryan, which links us with our friends in Northern Ireland. The difficulty with these roads is obvious if we ever travel them. There is another difficulty, however, which is that the Department for Transport here does not seem to think this has anything to do with it, and the Secretary of State for Scotland is too busy to meet me to discuss the issue. When the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Elaine Stewart), who is in her place on the Government Benches, and I wrote to the Transport Secretary in Scotland, we received a high-handed letter saying that it would be inappropriate to meet us. What is inappropriate is the way devolution does not appear to be working. Can we pluck from the logjam of Backbench Business Committee debate ideas one on devolution and how it is failing?

[Lucy Powell]

I certainly agree with the hon. Gentleman that I do not think government in Scotland is working effectively in the interests of his constituents and others. I am sorry to hear about the difficulties he has had in raising the issue of the A77 road in his constituency. I will certainly ask the Scottish Minister to meet him to discuss that, so that we can get to the bottom of who is responsible and he can speak to those who are.