Ukraine: Urgent Refugee Applications

Debate between Kevin Foster and Andrew Murrison

Tuesday 8th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Foster]

The hon. Lady makes some strong points. One of the reasons we are working closely with the countries bordering Ukraine is that, given the end of direct travel, it is extremely unlikely that people will make it to the UK in a day. Those who have just crossed the border from Ukraine will need a range of support, including medical support, and colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care are talking with the Polish health authorities because Poland’s hospitals are clearly beginning to become fairly full. We will need to look across western Europe for others to support them, including by potentially taking patients from those hospitals into the UK. I make it clear that people who enter our asylum system will arrive with status and will be able to get on with their life. They will not have to make a further application here.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

Salisbury borders my constituency, so I fully accept the need for security checks, particularly on adult males. But the fact remains that the Republic of Ireland, with which we share a common travel area, has a population of 5 million and has committed to take 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, having already admitted more than 2,000. This country, with a population of 67 million, has come nowhere close to that. Why not?

[Kevin Foster]

First, looking at what we are doing, we estimate that about 100,000 people are potentially eligible for the family route, and we have an unlimited position on the sponsorship route, which could well see us exceed quite significantly the numbers offered by the Republic of Ireland.

Visas are now going out. As I said, nearly 500 had been granted as of 9.30 this morning, and more are being granted as we speak. We are surging decision-making capability and upping the biometrics process, which will quickly increase the numbers arriving in the United Kingdom, on top of the numbers we have already welcomed as we moved UK nationals and their families earlier this year.

Great Western Railway Routes

Debate between Kevin Foster and Andrew Murrison

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Foster]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his interesting intervention, and I am sure that the Minister will wish to respond to his detailed point. In the Public Accounts Committee discussion, one of the main issues was the signalling that was installed in the 1960s. When the piling was done, the cables were not mapped. Hopefully, as with the re-signalling in Devon and Cornwall, knowing exactly where the signalling cables are might make those lines more suitable for future electrification.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. He is talking about electrification in south Wales, but does he agree that it is also important to electrify at least part of the route from Paddington to Penzance? Does he welcome the proposal to bring forward AT300 Hitachi trains, which are bimodal? Given the speeding-up of the service that that would introduce, does he share my concern that we could be tempted to delete some stops along that route? That would be a pity—perhaps he will come on to this point—since it would mean that some of our constituencies would simply become transit corridors. Does he agree that Westbury station, which is a vital north-south-east-west hub, must not be deleted from any forthcoming plans in the new franchise?

[Kevin Foster]

Having changed trains at Westbury, I share my hon. Friend’s concern about maintaining the ability to interlink with the rest of the region. As we have said, this must be about viewing the railway not as a transport network in aspic that we stand around like trainspotters, discussing exactly how long it will take and what number train will travel down that line; this is about where people want to get to, linking economies and ensuring that people can use the service. I share my hon. Friend’s concerns, and I am sure that colleagues in south Devon and neighbouring constituencies would be concerned if we sped journeys up by driving past passengers. This is about improving the network for everyone, not just making it quicker to get from one end of the network to the other with nothing in between.

I am conscious that time is moving on and that I am stretching your patience, Madam Deputy Speaker, so I will try to press on because other colleagues wish to speak. The introduction of bimodal trains due in 2018, as my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) mentioned, will make a real difference and open up many opportunities for our region, not least because it will allow the potential for partial electrification on sites that would most enhance the journey time. In the past, for obvious reasons—not least the potential impact of mixing high-voltage cables and sea water at Dawlish—a purely electric train might not have been considered west of Exeter, but bimodal trains will give us real options for future development. Again, that is why the reports are so important.

I could reel off a long list of issues that affect train lines, including prospects for new stations in my patch for the first time in decades. However, there are five issues that I believe it is most important for the Minister to consider as we look ahead to the work in control period 6. The first is whether funding for the two reports that will form part of the work of the Peninsula Rail Task Force will definitely be provided. I know that Network Rail is, in its own words, ready to start work on that immediately once that funding is confirmed. Secondly, is there a clear commitment to the re-signalling work for Devon and Cornwall that is scheduled to take place in control period 6? Thirdly, will the project to secure our main line at Dawlish be committed to, including any work needed to secure the cliffs? Fourthly, will work to secure the line against flooding on the Somerset levels and other key points be progressed? Finally, will the electrification project to south Wales be completed with a view to being part of an electrified network for the Great Western region, rather than just an electric cable running through the middle of our constituencies?

Those are clear questions, but I believe the benefits are also clear. We must ensure that in the 21st century, the vision for the Great Western line is as great as it was when Victorian engineers rode the route on horseback, imagining what could be in the future. They could not have imagined the type of trains that they would have, or the uses to which people would put the railway, but they could see that in building a railway they would build a region. I believe that we can do the same now and show similar vision, and I commend the motion to the House.