Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee

Lisa Smart Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

It is an absolute honour to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Gordon McKee). He spoke passionately about his constituency, and his love for his constituents was clear for all to hear. It is also an honour to follow maiden speeches from the hon. Members for Ipswich (Jack Abbott), for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp), for Telford (Shaun Davies), for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray), for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson), for Cardiff West (Mr Barros-Curtis), for Wolverhampton North East (Sureena Brackenridge) and for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan). Each is, in their own way, an act to follow.

I thank the people of Hazel Grove constituency for placing their trust in me. That trust is a profound responsibility, and I am committed to repaying it through hard work, integrity and service to my community. I acknowledge the work of my predecessor William Wragg, who served in Parliament from 2015 until he stood down at the last election. He stood up to those in power when he felt that it was needed, and he spoke openly about poor mental health in a way that I am sure will have helped to break down stigma. On behalf of all residents of Hazel Grove, I wish him all the best for the future.

I accept that I may be a little biased, but Hazel Grove is quite clearly the finest constituency in the land. It ranges from central Stockport out to the edge of the Peak district, taking in the communities of Bredbury, Bosden Farm, Compstall, Great Moor, Hawk Green, Heaviley, High Lane, Little Moor, Marple, Marple Bridge, Mellor, Mill Brow, Norbury, Offerton, Romiley, Strines, Woodley, and some, but not all, of Hazel Grove itself. Whether the peaceful havens of our green spaces or the proud reminders of our industrial heritage, Hazel Grove has it all. We have the Peak forest, the Macclesfield canals, which have one of the steepest lock flights in the country, and our beautiful rivers: the Goyt, the Mersey and the Tame. It is no wonder so many people want to call our area home. Our rivers would be even more beautiful if the water company were not pumping quite so much sewage into them. We very much look forward to the Government implementing their plans to clean up that scandal.

However, it is the people who really make our community. Starting Point social enterprise in Woodley is tackling digital exclusion by giving some of my more mature constituents the confidence to get online, the Cherry Tree Project in Romiley empowers young people to live their best lives, and NK Theatre Arts works with children and adults of all abilities across the borough, using creativity and the performing arts to transform lives. Local people have many of the answers that we seek on how to fix the problems we face as a country. My job, and the job of this House, is to empower them, not tell them what is good for them.

I am a liberal and a Liberal Democrat. We exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society in which we balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.

I joined the Lib Dems and got involved in politics because shouting at the television was not bringing about the changes that we need. My constituents have been very clear with me that their top priority is our local health service. They should not have a hospital that is literally falling down, they should not have to wait months or years for treatment, and they should not have to struggle to care for their loved ones. The phenomenal staff at Stepping Hill hospital should not have to wade through flooded corridors to get to their patients because yet another pipe has burst, as it did last weekend. Stepping Hill hospital must get the repairs it needs, and we need a new, additional hospital in the town centre so that local people can get the health and social care services they deserve. I will not rest until they do.

I could not possibly make my first speech in this House without mentioning the last Liberal Democrat to represent my community, Andrew Stunell. Andrew was the MP for Hazel Grove from 1997 to 2015, and he was that rare kind of politician who gave politics a good name. He was an MP who set the standard to which all who came after him are rightly held—he was interested in doing something, not just being something. He put his constituents first and brought about changes in the law, both as a Minister and as a Back Bencher.

Andrew made things better for the whole country: as a Minister, he delivered the Localism Act 2011, but as a Back Bencher he came top of the private Member’s Bill ballot in 2003, resulting in the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill becoming an Act of Parliament in 2004. More than all that, he was one of the warmest, kindest people I have ever met. He was the kind of person you want on your team: hard-working, honest and kind. He helped me work out what it was to make a difference in public life. The people of Hazel Grove, the whole Lib Dem family, and I will miss him and his guidance hugely.

I am the first woman to be elected as the MP for Hazel Grove, and I take that responsibility really seriously. I am especially delighted to be a Member of the largest group of Liberal Democrats ever elected to this House: there are 73 of us, if we include the right honourable Jennie. I went to a comprehensive school, and was the first member of my family to go to university.

Before deciding that shouting at the telly was not bringing about the changes that I wanted to see in the world and that standing for elected office was the way to be part of that change, I worked in a business as a director of client relations—my clients were big pension funds, charities and foundations. I was then the chief exec of a charity, educating women and girls in the developing world. For the past eight years, I have also been lucky enough to represent some of my constituents as an elected councillor for Bredbury Green and Romiley on Stockport council, a role I have loved. I am one of a rather large number of colleagues who come to this House knowing at first hand the value of local government, and the desperate need for it to be funded properly.

I turn to the substance of today’s debate, which is standards and modernisation. The main thrust of what we have heard from the Government and the Leader of the House—that any further roles should benefit an MP’s constituents—is absolutely right. In the short term, we should of course stop MPs from taking on roles as paid parliamentary advisers, strategists or consultants. In the longer term, daylight is often the best disinfectant, so I ask the Leader of the House to consider whether publishing any employment contracts for outside arrangements—with suitable redactions—and the transparency that would bring would allow constituents to judge for themselves whether they were getting value for money from their MP.

As a new MP, I am struck and more than a little bemused by some of the wonderful conventions and habits of this House. Taking it as read that colleagues are honourable is a good thing, and referring to one another as the Members for our constituencies acts as a powerful reminder of who sent us here, but I am also struck by how much modernisation is needed. We on the Lib Dem Benches look forward to supporting the Government when we agree, but I would expect us to urge, persuade, and on occasion push the Government to go further and faster to make us the most effective we can be, because our constituents deserve no less.

With so many newly elected colleagues, we have a cracking opportunity to change this place for the better. It could be so much more efficient and so much more effective. Let us do that with fresh eyes before we are all too institutionalised and think that some of this stuff is normal. However, that is also going to take some courage from the new Government, because making processes and procedures less obscure so that more people understand them and making this place more efficient will mean that MPs have more power and the Government slightly less of it. Governments—especially Governments with new large majorities, I am guessing—will probably grow rather fond of that power quite quickly, so let us get cracking.

Alongside modernising this place, we should of course reform our politics and our democracy more fundamentally. The House of Lords should obviously be elected, 16 and 17-year-olds should be able to vote, and we must replace the antiquated and deeply unfair first-past-the-post system with a fair, proportionate voting system. I look forward to making the case for these changes during my time here.

This election was the fourth time I have stood to represent the people of Hazel Grove as the Lib Dem candidate, and it probably takes a certain sort of stubbornness, resilience and determination to do that. It most certainly took the support of my family, and especially of my partner, Ed. I am so grateful to him. Our mischievous rescue dog Bonnie has not quite made up her mind yet about what she thinks about me working away from home rather more, but I hope to be able to convince her that winning is better than losing, as it undoubtedly is. Winning enables us to get stuff done, and there is a lot to do.

It is the honour of my life to be elected to represent my phenomenal community, the people of Hazel Grove constituency. They will be at the heart of everything I do here, and I hope I do them proud.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Hamish Falconer to make his maiden speech.