Parliamentary Services for MPs

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Sir Charles Walker]

I absolutely thank my right hon. Friend for that. He and I have been friends since I got here, and that means a huge amount to me. I thank him.

This is what I want to conclude with. We will never in this place struggle to attract the shrill, the loud and the raucous. We will always be inundated with the practitioners of the clear thinking of the totally uninformed. That is what makes this Parliament so wonderful. There are those who believe there are simple solutions to complex problems. If there were, we would have found them, Mr Deputy Speaker. I promise you that we would have found them. There is always space for that, and at times I have been one of the raucous, the loud, the shrill and the emotional—I celebrate that. But we also need the thoughtful, the considered and the intellectually inquiring. Their numbers really are thinning, and we in this place have a duty to reach out to them.

We have a duty—not just to ourselves, but to future generations of Members of Parliament—to make this place the greatest Chamber with the greatest vocation someone can pursue in this country. A President came yesterday, welcomed by literally thousands of people, and he referred to our Parliament as the greatest in the world. I take great comfort from that, and I want to prove him right day in and day out.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Before I call Dame Maria Miller, may I too put something on the record? Many of you will not know this, but when I was a rookie Member of Parliament, I employed a young Charles Walker as my researcher. I knew then that he was a bright lad, and I was thrilled when he became a Member of Parliament. He has been an outstanding Chair of the Administration Committee. I salute your bravery, Charles, in the way you have promoted mental health issues at a time when it was a taboo. You have been remarkable. I am so proud of you.

[Dame Maria Miller (Basingstoke) (Con)]

On my very first day in Parliament, I decided to sit next to this blond-haired man whom I had never met before in my life. He stood up, and I will not repeat what he said to the assembled masses because it would embarrass him, but my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Sir Charles Walker) was entertaining, informed and, above all, principled right from the start. He has been a great colleague for the last 17 years, and we will miss him.

It is therefore a great privilege to follow my hon. Friend, who has clearly set out how parliamentary services must change to help our democracy, and particularly to recruit the brightest and the best to Parliament. I would like to take that one stage further and talk about how we can broaden the debate to consider how parliamentary services must work even harder to ensure that this place functions in a way that can protect our democracy into the future. We have already mentioned that amazing visit yesterday from Volodymyr Zelensky, who is fighting for democratic freedoms for his nation, and the way that he talked so affectionately about our own Parliament. It made me feel, even more than ever, that we cannot take these things for granted, even in western Europe. That is why I am so grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate, and to the staff of the Administration Committee for all the work they do in helping us with the running of this House.

I also pay tribute to those who sit in the Chair you sit in, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is easy in this place to come in, be important and talk about important things that happen to our constituents and to the nation, but very few people take the time to think about how this place runs, and how they can play their part in making it better. Too few come forward to sit in that Chair and do the sorts of things that you do, Mr Deputy Speaker, and that your colleagues do in the Speaker’s Office. It is important that we acknowledge that. It is always behind the scenes, but it is what makes one of the most important and central institutions of our democracy work. Probably the people sitting in front of you also have a bit of a role in that, but we won’t go there.

The last two Speakers of this House were appointed at times of crisis, which is an interesting thing to reflect on. Our current Speaker—I will not refer to the previous one—was recruited to the role in the midst of a behavioural and cultural crisis in this place. I think that our Mr Speaker’s focus on security, culture and behaviour change has been exemplary, and led to a rapid change in a way that many people would not have foreseen. We also saw the way that the Speaker and staff rapidly changed the way our Parliament worked during the coronavirus pandemic, and the way that Mr Speaker has changed attitudes towards the security of Members of Parliament. We know that individuals in the Chair you are sitting in, Mr Deputy Speaker, can change the way this place works, but I suggest that we cannot rely on individuals alone, not least because we have had some recent Speakers who have not been entirely unflawed characters. We have to think about the governance of the institution, and the way it creates the right framework for the running of this important place.

The services provided by Parliament are crucial to MPs being effective. We are elected to come here, to scrutinise, and to get things done for the people we represent. We do that with the support of the House of Commons; we cannot do it ourselves. There is an army of literally thousands of people, from cleaners to Clerks, police to chefs, and subject experts in the Library to dedicated constituency staff, who are all there to help us be effective. Being effective MPs requires the right services to be in place—not just the same services that were there 40 years ago, but the right services for today. Even the most time-poor manager of a small business ensures that they have the right services in place for their business, and that is why this debate is important.

It is important that we discuss these things to explore whether parliamentary services are delivering in a way that helps MPs to be effective, and delivering for the way that we need Parliament to run. Effective MPs are not just a good thing in their own right; effective MPs help to build trust in the House of Commons; they help to build trust in Parliament and so they help to build trust in democracy. It could not be more important, particularly for those who believe that we have a responsibility to strengthen democracy in our time here.

Let us also remember that the staff of this place, whether they are extremely specialised, highly intellectual people drafting bits of legislation, the people who keep us safe as we enter this place or the people who service our meals when we are here late into the night, choose to be here. They choose to be in Parliament, not because it is just another place to work but because they want to be part of the democratic function of this country—what makes it so special.

Like much of Parliament, the provision of services is organised through Committees, predominately the Administration Committee, which my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne chairs incredibly well. Unlike other Committees, these are House Committees and, for the most part, they are advisory. When members of the Committee, including a number of Members present, raise issues around how this place is run or that they would like to see done differently, such as the quality of the wi-fi, the availability of mobile phone chargers in the Tea Room, as I was reminded a few minutes ago, or concerns about the perimeter security, these concerns can be voiced and they will be heard. However, we have absolutely no power whatsoever to get any action taken. We only usually get action taken because of the vivacious character of our Chair. That cannot be enough; things need to be more structured than that. Only the Commission has oversight of all these issues and can take action—a Commission, I remind everybody, that has no process to elect its members.

When it comes to planning ahead and the issues that the administration might want to consider because there are problems on the horizon, we have no ability to do that effectively either. The Administration Committee is strictly limited in what it can do. Of course, when it comes to the provision of services, the Procedure Committee and our Finance Committee are also crucial, but there is no structure in place for these Committees to work together. For example, if we have something like the uncertainty of sitting hours, which can go late into the night, there is no way of viewing how that might affect members of staff who are employed to run the services in this place.

The Leader of the House has been clear in her vision, such as in her recent speech to the Institute for Government, that the House of Commons should be the best legislature in the world. I could not agree more with her sentiment, but to achieve that not just noble but essential ambition, our parliamentary services also need to be the best in the world. They need to fit into that vision of a modern workplace, with modern procedures, adequate finance and accountability, and an ability to plan for the future and to respond to events. We have made huge strides under Mr Speaker’s leadership, but I am concerned that our governance and structures have changed very little, that they are not as good as they should be and that we need to look at them more. Indeed, some experts would say that the governance of the House of Commons is opaque, lacks accountability and is complex to understand. Those are not the attributes of an organisation that I would like to work for. To make provision for parliamentary services for MPs to be their most effective, Parliament needs to look at these things in detail. It needs to look at the governance and structures of how we can be a trusted institution into the future that reflects an organisation not of yesterday, but of tomorrow.

There are some notable examples, of which I am sure other Members will be aware, of where the inability to change things and evolve the way we work have received the full glare of publicity. Not least of them is the recent example of where we tried to set up a nursery in this place, which took three debates, two papers and a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Some of the hon. and right hon. Members involved have been in this place even longer than I have, and they still could not work out how we could effect that change. That is a salutary lesson; it shows that we cannot evolve services to meet the needs of Members. The result will be that we cannot attract the right Members to this place. We cannot then expect this place to be the world-class legislature that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House would like it to be.

How do we make sure that parliamentary services are effective, and are what our MPs, and our democracy, really need? Some straightforward changes could easily be made that would make a real difference. It would be quite a revolution if we ensured that House Committees could work together and take a common look at how this place is run. We should evolve their role from a “take note” or advisory role, to a strategic one of the sort that Select Committees perhaps already have, so that they do not merely rubber-stamp decisions after the event, which, as colleagues on the Administration Committee will remember, was what happened in the case of the removal of the trees in the atrium of Portcullis House.

We should make the House Committees, which are fundamental to how the place runs, accountable through elections. They are the last area of Parliament in which Members are not elected to posts. We are appointed to our posts, and that simply does not pass the sniff test. We need to change that; the way that people gain positions on those Committees should be similar to the way that Select Committee members gain theirs. That would increase accountability. Our meetings are already transparent, but let us look at ways of opening them up even more, if they are so fundamental to democracy.

Scrutiny of the House of Commons Commission should be firmly in the remit of the House Committees. Just as Select Committees scrutinise Government, House Committees should scrutinise the Commission. That would be a very simple change of our role, but it might increase transparency about how the Commission runs, so that more Members can understand it, and can understand how decisions are taken. For too long it has felt as though the House of Commons is run from behind closed doors. Perhaps it is easier that way; that is what I have been told when I have asked why that is. There are concerns that scrutiny will undermine trust in this organisation. My argument is that a lack of scrutiny has already done that job for us, so let us have that change.

We cannot continue to rely on individuals, rather than governance, structures and systems, to ensure that this place is run well. I am told that it is Members who decide, when it comes to the running of this House, but I am afraid that those are hollow words to me when I think back to the debacle over the establishment of a nursery in this place. “It is for Members to decide!” No, it really was not, because there was no way for us to crystallise the decision and ensure action.

As a result of this debate, I hope that people not just in this Chamber, or listening in Parliament, but from outside start to call loudly for the changes that I have outlined. It has taken a year to get this debate, so I can already feel that this is not necessarily a debate that people in this place want to have. The issue is important because we need to support MPs, so that they can be their most effective. We need this to be a modern workplace, where both MPs and their staff can function at their best. We must attract a diverse cross-section of society to stand for election. We will not do that unless this place works better, and we have to start taking that far more seriously.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Thank you, Maria, for your very generous and kind words. I will make sure that Sir Lindsay hears them. Those thanks are on behalf of Sir Lindsay, his entire team, and the Clerks. Thank you very much for your generosity.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Fabricant]

I have an answer to that question, deep as it was. Stop watching Prime Minister’s Question Time; instead, watch parliamentlive.tv, and see the work that goes on in Committees and in debates like this, among others. Often there is huge consensus and co-operation between the parties on either side of the House.

The other day, I was present when some legislation was going through Parliament. The Liberal Democrats had tabled an amendment, and it was not a bad amendment, and we accepted it. I was rather amused, I have to say, that the Liberal Democrats looked more shocked than we were. They all started waving their Order Papers as if it were a victory—but the victory was that they had come up with a good idea and the Government had said, “Yes, it is a good idea. We will incorporate it in law.” And they did. That is the sort of thing that people need to see: that Parliament is a thoughtful place, and that on the whole, as my hon. Friend has just said, we strive to work together, and we strive to do what is best for the British people, and indeed for others, too, outside the United Kingdom, whether it be in war-torn Ukraine or in developing countries elsewhere in the world.

Nevertheless, the House has a duty of care to ensure that Members of Parliament can do their job as best they can by restructuring the existing systems, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke so marvellously explained, and by attracting people here by showing care for the time when they will eventually leave this place. The Daily Mail, and one or two other newspapers and one or two broadcasters were saying, “This report says we should be giving hundreds of thousands of pounds to Members of Parliament when they leave.” No, the report does not say that. But redundancy rules do exist for ordinary companies and for those who work in the civil service. For all the reasons I have explained, our job is far more volatile than those careers, because we can lose our job for reasons that have nothing to do with our own ability, or lack thereof.

Our redundancy payments should be the same as those in other sectors. Is that unreasonable? The press might say so; I would say it is just natural justice, and that is all the report asks for. I hope that people will read it and that the House of Commons Commission—we do not know what exactly it gets up to—reads it. I hope that Mr Speaker, who is very imaginative and for whom I have the highest respect, reads it. More importantly, though, I hope that something is done about it.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

We come now to the Front-Bench contributions, starting with Deidre Brock.

Business of the House

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The title that the hon. Gentleman gave the Mayor of London is causing some disquiet across the Chamber. The Mayor of London is not a dictator. The Mayor of London can be voted out of office, and I would encourage people to do that, because I think that some of the policies he has implemented are causing immense difficulties, not just to residents but to businesses in London and outside, and not just in surrounding boroughs but in constituencies such as mine where tradesmen need to come into London. We have to enable people to make such transitions, and I think that—particularly at this point, when they have little liquidity in their businesses and households—a more sensible and considered approach might be appropriate.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. May I just remind Members of Mr Speaker’s strictures on temperate language—Mr Blackman?

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

The decision to allow Bristol airport’s expansion flies in the face of local democracy and action on net zero. The expansion will produce an extra 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, double what is currently emitted by the rest of Bristol’s transport. The Government’s planning rules have allowed this to happen, putting airport expansion ahead of net zero, although the Climate Change Committee recommended no net expansion of airport capacity. May we have a debate in Government time on how expanding airports such as Bristol accords with the UK’s net zero targets?

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

I very happily give the best congratulations a Portsmouth supporter can possibly give to the hon. Lady’s constituent by saying, “Play up, Sophia Martin!” She has achieved a great deal, and we should all be very proud of those achievements. I wish her well, and I thank the hon. Lady for telling us that fantastic news.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I thank the Leader of the House for her business statement and for responding to questions for over an hour.

Christmas Adjournment

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham). I offer my condolences to him on the loss of his brother and pay tribute to all those who comforted him and his family at the end of life. The hon. Gentleman obviously touched on the health service, which is where I want to focus my remarks. I will touch on rail services if I have time.

I had the privilege of being elected to this place three years and one week ago. I had something of a baptism of fire as a brand-new MP: I was appointed the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson and we found ourselves in a global pandemic. Although I spoke a lot about health in my first two years here, that time was understandably dominated by covid and all the surrounding issues.

I wish to spend a little time today touching on the wider challenges facing primary care and ambulance services, not just in my constituency, but, more broadly, in Greater London and across the south-east. I do so not least because with the Government’s levelling up generally focusing on the midlands and the north, London and the south-east, the capital and the commuter belt, have seen and continue to see such huge population growth and have been really underinvested in, particularly in terms of GPs, dentists and ambulance services. I will mention a few places today and I humbly request the Leader of the House to ask Ministers at the Department of Health and Social Care to visit some of them, so that they can see at the coal face across the south-east some of the challenges that residents, patients and health workers are facing. On that note, I would like to thank health and care workers across my constituency and across the country for the amazing job they do, day in, day out, in the most difficult circumstances.

Earlier this year, I was alerted to a shocking case in my constituency, that of a full-time carer in Hampton who looks after her daughter with special needs. As she could not find access to an NHS dentist in the entire area, having rung each one faithfully, she had to use her disability benefits, her food and her heating money to pay for her daughter to go private. She even begged one dentist to allow her daughter to take her place on the NHS list. I pay tribute to Healthwatch Richmond, which works in my constituency and with Healthwatch England to secure extra money for dentistry. Frankly, however, that has been a drop in the ocean. We know that the national average is that nine out of 10 NHS dentists are not accepting new patients and that this rises to a shocking 98% out towards the south-west of the country. That means that people are suffering in pain or, as I have described, are forced to fork out for private care, in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Just down the train line from my constituency, no dental practices are taking on new NHS patients in areas such as Wokingham—not a single one of the 12 practices across that town is doing so. I ask the Leader of the House to ask DHSC Ministers to go to Wokingham to see for themselves how this underfunding is bringing the local dentistry and health services to their knees. We know that without core preventive care, be it in oral health or in other areas, things just end up in crisis care, often at accident and emergency, and we do not want that being replicated in constituencies across the country. I hope that the Minister will heed Liberal Democrat calls for the dental contract to be fundamentally reformed—we are not just talking about the tinkering around the edges announced in November—and for a real focus on long-term workforce planning.

The strains on essential primary care services such as dentistry and access to GPs are well reported. Unfortunately, but understandably, they often lead to frustration for patients. There are those who are understandably desperate for an appointment, given the challenges of their situation. The fact that NHS services are under strain is not the fault of those working in the NHS—I would lay that squarely at the Government’s feet. That means that hard-working primary care staff are often on the receiving end of some of the strain that constituents are feeling, especially those who are administering the system, who are often wrongly and pejoratively referred to as “faceless bureaucrats”. I am sorry to say that that is why tomorrow morning I will be having a meeting with partners at a local GP surgery in Hampton Hill, because they wrote to me to raise the issue of the level of abuse their staff receive on a regular basis. That medical centre in my constituency is not alone. Reports reached me recently about a GP surgery just down the road in Walton-on-Thames, in Surrey, where staff were left in tears and needing to call the police about abuse because people were unable to get an appointment. Again, I ask the Leader of the House whether Ministers at the DHSC would visit that surgery in Walton-on-Thames and the one in Hampton Hill to offer an apology to those staff, who are under such immense pressure in our health system. Again, I hope that calls will be heeded to train more GPs by offering more training places to those students who want to go into the medical profession and to look to reform pension rules for more experienced staff.

As we are on the brink of an ambulance workers’ strike tomorrow over pay and conditions, I was alarmed to read the words of one NHS ambulance chief in The Times this morning. He said:

“The best we can hope for is that everyone stays indoors, no one falls over, no one gets ill and no one has a car crash.”

Indeed, a Health and Social Care Minister on 5 Live this morning told people to avoid risky activities, including running, if it is icy.

Having had to take both my young daughter and my elderly father to A&E in recent months, I have seen for myself the level of strain and pressure under which A&E is operating. Obviously, this then translates into the pressures on the London ambulance services that are operating at capacity day in, day out, and that applies to ambulance services across the country.

I was sent a story from Winchester of a 96-year-old woman who slipped and fell and was left in pain on the floor. Thankfully, a neighbour heard and called an ambulance, but that took seven hours to arrive. Even when they arrived at the hospital, it was still another six-hour wait to see a doctor. Again, I hope that Health Ministers will visit that ambulance station and speak to those heroic paramedics to understand the resources that both their ambulance station and the South Central Ambulance Service need in order to improve the waiting times and the care for patients in that area.

My hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) introduced a Bill earlier this year calling for localised waiting times for ambulance services. The Liberal Democrats have also called for rural ambulance stations to be reopened and for urgent funding to recruit paramedics.

In the couple of minutes I have left, I wish to touch on the issue of the South Western Railway service, which has affected my constituency, south-west London, Surrey and a number of other areas down to the south-west of England over the past few days. The Minister may or may not be aware that 40 stations across the South Western Railway network have absolutely no services; they have all been cancelled between now and the new year. That is despite the fact that there are no rail strikes on a number of those days during that period. It is ruining the Christmas break for people who want to visit loved ones, for people who desperately need to get to work and for those who need to attend medical appointments.

I have heard from a police officer in my constituency who is struggling to get to work for his shift and from a cancer nurse, who is not striking today, but who is struggling to get to hospital. Her hospital is having to fork out to pay for overnight stays for staff so that they can be there to treat patients.

The impact on the wider community and the hospitality industry is immense. My local rugby club, Harlequins, was due to have its big match, which it has every year, at the big Twickenham stadium the day after Boxing day. Eighty thousand spectators were expected, but the event has had to be cancelled. Quins lost more than £15 million during covid, and it fears losing, potentially, hundreds of thousands more as a result of having to move the match to March. It employs, both directly and indirectly, hundreds of people in the local area. The matches and the event days benefit local businesses in Twickenham. I implore rail Ministers to work closely with South Western Railway and with RMT to get this overtime ban and the strikes stopped, so that our constituents can get to work and our businesses, which are already struggling, do not go under.

Yesterday, there were reports, again, of schoolchildren in Surrey unable to get to school, because Thames Ditton, Claygate and other stations were closed. In my constituency, Whitton, St Margaret’s and Strawberry Hill are all affected. However, I am very pleased that, as a result of my urgent meeting with South Western Railway yesterday, it was announced, just as I entered this Chamber, that it is now starting to run a few off-peak services, but that is not nearly enough. Our constituents deserve better.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I will do a bit of imploring myself. I have 14 names and about an hour and a half left of the debate before we come on to the wind-ups. That gives six minutes or so to each speaker. Please do not wildly go over that, otherwise the person who is last will hardly get any time at all and that is not in the spirit of Christmas.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon), who I wish well in her campaign. I will take this opportunity to focus on three issues.

First, I will raise the story of a young child, Pearl Melody Black. In August 2017, 22-month-old Pearl from my Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency was tragically killed while walking with her father and brother. Pearl was killed by an unoccupied vehicle that rolled from a private drive on to a highway and down a hill. It crashed into a wall, crushing Pearl and injuring her father and brother. In the months after the incident, officers from the serious collision unit at South Wales police worked tirelessly in putting together a case to provide justice for the family. In short, all tests concluded that the car was mechanically sound and that it had rolled because the handbrake was not fully engaged and the automatic transmission not fully placed in “park” mode.

The case was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service in March 2018. Everyone was hopeful of a conviction for death by dangerous driving. However, in June 2018, the CPS stated that it was unable to send the case to court as a glitch in the law states that the vehicle must have started its journey on a public road to make prosecution under the Road Traffic Act 1988 possible. Even though Pearl was killed on a public road, the fact that the vehicle had started its descent from a private drive meant that prosecution was not possible. The coroner stated that the vehicle was in fact well maintained, and it seemed that the issue was very much driver operation. The inquest heard that the handbrake had not been fully applied in “park” mode.

Over the past four years, I have met Pearl’s parents, Gemma and Paul Black, on a few occasions to look at what could be done to change the legislation so that other families do not face this kind of injustice in future. The inquest into Pearl’s death was held in October 2018, and the outcome declared was “accident”. However, with the support of South Wales police and the CPS, Pearl’s parents sought and continue to seek a change in the law to prevent other families—following such tragic and completely preventable incidents—from being in a similar situation of not being able to secure justice because of a legal loophole. As Gemma and Paul acknowledge, legislation is not retrospective, so the change will not help to bring justice for Pearl, but if the law can be changed to prevent anyone else from suffering this injustice, it may provide some comfort.

After speaking to the Public Bill Office and the Private Bill Office, and holding meetings with Government Ministers, I introduced a ten-minute rule Bill to at least start making some progress. Unfortunately, as is the case with most ten-minute rule Bills and private Member’s Bills, that Bill fell because it did not progress before the parliamentary Session ended. It is wholly wrong that justice cannot be achieved in such tragic cases. There has been no conviction simply because the land on which the incident took place is not classified as public. Sadly, however, Pearl’s case is by no means an isolated one. I know that other Members across the House have raised similar issues, hence the cross-party support for my ten-minute rule Bill.

The Minister at the time, the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes), acknowledged in a debate on a similar issue that an overarching change in the law to cover driving offences occurring on private land in general would be a significant and difficult piece of legislation because of the wide-ranging nature of land that comes under the definition of “private”, and because of complications around other classifications of private land, such as land used for military, commercial and other purposes. I have discussed the difficulty of legislating broadly for such matters in correspondence with Ministers, and although I appreciate that that remains the case, we could, at the very least, start to look at changing the law. More focused legislation would allow for driving offences that occur on private land adjoining public land to be prosecuted. That would apply to cases such as the death of my constituents’ daughter, Pearl, and to similar cases brought to the House. If the law were changed on driving offences that occur on private land adjoining public land, it would be a very powerful deterrent to road users’ carelessness.

There are a huge number of instances in which private land adjoining public land is regularly used and is potentially dangerous to those in the area, including residential driveways, schools and nurseries, supermarkets, shopping centres, hospitals and doctors’ surgeries, to name some of the most common. When we consider those examples, we can see that driving on that specific category of land can present a high risk to people in everyday situations, especially children, the elderly and some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

The legislation that I am seeking to amend and update would give my constituents and many others the peace of mind that there are consequences for dangerous driving—no matter where it occurs—and help to prevent such needless and avoidable tragedies from ever happening in future. Will the Leader of the House look carefully over my draft Bill and discuss with me and with appropriate Ministers how it might be included in any forthcoming Government legislation?

The second issue that I wish to focus on is the case of a boxer from Merthyr Tydfil. I have previously raised this case in Westminster Hall in the hope that the British Boxing Board of Control would consider acknowledging the family’s call for an apology, which I support. For some people in my constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Cuthbert Taylor is a local sporting legend. An amateur and professional boxer, he fought 500 bouts in his career lasting 20 years between 1928 and 1947. Many were in Merthyr Tydfil, but he also fought across south Wales, the UK and Europe. He was knocked out only once in his career, and he was once described as the best in Europe. In 1927, he won the flyweight championship title, and he defended the title in 1928. He also became the British amateur flyweight champion. That same year, he represented Great Britain at the Amsterdam summer Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals in that category. He was the first black boxer to represent Britain at the Olympics. Although well known by some in Merthyr Tydfil, and despite a successful and exciting career, Cuthbert Taylor never got the same recognition on a national or international scale as other boxers. This was because of one simple thing: the colour of his skin.

Cuthbert Taylor was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1909 to parents of different ethnic backgrounds. His father, also called Cuthbert, was an amateur boxer in Liverpool. He was of Caribbean descent, and his mother, Margaret, described herself as white Welsh. He was judged at the time to be

“not white enough to be British”

by the British Boxing Board of Control, and he was prevented from ever challenging for a British title or a world title professionally by the body’s colour bar rule, which was in place between 1911 and 1948 and which stated that fighters had to have two white parents to compete for professional titles. The colour bar serves as an uncomfortable reminder of a different time. Although we cannot go back and give Cuthbert Taylor the professional titles and success his career deserved, we can ensure that he has true and just recognition.

The previous Minister for Sport, the hon. Member for Mid Worcestershire (Nigel Huddleston), supported the letter to the British Boxing Board of Control to ask it to consider an apology for Cuthbert Taylor, which is something his family deeply want. Will the Leader of the House consider supporting that case and the call to the British Boxing Board of Control?

Finally, turning to the present, this truly is a winter of discontent visited upon the country by the Conservative Government. Railway staff are on strike, as are posties, ambulance staff, bus drivers, border staff, highway workers and driving examiners. For the first time in their 106-year history, nurses are on strike. Rather than threatening hard-pressed workers, the Government should be sitting around the negotiating table, trying to secure a solution. As a lifelong trade unionist and member of the GMB and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, I support the trade unions and colleagues at the Trades Union Congress who work tirelessly day in, day out to make life better for working people.

I am proud as a Labour Member of Parliament to be working alongside our trade unions to secure a Labour Government, who would provide a new deal for working people, and to oppose any attempt by this Government to undermine trade unions or workers’ rights. A new Labour Government would repeal any such measures, sign an employment Bill into law within the first 100 days, strengthen individual and collective rights at work and achieve a high-growth, high-wage economy for all. Workers in Britain know that Labour is on their side, so let us have that general election and now. In conclusion, I wish you, Mr Deputy Speaker, all colleagues and all staff who help us do our duty a happy Christmas and new year. I thank my constituency and Westminster staff for supporting me with the work they do helping constituents across Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I am introducing a six-minute limit to protect everybody and ensure they all get their fair share.

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[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

I had to shorten my speech because there are too many issues that need to be raised as a result of the Government’s ongoing failures. However, since it is Christmas, I considered how to approach the debate positively and, after careful deliberation, I decided that the best thing I could do for my constituents was to tell their stories. It is positive for them to have their voices heard, in the hope that the Government are listening and will make a difference. If the Government cannot make a difference, they should call a general election.

Our children are our future. I feel that, when we put children at the centre of our legislative considerations, we have the right benchmark. All Government decisions affect children, directly or indirectly. I impress on the Government the need to focus on keeping children safe: in the air they breathe, at school, on the roads, in police custody, in their homes and overseas. I have mentioned only a few examples; there are many more.

We all have a right to breathe clean air. One of the most surprising and distressing things that I was recently told by a paediatrician is that a new-born baby was found to have ultrafine particles and carbon monoxide concentrations in their lungs—they breathe in what their mother breathes in—which is why I absolutely support the Mayor of London’s expansion of the ultra low emission zone. We know that children die from polluted air; in fact, there are 4,000 premature deaths a year in London due to toxic air. The case of Ella, in my neighbouring constituency, is a tragic reminder of that, and I encourage the Government to get behind Ella’s law fully. The school streets programme is about having green walls and less traffic around schools. It has faced challenges and delays, but if the Government are serious about delivering clean air, they will redouble their efforts to roll it out. I hope that the Government will work more vigorously with local authorities to achieve that.

In 2013 under the coalition Government, I set up a community food bank. Since then, communities have become ever more reliant on charity. The meaning of charity is love—communities are showing love to one another, but what are the Government showing when they blame and demonise families on benefits? The drastic increase in the number of people who use food banks includes people on benefits, low-wage earners and key workers, which is partly why those key workers are on strike today. They simply cannot afford the wages they are living on.

Everything about universal credit is harsh, because it says that people must live in poverty and that they must suffer and have much less than everybody else. Benefits are easily frozen and the five-week delay sets the scene. There is also the bedroom tax and the local housing allowance does not go far enough. The Government have been failing the economy and they are failing families.

When we think about young people and crime, the Government never say that crime is linked to poverty, deprivation, discrimination and disadvantage. They should sort that out, along with legal aid, appropriate adults in custody, the custody threshold for children, the court backlogs and, I could not forget, prison spaces.

Staying on the theme of children, teachers and schools across my constituency already provide unofficial breakfast support for children in the classroom, but schools need more help—and they need it now. I have recently been contacted by several headteachers about the shortfall of funding to pay for free school meals. If the Government had not noticed, there is a food crisis as prices have risen by 12.4%, which is extraordinarily high. That affects the price of food for all organisations in the public and charity sectors that provide food, as well as for consumers.

In England, the price of each child’s free school meal is rising. One teacher told me that that is an extra £20,000 from their budget each year, which gets taken away from other staffing costs. The Government need to ensure that the quality of food is not compromised, and that neither is the child’s health and nutrition. If the child’s health is compromised, that will only transfer the cost to another Department and another budget. I am sure that all hon. Members agree that prevention is better than cure.

I turn to a case where Government intervention is desperately needed. The longer that they delay in processing people’s visas, the more that the state pays for them. The Government then demonise them for being dependent on the state—a vicious circle. In the summer, I visited an Afghan family who fled Afghanistan during the collapse of Kabul and came to the UK. They were here lawfully but were made to live in two rooms in a hostel for more than a year. They had two autistic children, a toddler and a teenager, and they were in a severely overcrowded situation. The parents were given pocket money and were unable to cook their own food. They could not rest properly and were, of course, deeply traumatised. It is no wonder that the parents ended up on mental health medication.

That is what the Government offered that war-torn family, when all they wanted to do was work and provide a home for their family. More than a year later, they were given the shell of a home that was miles away from the place that they had come to know well. I am pleased that the Government demonstrate a greater level of compassion to Ukrainian refugees, which I fully support, but I impress on the Home Office to do more for Afghan refugees and asylum seekers.

I also make a plea for the Home Office to help my nine-year-old constituent who needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant on 24 December—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Sadly, the six minutes are up, but I thank the hon. Lady none the less.

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[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Don Valley (Nick Fletcher).

I wish to raise an important local issue from my constituency, which also affects many people in the surrounding area and across the country and the wider world: the future of Reading jail. That iconic, historically important building is currently mothballed. It is the most famous building in our town, and we are proud of it and of its association with Oscar Wilde and other historical figures. At the moment, the right hon. Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma) and I are working with the Ministry of Justice, Reading Borough Council, Banksy and arts groups to try to secure the future of the jail, save it, and turn it into an arts hub, which we believe would be a fitting use for that wonderful historic Victorian building. I would like to update the House on our progress, and call on the Ministry of Justice to focus on this issue and offer local residents, the arts community and many others a wonderful Christmas present by saving the jail.

In short, we have been waiting some time. I would like to explain what has happened so far and some of the issues we face, and point out of the potential of the marvellous Victorian building. For a number of years the jail has been mothballed by the MOJ. It is, however, suited to becoming an arts hub, and it has already a meanwhile use for filming and for art installations. We believe there is scope for that to be developed more fully if the building were allowed to be redeveloped, saved, and turned into an arts centre for local and wider use.

The problem seems to be that, having run a competition to sell the building, the MOJ now has one preferred bidder, which we understand has lost interest in the site, and appears to be holding on to the building but without a clear plan for its future. We would like to reorientate the MOJ’s interest into a bid by Reading Council, which has offered more than £2.6 million for the historic building. We believe we can add to that with donations from the arts community—indeed, we have had some initial interest from Banksy in supporting that bid. I ask the Leader of the House to refer the matter back to the Ministry of Justice and ask it to look again at this important matter, rethink its current approach, and look again at Reading Council’s bid for the site. We believe it is possible that the issue could be looked at again, and the site considered for alternative use.

In addition to the future of Reading jail, I wish to mention a number of other important historic buildings in my constituency, in particular the future of Caversham Park House, Cemetery Junction arch, and the Adwest building in Woodley. All those are important buildings that I hope can be preserved and saved for future community use. I am currently working with a number of partners on those issues, and I thank local partners and councillors for their interest in such matters.

There are a couple of other campaigns that I would like to mention. In particular, there is the need for further Government action on legal but harmful content in the Online Safety Bill. That has been discussed recently, but I am afraid that the Government have failed to fully take on board the concerns expressed by many people, and in particular the Stephens family from Reading, who tragically lost their son in a brutal attack nearly two years ago, which was linked to young people’s social media use—the filming and photographing of knives and the sharing of that online, which had the most dreadful impact on the young people involved in the attack. I ask the Leader of the House to refer the matter back to the relevant Ministers and ask them to reconsider the Government’s approach to legal but harmful content.

I would like to mention a couple of other local matters. I ask the Government to look again at their policy on business rates. There have been a number of cases in my constituency of small businesses struggling because of the high rental value of shops and other physical businesses in Reading town centre and other locations. Business rates should be reformed, with the current system scrapped and replaced with one based on a more genuine assessment of the value of sites so that internet giants pay a fair share and small businesses get treated equally.

I also call on the Government to look again at Gurkha pensions. I have been talking to the retired Gurkha community and working with them on the matter. I know that the Government are in negotiation with the Government of Nepal, but, as of yet, there is no solution to the issue. Gurkhas who retired from the British military before 1997 do not receive the same pensions as other British soldiers. Again, I ask the Leader of the House to refer that to the Ministry of Defence and urge it once again to renew its focus on the issue.

Finally—I appreciate that time is running out—I wish all the House staff, colleagues across the House and you, Mr Deputy Speaker, a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Thank you very much.

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[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

My beautiful constituency is steeped in history, being designated a world heritage site twice over. However, Bath is not just a living museum. The beating heart of Bath is the people and organisations that help to make it a better place. I pay tribute to organisations such as VOICES, a charity supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse and violence, and the Somerset and Wessex Eating Disorders Association for its important work in helping the growing number of people suffering with eating disorders. We have the wonderful Bath College and our two fantastic universities which, with their thousands of young people, bring energy, fun and new ideas to our city. We have hundreds of new, innovative small businesses, such as S&J Roofing, which I visited last week and which passionate about solar panel installations and how to get to net zero.

We all have a duty to protect the most vulnerable in society, and I give my warmest thanks to Bath’s health workers. I visited several health centres this year and I am always amazed by the dedication of staff. I warmly commend our Royal United Hospitals, RICE—the Research Institute for the Care of Older People, a local dementia care and research institute—the Heart of Bath surgery, Bath Mind, and all those who support the increasing number of people grappling with health issues. However, our health workers deserve more than just a pat on the shoulder. They deserve material support from Government. The Government have left our local health services in a huge mess.

Let us look at Bath’s dental crisis. Nearly 15% of NHS dentists have been lost from Bath clinical commissioning group since 2016. Only three in 10 adults in Bath have been able to secure an appointment with an NHS dentist in the past two years. The Government must reform the NHS dental contract and give proper incentives to take on new NHS patients, instead of leaving dentists out of pocket. A review was promised earlier this year—where is it?

GP services are faring no better. The south-west lags behind the country in GP recruitment. Local GPs have told me of their worries for this winter, as demand for their services continues to soar. The Government urgently need a credible, long-term workforce plan, so that our precious NHS can continue to exist. The crisis for emergency care and ambulance services has been looming for a long time, but the Government have deliberately ignored it.

South Western Ambulance Service is under severe pressure. I commend it for everything it does in this crisis, but only this morning I heard another heartbreaking story from a patient in Cheltenham who, on several occasions, has had to wait outside Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in an ambulance—sometimes overnight—and then has been discharged back to his carers without making it into the hospital. Perhaps the Health Minister should visit places such as Bath and Cheltenham, to hear the stories from South Western Ambulance Service for himself.

Earlier this year, I led a debate on ambulance and emergency department waiting times, after the Royal College of Emergency Medicine published its report, “Tip of the Iceberg”. Three years ago, an ambulance taking 50 minutes to reach a stroke patient would have been a national scandal, but this Government have allowed it to become the norm. The Government need to urgently fund thousands of extra beds to stop handover delays in A&E, so that ambulances can get back on the road as soon as possible. My constituents cannot wait any longer. We all know that this is really a crisis of social care. We cannot let it loom any longer without Government grappling with the problem.

Soaring energy bills have hit everyone hard this winter, yet the Government have proven slow to protect those in need. The energy bill support scheme provides £400 to domestic consumers via their bills. However, the Government have yet to devise a method to get money to residential boaters in my constituency, leaving them facing serious financial hardship this Christmas. A mechanism must be urgently put in place to ensure that they, too, get the support they need.

From healthcare to the economy to climate change—I did not have time to talk about net zero this afternoon, which is a subject that I raise time and again—we are in a state of crisis. I hope that Government will return to this place in the new year with the resolve we need to get our country back on track. Radical, progressive change is needed, now more than ever.

Since I have a little time left, in the spirit of Christmas I want to give you an extra minute, Mr Deputy Speaker. I wish everybody across the House, our wonderful staff, my Bath constituents and last but not least you, Mr Deputy Speaker, a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I will follow your lead and give everyone else an extra minute. So, it is seven minutes now.

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[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

Recently the Chancellor said that we have a national genius for innovation, and nowhere is that genius more obvious than in the new city of Southend. Southend’s 3,700 companies include Drivershields, which won the Queen’s award for innovation this year, Ipeco, Borough plating and Tapp’d cocktails. These are some of the most innovative companies in the country. Last weekend I had the pleasure of opening the new City Wheel at Adventure Island. Rising to a height of nearly 120 feet, it is the tallest Ferris wheel in the south-east, and this was the first time it had rotated fully loaded. It paused for a rather uncomfortable length of time while I was at the top, but it afforded me a wonderful view of my picturesque constituency.

However, it is Southend’s public services that I really want to talk about when I talk about innovation. We have the brilliant South Essex College and Southend’s brilliant schools, including our four leading grammar schools, which are creating the innovators of the future. As the Skills Minister, the Minister of State, Department for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), saw with his own eyes last week, the array of T-level programmes and apprenticeships is extremely impressive.

When it comes to policing, our brilliant community inspector Paul Hogben came to me with a plan to tackle knife crime by purchasing innovative electronic knife poles that he had sourced online and needed my support to purchase. The first set has been purchased, and they have proved so successful because of the number of people that have been screened and the number of objects removed that the police are now investing in another set to make Southend safer.

But it is our NHS that is truly outstanding, despite our still awaiting the £118 million of capital funding in South Essex, including £51 million for Southend Hospital, which I have talked about repeatedly in this Chamber. Southend Hospital is not standing still; it is innovating. With support from other South Essex colleagues, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois), who was in the Chamber earlier, and in conjunction with the East of England Ambulance Service, we have helped the hospital to create not one but two state-of-the-art ambulance handover units and a new enhanced active discharge centre to help the flow of people going through Southend Hospital. How much more could they do if that essential capital funding was at last released? In the famous words of Cuba Gooding Jr. that I have mentioned in the Chamber previously, I say to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and/or the Treasury: “Show me the money!”

In recognition of their immense efforts, I thank all our wonderful NHS staff in Southend for their incredible work this year and for the fact that not a single nurse, porter, GP or mental health worker is on strike this Christmas in Southend. Such recognition of our national position and their dedication to their job deserves the admiration of us all. In particular, I congratulate the amazing Valerie Adams, who is choosing to finish her 50 years of service to the NHS by going in and looking after others on Christmas day. She is a superhero and deserves a medal for long service. I hope, Mr Deputy Speaker, that in the new year you will join my campaign for a new long-service medal for outstanding NHS workers, as we have already for workers in the police, the fire service and the military.

Southend was made a city in Sir David’s honour, but we all know that he would not have stopped there. I am determined to build on his impressive legacy by having Southend become the city of culture in 2029. It is unbelievable that at a meeting on 8 November Labour-led Southend-on-Sea City Council completely dismissed going for such a positive vision for our new city, despite our not having to apply for another four years. We will not stand for this lack of confidence in and ambition for our new city. I assure the House and, indeed, all the naysayers at Labour-led Southend-on-Sea City Council that the Conservatives and the community in Southend will continue to pursue this incredible opportunity. We will not let it slip by because of a lack of ambition. Labour in Southend needs to learn that success is not a destination: it is a journey.

Finally, music and culture is one of the most innovative sectors in Southend, as shown by our brilliant and inspirational Music Man Project, which is currently powering its way up the charts to become the Christmas No. 1. Sir David never missed an opportunity to shout about how brilliant the Music Man Project is. If Members have not already heard it, “Music is Magic” is available to download on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, SoundCloud and Tidal. It is even available to stream on smart speakers: all Members need to say is, “Alexa, play ‘Music is Magic’”—or they can come and see me afterwards.

Finally, I take this opportunity to wish everybody a wonderful Christmas and to thank my amazing team, my family, my mother and everyone who has supported me. For me, it has been the privilege of my life to represent Southend West this year; for them, it has been a year like no other. They have exchanged a parliamentary superstar of 39 years’ experience for a complete newbie. I thank them all for their help. In particular, I thank my office manager Gill Lee. I am very proud that she was nominated for staffer of the year, which I am sure was much deserved.

With only five seconds left, I wish everyone a very happy Christmas.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

On that point, we all remember David Amess today with huge, huge gratitude for his service here.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the Leader of the House for that. I mentioned my long-suffering wife; we have been married 34 years, so she is very long-suffering, and that is probably a good thing, because we are still together. My mum is 91 years old and I suspect she is sitting watching the Parliament channel right now to see what her eldest son is up to and what he is saying, so again that is something.

I also thank my staff members. I told one of my Opposition colleagues last week that I live in a woman’s world, because I have six girls in my office who look after me and make sure I am right. The hon. Members for Bosworth (Dr Evans) and for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) referred to AI, but I must say I am not converted to it. I am not even sure what it is, to be perfectly honest. However, I know one thing: when it comes to writing speeches, Naomi writes the speeches for me and she does it extremely well, and I will maintain that human touch as long as I can.

Lastly, I thank my Strangford constituents, who have stuck by me as a councillor, as a Member of the Legislative Assembly and as a Member of Parliament in this House. This is my 30th year of service in local government and elsewhere. They have been tremendously kind to me and I appreciate them. I want to put on record what a privilege it is to serve them in this House and to do my best for them.

I wish everyone a happy Christmas, and may everyone have a prosperous, peaceful and blessed new year, as we take the example of Christ and act with humility and purpose in this place to effect the change that we all want and that is so needed in our nation—this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, always better together.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Your mother and wife will be as proud of you as we all are, Jim. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!] As a person of faith, I thank you very much for putting the Christ back into Christmas in your speech. We come now to the wind-ups.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

May I start where the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) ended, by most importantly wishing all those who work with us in this place a very merry and restful Christmas and new year? It has been yet another historic year; one in which all those who work to support us in this place have yet again stepped up extremely well. There are too many teams and individuals to mention, but if I may, I sneak in a special thanks from me to Adouni in Portcullis House. I give a massive thanks to all those working in constituency offices across the land, whose work in these difficult times is much appreciated. If I may, I just say to the hon. Member for Southend West (Anna Firth) that that includes Sarah, who actually won parliamentary caseworker of the year in this year’s awards as well.

As regulars in this debate will know, it is an impossible task to wind up four hours of such a debate, with 30 Members having covered a wide range and breadth of issues so well this afternoon. Christmas is a time for tradition, and it is traditional in this place that the last Back-Bench speech in most debates goes to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). May I say to him, following his contribution today, that he is a much-loved Member of this House?

A recurrent theme from those on the Opposition Benches has been the chaos surrounding the Government this year and their dismal performance. On that note, I thought I would follow in the footsteps of my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle) at Prime Minister’s questions by offering a new interpretation of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, as it is the end of term. This year, we have had: 12 years of Tory failure; 11 Ministers at the Ministry of Justice since June; at least 10 trips to Downing Street by removal teams, as well as 10 different Ministers at the Department for Transport since September; nine different Tory DEFRA Secretaries since 2010; 8 billion unusable PPE masks currently in storage, costing £2.2 million a week; seven candidates rumoured to have refused the Prime Minister’s offer to take up the role of ethics adviser, a post that still remains vacant; six different steel Ministers—an issue very important to Newport East—since the last general election; and, this year alone, five different Education Secretaries, four Chancellors, three PMs, two Tory leadership contests and slightly less than one week between the Home Secretary losing her post after a serious security breach and being reappointed by the Prime Minister.

I also want to mention the number 30, because a constituent explained to me on Friday that her husband’s pension pot was cut by 30% after the disastrous autumn mini-Budget, meaning that the couple will have to postpone a well-earned retirement for at least a few years. We must be clear that there has been a real human cost to this Government’s failures and a distinct lack of contrition from those who crashed our economy—a point well made by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) in her excellent contribution.

The 12 days of Christmas are also insufficient to contain the number of overdue and forgotten Bills and White Papers promised by this Government; we would probably need at least two advent calendars. I will not list everything that is missing, as that would not be fair to anyone in the Chamber, but what on earth is happening with the Victims Bill, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, the 10-year plan for dementia, the regulations on physician associates—I certainly have constituents who are waiting for those—the Gambling Act review White Paper, the promised White Paper on regional health inequalities and the football governance White Paper?

As the hon. Member for Glasgow South West mentioned, there are delays in responses from Departments, too. So much legislation and policy seems to have become stuck in the quagmire of chaos that has engulfed this Prime Minister’s premiership, and his predecessor’s, and her predecessor’s. This Tory Government are the worst joke you will find in a Christmas cracker over the coming years.

On a cheerier note, there were excellent contributions from Members across the House. The theme of broken and bust Britain under this Government, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) called it, in his inimitable style, was raised by the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) and my hon. Friends the Members for Nottingham South, for Batley and Spen (Kim Leadbeater), for Reading East (Matt Rodda), for Luton South (Rachel Hopkins), for Lewisham East (Janet Daby), for Stockport (Navendu Mishra), for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Gerald Jones) and for York Central (Rachael Maskell)—there are a lot of Whips in here today. They rightly highlighted the Government’s record this year on mortgage rises; the impact of inflation and the cost of living; the treatment of public sector workers, postal workers and more, and the need for the Government to get round the table, which many hon. Members mentioned; energy costs and the lack of a plan after March; and the terrible choices that local government is being forced to make due to Government cuts.

My hon. Friend the Member for Batley and Spen mentioned delays to the levelling-up process. I thank her for her work on online abuse, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Reading East. My hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East was right that if the Government cannot make a difference now, they should step aside—or, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda said, press the reset button. He was right: let us have a general election now.

A number of hon. Members mentioned rail services—a popular choice in these debates. My hon. Friend the Member for Stockport was right in his criticism of Avanti. That gives me the opportunity to say again that the Government’s record on rail investment is woeful. Wales has 11% of the rail network and 2% of rail enhancement funding. The Government must do better.

My hon. Friend the Member for Luton South did a great service highlighting the need to talk about the take-up of mammograms. We are very sorry for her loss. It must have been difficult to speak about that today, but she has done a really good thing.

My Whips Office colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport, raised debt collection practices and the use of bailiffs in collecting council tax debt, which is important to highlight.

I thank the hon. Member for Bosworth (Dr Evans) and my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) for talking about AI, although, knowing my hon. Friend—we grew up together in Cwmbran, as a point of trivia—I cannot imagine that he writes many speeches down and, given his wit and style, I am sure we could tell the difference. They were both right to highlight the benefits and threats of AI, and the need for us to engage with the technology and find a balance.

I wish the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon) and my hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney all the best with their safety campaigns following tragic incidents—and a special mention to the right hon. Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) for his remembrance of Ballykelly.

At this time of year, we think of those in need, including those across the world facing the threats of malnutrition, persecution and war. That includes the people of Ukraine, who have suffered unimaginable pain and loss this year as a result of Russia’s barbaric invasion. I also send our thoughts to the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh, as mentioned by the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), who are facing that devastating blockade. I highlight to the House the remarks made in the Chamber last week by the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton), who called on the UK Government to do what they can through their diplomatic links with Azerbaijan to bring an end to the blockade and the continued repression of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

At Christmas, we also think of all those facing hardship in the communities that we represent in the UK, and we know that this will be an especially difficult Christmas for many of our constituents. My hon. Friend the Member for Batley and Spen referred to her community organisations and I, too, am grateful to all the organisations and volunteers in Newport East who provide support to people who need help. I also thank the many emergency service workers in my constituency and across the country who work hard to keep us safe over the festive period. On that note—I hope that I have not taken too much time—I say Nadolig Llawen pawb: a merry Christmas to everyone, and to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, given your wonderful Welsh connections.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Ac i chi—and to you.

--- Later in debate ---

[Hon. Members]

Hear, hear!

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Mr Blackman, would you like the final word?

[Bob Blackman]

indicated dissent.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

In that case, I will take it. On behalf of—[Interruption.] I will put a two-minute limit on me. On behalf of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker team, I want to wish everybody who works here a merry Christmas and a happy 2023. Virtually everybody has mentioned their staff, so I had better mention Will, Amy and Michael in my office in London and those who support me in the Ribble Valley because they are on the frontline, dealing with the problems that we deal with, too. I thank them.

From the cleaners to the Clerks, the cooks and the security services and the police who look after us and protect us, I thank everyone who works on the parliamentary estate for what they do and wish them a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

There have been a lot of quotes. My late brother’s favourite Christmas movie was “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and it is one of my favourites, too. Just like Clarence, who got his wings several decades ago, I would like to give another angel their wings today and wish everybody a merry Christmas and a happy 2023.

[Hon. Members]

Hear, hear!

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming adjournment.

Business of the House

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 1st December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

Small Business Saturday is an opportunity for us to celebrate the good that small businesses do and how much we value them. If you will forgive me, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will make a plug for the Music Man’s first ever Christmas single, “Music Is Magic”, which will be available for pre-save from tomorrow on all major music streaming platforms. The single will be released on 16 December for download and on streaming services. The music video will be released tomorrow in support of International Day of Disabled Persons 2022, on 3 December. I thank my hon. Friend for the support for the Music Man, and to update the House, they want to play Broadway. In the new year, they will be playing their first US gig, hopefully with their Christmas hit, on the USS Midway in San Diego bay. I am sure the whole House wishes them luck.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

That is the first time we have had a commercial break in business questions.

[Dean Russell (Watford) (Con)]

As we have heard, small businesses are the lifeblood of our nation and our economy, but one of the challenges they often face is red tape, particularly with procurement when there is an opportunity to grow their business. In the light of Small Business Saturday this weekend and with the Procurement Bill currently making its way through the other place, will my right hon. Friend please consider making time for us to discuss small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs, who are the people who make this country what it is? It would provide an opportunity to see how we can support them through the procurement process, make sure the Government are hiring small businesses to deliver local government and Government needs, and ensure they can focus their time on transforming their business, not just filling out forms for their business.

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

I want to associate myself with the remarks that my hon. Friend has made about Ed and others. He will know that there is Health questions next week, and I encourage him to raise this with the Secretary of State in that session.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I thank the Leader of the House for responding to business questions for just short of an hour.

Business of the House

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady and wish her well in that bid. Clearly, decontaminating land is key to unlocking its use and her community will be keen to see that happen. Round one delivered more than £170 million for eight projects and I am sure that further funding will be brought forward. I thank her for championing her project today.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I thank the Leader of the House for responding to questions for an hour and 12 minutes.

Points of Order

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Ind)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I rise to make a point of order concerning Prime Minister’s Question Time yesterday. I informed the Prime Minister that I would be raising this point of order this morning. Yesterday, in answer to the Leader of the Opposition, he made reference to me. He gave me no advance notice that he was going to make such a reference, which is surely the convention for all Members of the House, including the Prime Minister. He also gave a wholly inaccurate representation of the 2019 election manifesto, of which he must have been fully aware, because he took part in many debates concerning its contents during the election campaign. Could you guide me, Mr Deputy Speaker, on how the Prime Minister could correct the record? If I am going to live rent free in his head, he could at least accurately reflect what I think and say, rather than inventions made up by him or his office.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order and for giving forward notice of it. Members are, of course, responsible for the content of their own remarks in the Chamber. In respect of what is said in the House, parliamentary privilege allows all Members the right of free speech to ensure that we can represent our constituents and express our views without fear or favour, but that is a right that we must exercise with great responsibility. The Treasury Bench will have heard that point of order and I am sure it will be passed on to the Prime Minister.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Penny Mordaunt)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. In all seriousness, as you know, I take the rules on giving Members notice very seriously, whether that is about visits to constituencies or mentions in the House, so I will certainly follow that up. I suspect, however, that the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) should be prepared for him, and particularly the Leader of the Opposition’s support for him and the manifesto that he stood on, to be mentioned on at least a weekly basis. If he would like to help to correct the record, he could publish the manifesto that he stood on, which would have weakened this country and dismantled NATO.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

rose—

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I will take a further point of order on that, then that will be it.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am grateful to the Leader of the House for what she has just said. The manifesto is freely available. Had it resulted in a Labour Government, we would not have such poverty, such food banks and such misery in this country today.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

It would appear that it is not only the Prime Minister who lives rent free in your head, Mr Corbyn. I call Mr Wiggin on a separate point of order.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Bill Wiggin]

Don’t boo! This is serious. Ronnie Radford was a truly wonderful man who set a tremendous example in his modesty and humbleness. I ask the House to read Brian Viner’s article, which pays proper tribute to this footballing icon. With 19 days to go before the World cup, I congratulate Birmingham on putting up a big screen so that people can enjoy football. I hope that that will happen in London, because it would be a shame if Londoners did not get the opportunity to see such a wonderful example of everything that is good about football.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I am grateful to Sir Bill Wiggin—I forgot to give you due deference there, Sir Bill. There were a lot of nods from Front Benchers and hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber when you mentioned Ronnie Radford.

[Ian Mearns]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I point out that I was not booing the late Ronnie Radford, for whom I have a high regard as a non-league player at the time when Hereford defeated Newcastle all those years ago. I was booing that fact that in the next week or so, we will probably see that goal on many occasions, which I think I have seen on only 4,953 previous occasions—every time the FA cup third round comes on each year. I have great respect and fondness for the late Ronnie Radford, but I hate being reminded about that goal.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

What can I say other than to ask that our deepest condolences be passed on to Ronnie’s family? He was remembered in the House today.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (Ind)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Lest I be accused of misleading the House—and given that I am serving on the Procedure Committee, which is currently conducting an inquiry into correcting the record—may I clarify what I said to the Leader of the House? Aberdeen is in fact 150 miles away from Glasgow, not 300 miles, even if it might seem like 300 miles for my staff, should they have to travel all the way there. It would be a 300-mile round trip—[Interruption] —and it is not 500 miles or 500 miles more either. I say that just for the accuracy of the record, lest there be any confusion or misunderstanding.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Member for correcting that as quickly as he has.

Points of Order

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Leader of the House just called into question my behaviour when I raised the very serious allegations of bullying and manhandling that I witnessed in the voting Lobby last night. That is not appropriate. Can you assure me that there will be a proper and full investigation into this serious matter, and do you agree that that was an inappropriate response?

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Mr Speaker has already made an announcement that there is to be an investigation.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Penny Mordaunt)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the hon. Lady for allowing me to confirm my views on this matter. We do ourselves a disservice in this place if we do not report wrongdoing and follow it up in the proper way. I did not see any, but there may well have been, and she may have seen things that I did not. In that case—

--- Later in debate ---

[James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. When Members enter this privileged place, we are obliged to abide by the code of conduct that exists for all of us, which I believe to be sacrosanct. Last night, at least one photograph appeared in the national media purporting to show an alleged incident at the entrance to the No Lobby. May I seek your counsel in two areas? First, how might we collectively raise the bar of personal conduct in this place so that photographs are not taken for disingenuous purposes and for political gain? Secondly, how might we best identify those responsible, so that this poor behaviour can be brought to account?

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

Mr Speaker and the entire Deputy Speaker team deprecate any taking of photographs, whether in the voting Lobby, the Chamber or certain other areas. Mr Speaker has made it absolutely clear, but let me emphasise it again: do not take photographs in areas where they are forbidden. The hon. Gentleman has made a good point, and it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to behave better as role models to those outside looking in.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Bracknell (James Sunderland) for telling me that he was going to raise this matter. I want to be absolutely clear that I took a photograph, and I did so knowing that I was breaking the rules of the House—the etiquette of the House, certainly. I did so because I believed that the example being set, when we are trying to change the culture of bullying in Parliament, was such that it was necessary to override the normal course of action. I apologise to the House for doing so. However, it is very important to understand that if 12 Members were to stand around a member of staff in that way, they would probably end up being suspended from the House for a long period for bullying. We have only just started taking bullying seriously in this Parliament.

I am not questioning what you just said, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I gently suggest that there is a good argument that one of the rules we have had for a very long time—that there is no photography and no filming in the Lobby or adjacent areas—is now out of date, and it might actually help us to stop some of the bullying—[Interruption.] I am only suggesting it gently, but it might stop some of the behaviour. Some of the behaviour changed in this House when the Chamber began to be filmed.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Member has made two points. One was an apology, which the House has heard. The second was about rule changes. That is not for the Chair; that is for the House, and there is a procedure to do that. The hon. Member has made his views known, and he will know how to progress that. It is then up to the House to decide whether it wishes there to be a rule change.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Irrespective of the issue raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (James Sunderland), there were photographers outside Parliament using expensive equipment to take photos of Members of Parliament, which is a breach of the security of this Parliament. I hope that Mr Speaker and colleagues will take action to prevent that from happening in the future.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

I am not aware of that, but the hon. Member has made it apparent. I will pass him the name of the person he should talk to and give his evidence to. Now let us, on this momentous day in British politics, move on—[Interruption.] Another momentous day in British politics!

Business of the House

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I call Bob Blackman, representing the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Chair of the Backbench Business Committee, the hon. Member for Gateshead (Ian Mearns), is indisposed, so he has asked me to report.

In addition to the business that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House has announced, on Tuesday morning there will be a debate in Westminster Hall on baby loss and safe staffing in maternity care, and in Westminster Hall next Thursday there will be debates on Colleges Week and World Menopause Day—all subjects that I think colleagues will wish to debate. On Tuesday 1 November, provided Madam Deputy Speaker agrees, there will be a debate on the importance of religious education in modern Britain.

We have a queue of debates requiring Chamber time, so I am grateful to the Leader of the House for announcing further dates for the Backbench Business Committee. We are also short of debates for Westminster Hall on Thursdays, so I encourage colleagues to apply for Westminster Hall debates.

On Monday it is Diwali, and Hindus, Sikhs and Jains will be celebrating in the time-honoured fashion. Will my right hon. Friend join me in wishing everyone Shubh Deepavali, and Nutan Varshabhinandan for Wednesday and the Hindu new year?

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this matter and paying tribute to our dearly missed late colleague, Sir David Amess. The Music Man Project is an incredible organisation. The Christmas single she mentions is available now to download and its first live performance is tonight at the Painted Hall in Greenwich, accompanied by the Royal Marines band. I was privileged to go to the first rehearsal, and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have had. I have video of the effect of those two organisations coming together; it is an amazing thing and the lasting legacy of our late colleague.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Hear, hear.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I know the Leader of the House is new to the role and that she has a great combative style, but I hope she will reflect on what she said to my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin), because I think she was very unfair in her response. On forthcoming business, the Leader of the House knows that all Members of Parliament will be very busy, as I am in Huddersfield, working with a whole network of charities, local people and local organisations, because it will be a long, hard winter for many people who will not be able to afford to heat their house or feed their family. Support groups will have to be organised. Can she make sure that we get the right Ministers here—from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities or whichever—to talk about how the Government can help us with the resources to build those networks so that we can provide that food and those warm spaces, and so that MPs can actually roll up their sleeves and help?

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

We did not make a detailed pledge at the pledging conference, but we did put on record our strong commitment. The issue was that a Minister was not available to go, so the pledge was not made—that was, from memory, my understanding—but it is expected shortly. I point the hon. Lady to our world-leading record at this and other replenishment conferences.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I thank the Leader of the House for making her statement and responding to many questions.

Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 21st July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

As I will not be in the Chair at the end of this debate, which is a great shame, I wish a very good recess to everybody here and to all the staff—from the cleaners to the Clerks and all our own staff—who do amazing work to keep parliamentary democracy going in this country. Have a great recess.

It is an honour for me to introduce the first ever Sir David Amess summer Adjournment. If David were still alive today, he would be here, and in the six-minute time limit he would have raised 35 issues, at least. We remember Sir David and his family with fondness today.

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered matters to be raised before the forthcoming adjournment.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead the first Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment debate ahead of the summer recess. It has been and, having been recently re-elected, continues to be a great privilege to chair the Backbench Business Committee since 2015.

Like many colleagues across the House, I will pay tribute to Sir David Amess, a distinguished and respected Member who served on the Backbench Business Committee between 2012 and 2015. Those of us who worked closely with Sir David will know how passionately he felt about Back-Bench issues, and it is entirely fitting that today’s debate and future debates of this kind will carry his name. While we must not forget the tragic circumstances that led to his death, it is right that we remember his positive impact on this House and how enthusiastically he represented his constituents in both Basildon and Southend West throughout his parliamentary career. Like Sir David, I seek to represent the constituents of my hometown of Gateshead in this House and, frankly, to anyone anywhere who will listen.

Last week, it was with some dismay, but not with any great surprise, that I read research published by End Child Poverty in conjunction with the North East Child Poverty Commission. It found that 38% of children across the north-east are growing up poor. In my constituency, that rises to 42%—over four in 10 children living in poverty. The north-east is no stranger to child poverty, but we now have another unenviable award in having the highest rate of child poverty in the UK. The reasons are many, not least the stripping back of the social security safety net, which has worsened poverty across my constituency, the effective £20 cut to universal credit, the two-child cap on universal credit, and the failure to increase payments in line with inflation for much of the past decade.

The apparent attitude across Departments seems to be to spend more effort looking for reasons not to give a positive response than actually tackling vital issues. In addition, we have seen over a decade of cuts to local authority budgets. Perhaps coincidentally, some areas with the greatest deprivation, such as Gateshead, have been subjected to proportionally much greater funding reductions. My own authority in Gateshead has seen its annual budget reduced by £170 million since 2010, even before increased population, greater levels of need and inflation are taken into account. That is £170 million a year extracted from my authority’s budget since 2010.

This Government’s funding model gives vague initiative funding which councils can bid for, only to find that much of the pot wends its way to favoured areas in, I am afraid to say, a pork barrel process. Even if some of that funding finds its way to us, it does relatively little to combat more than a decade of service cuts. Cuts to adult social care, children’s social care, youth services, early intervention proposals, special educational needs and family support all contribute to the situation we now face. Many families are in crisis.

The current cost of living crisis for many households in Gateshead is just acidic icing on an already bitter cake. Many families in Gateshead have spent a decade living from one week to the next, shaving ever more from their weekly shop, depriving themselves of food so they can feed their families, and going to bed early on winter evenings to save heating their homes. That is absolutely shameful and unsustainable. The fact that over 40% of children in my constituency live in poverty is unforgivable.

Gateshead is proud of taking an active role in Government resettlement schemes for families from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. These additional people are all being welcomed, but it is already a relatively poor community. While I welcome the wraparound support offered as part of those schemes, I draw the House’s attention to the hundreds of legitimate refugees from around the world outside these schemes who reside in Gateshead, many of whom are stuck in the Home Office processing backlog.

I want to raise the case of a lad called Victor—I call him a lad, but he is now over 60—who has been living in my constituency since 2006. Originally from Russia, Victor arrived in the UK after fleeing Russia and Putin due to his public criticism of the Russian regime—free speech is something we talk about so much in this House. Victor applied to the Home Office and has spent much of the last 16 years waiting for decisions. He still does not have leave to remain. Having spent much of his recent life in Gateshead, supported briefly by the Home Office and, after that, compassionately by Gateshead Council, sustaining him on just £30 a week, Victor is no further forward after 16 years.

The Home Office continues to refuse to grant him the right to stay in the UK, but at the same time recognises that Russia is not a safe place to deport him to, especially for those who are critical of the regime. It is not right that people like Victor, who come to the UK with a legitimate right to apply for asylum here, are left in limbo, not to say abject poverty, unable to work, unable to settle here and unable to build a home for fear of removal, yet left for nearly two decades in no man’s land. The recent illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine by Putin has thrown into stark relief the systematic suppression of human rights, civil liberties and freedom of speech in Russia. The circumstances in Russia were never good, but they have changed for the worse. Let Victor stay in Gateshead.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I call the Father of the House, Sir Peter Bottomley.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. The winding-up speeches will begin at about 4.30 pm, so please remember to come back to the Chamber to witness the impossible task of the Front Benchers responding to this debate.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman]

Clearly, Transport for London finances need to be put on a proper footing, and the capital funding that will be required is the most important aspect for the long term. The suggestion at the moment is that Crossrail will be the last investment in London for a very long time. That is the principal concern.

As I was saying, the Mayor of London wanted to build tower blocks all over Stanmore station car park. I am pleased to say that Harrow Council—then under Labour control—rejected that planning application. The Mayor called it in and the developer has now pulled out because they cannot make the financial scheme work, so it is in a state of limbo. He also suffered defeat on Canons Park station. Once again, he wanted to build tower blocks in the car park but was defeated at the planning committee. They are not content and have come back with another proposal for Queensbury station car park, again, for tower blocks on the car park. There is a trend, and it is not providing any new homes for anyone, because the plans will constantly be stalled and prevented by the local authorities concerned.

I am pleased that the new Conservative regime in Harrow has made a great start following the elections in May, with the pledges that were made to the electorate being honoured already. One hour of free parking outside shops will be implemented from 1 August, in record time. There will be a ban on tall buildings in Harrow, so we will no longer see buildings above six storeys built. Tower blocks end up, I am afraid, as ghettoes and in the social discontent that we regularly suffer in London. The council is also combating fly-tipping, with the introduction in September of free bulky waste collections from homes. Those are all new initiatives.

I must declare an interest: my wife was elected to the council to represent the good voters of Edgware. She topped the poll in that ward, which was historically a safe Labour seat. She is now in charge of trying to sort out customer contact—Harrow Council’s email traffic and its telephone system. I wish her well in that regard, because the system has been dreadful; people wait on the phone for 45 minutes and then they get cut off. I am certain that that is all going to change.

Let me turn to some of the problems we are suffering in the constituency. I very much echo what the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier) said about passports. Even people who have paid for the priority service are not getting the service within the promised timeframe. That is scandalous. There seems to be a lack of co-ordination and communication, because the Home Office says one thing to constituents and another thing to my office. That cannot be right. Yesterday, at the hub in Portcullis House, staffers waited up to four hours to see someone. It just cannot go on like this. We have even had delays with applications for biometric cards. One constituent has been stuck in Turkey since Christmas; they are still waiting and cannot get home to be with their family. That must change.

There are still 12,000 Afghan refugees stuck in hotels. We have one case of an 11-year-old boy who was unfortunately put on a plane to France instead of the UK. He is still in France and has not been reunited with his family. The bureaucracy is a nightmare. We need to get that resolved. I have just had an excellent briefing from my new friends in Harrow Council—the officers—on what we are doing on Ukrainian refugees. I will be writing to the Minister concerned with a lot of proposals for what needs to happen and change.

I had the pleasure on Monday of meeting former Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. One thing about Israel is that they love elections. The one thing I hope they never inflict on us is their voting system, because we would perennially be in elections here. It was a great pleasure to meet ex-Prime Minister Netanyahu. I wish him well and I hope that Likud is returned to power in the forthcoming election.

The Javed Khan tobacco control review was published recently. Unfortunately, because of the current position in the Government, we are not seeing any movement on that. I hope that the Government will come forward speedily and implement the review’s recommendations without too much delay.

I shall be spending the summer in the constituency. I am delighted to say that I have had a record number of applications for work experience with me—no fewer than 56. Those people will be out on the streets with me, meeting the voters.

Finally, I trust that now we have a new Deputy Leader of the House, he will implement without delay the business of the House Committee that he pledged to introduce a long time ago.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I call Carolyn Harris.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. We will stick to six minutes for Martin Vickers, but then we will have to reduce the limit to five minutes to get everyone in.

Business of the House

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

The hon. Lady will have the opportunity to question the Secretary of State directly at Health and Social Care questions on 19 July. I hope that she will recognise the huge investment that the Government have made in our health services up and down the country. We are working hard to improve ambulance waiting times and to support her constituents and those across the whole of Shropshire.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I thank the Leader of the House for his statement today, on what has clearly been a busy day for him, and for responding to questions for over three quarters of an hour.