Christmas Adjournment

Paul Holmes Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Paul Holmes (Eastleigh) (Con)]

I am pleased to speak in this debate to mark the Christmas Adjournment. I am particularly delighted that my hon. Friend the Deputy Chief Whip is on the Treasury Bench. He is a very close friend of mine and I have known him for many years, but I do not get to interact with him much in the House, other than when he tries to tell me off—or does tell me off—in the Whips Office. I look forward to giving him a slightly hard time this afternoon, with lots of long lists of what my constituents need—but not too long, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Perhaps in this debate my hon. Friend will be tempted to give me some positive news, although I do not expect that to continue for the rest of my career, particularly not good news from a Whip. None the less, I hope that this afternoon he will be able to give me good news on some of the things I want. He will not be surprised to hear that I have a few things to raise with the Government about what is going on in my constituency.

Of course, the first subject I have to talk about is the covid pandemic. It goes without saying that I pay tribute to all the health workers and businesses in my constituency who have struggled and worked really hard to make sure that the people of Eastleigh and Hampshire have the health services they need in my constituency and the wider region. The Health Secretary’s announcement this morning on the further tiers was welcome. I am pleased that calls from colleagues from across Hampshire for a splitting of geographical regions in the county were followed through. However, Eastleigh is sitting at 50 to 60 cases per 100,000 people and is the only place in Hampshire not currently seeing an increase among the over-60s, so may I gently say to the Deputy Chief Whip that I expect my region and constituency to remain under constant review? We need to drop a tier, and my constituents expect that to happen as soon as possible.

That brings me to the businesses in my constituency, which have invested thousands—hundreds of thousands —of pounds in making their businesses and their premises covid-secure. Of course it was welcome when, a couple of weeks ago, the Government announced further assistance for the hospitality sector, in particular wet-led pubs and small breweries, but businesses in my constituency such as the Steam Town Brew Company, the CrackleRock Brewing Company and the Botley Brewery need more support. The £1,000 was welcome, but they need further support, especially those that had previously invested to make sure that their businesses could continue. Perhaps the Deputy Chief Whip might like to speak to the Treasury in future so that we can see whether we can continue small brewery business rate relief as we go forward. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] That sounds very popular, so perhaps it might happen.

My constituency is not different from any other constituencies in the country, and we desperately need infrastructure. The Deputy Chief Whip will remember that I raised this issue in my maiden speech. My Liberal Democrat council has not had a sustainable housing local plan for over a decade, and the Liberal Democrat council in Eastleigh personally buys land and develops it itself. I do not have a problem with that, but when there is a lack of a sustainable local plan, it is open to speculative developments, often put forward by the borough council. I am raising the possibility of the Deputy Chief Whip asking the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government about this so that his Department starts to take a stronger line on local authorities that are not developing local plans. It is fair to say that there is a local plan process in place. The local plan that was proposed by the Liberal Democrat council was found to be unsound, and 5,000 houses were taken out of ancient woodland in Bishopstoke, which is welcome, but the local plan process is painfully slow. The council is not delivering on that local plan and speculative developments are being accepted on green belt right across the constituency.

While I welcome housing and want it to be built, I just say to the Deputy Chief Whip that I did get an early Christmas present when we heard that there was a change in emphasis on the housing algorithm going forward. He will acknowledge my feelings on the housing algorithm, and it is certainly welcome, but tougher interaction from the Department on local plans would be very welcome.

When houses come, there has to be further infrastructure, and there are two particular things that I want to raise today on behalf of my constituency. The first is the levelling-up fund, which is incredibly welcome. I strongly welcomed that emphasis from the Chancellor when it was announced, but can I ask for a reassurance that southern constituencies will receive equal weighting if they bring forward a bid to Government and the Treasury on infrastructure projects—

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

You’re fired.

[Paul Holmes]

My hon. Friend just said “You’re fired” from a sedentary position, I think. I am not in that situation yet, but we will see.

I would like to know whether there will be an equal weight on bids put in by southern constituencies. Since the 1980s, my constituents in Eastleigh have been promised the Chickenhall Lane road link—I mentioned this in my maiden speech—which would ease congestion in an incredibly tight geographical area in the town centre. With the added housing, we need that. I am ready to bring forward a bid. The county council is ready to bring forward a bid. The borough council is willing to bring a bid forward, and I hope that that would be looked on favourably.

The other thing, when more houses come, is that transport links need to improve. The number of people using Hedge End railway station is increasing because our ex-villages are now becoming small towns. We applied for funding for the station to have accessibility, because at the moment my constituents have to travel down the M27 to go to either Southampton Airport Parkway or Eastleigh train stations. It is not good for people with disabilities or people who are not able-bodied if they have to drive down the M27 to get access to London or further into south Hampshire, particularly when the Government’s green agenda, which is completely welcome, is not being helped when we have extra motorway usage to use those railway stations. I hope that Hedge End station will be looked on favourably in future funding rounds. The Government can be sure that I will be standing up and asking about that issue again.

On a more important issue, I have raised before the plight of independent lifeboat stations, such as the Hamble lifeboat station in my constituency. It has struggled through a lack of fundraising because of the pandemic and the expenses incurred with PPE, all while operating as normal to keep one of the UK’s busiest waterways safe. I have previously called for the rescue boat grant fund, which was extremely welcome, to be reinstated to help independent lifeboat stations. Working alongside my hon. Friends the Members for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) and for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart), we are looking to try to establish an independent lifeboat station commission so that we can try to get the funding necessary for that issue.

Lastly—you will be glad to hear, Madam Deputy Speaker—this year has been completely out of the ordinary for me serving my first year as a Member in this House. It has been extraordinary because unprecedented demand has been placed on our staff by constituents—quite rightly, because they needed help. I pay tribute to all Members’ staff, particularly my staff Sue, Ben, Charlie and Emma, who have worked tirelessly at all hours to try to get people’s issues sorted. More importantly—they will not like me saying that—I pay tribute to the Doorkeepers, parliamentary staff and security staff, who have made me feel particularly welcome in my first year. They have helped me and colleagues from all parts of the House to really settle in. I pay tribute to the staff in the Tea Room, who constantly put up with my pleas that I am on a diet when I order my red velvet cake, which is very good. They serve it without judgment, and they never remind me that I am on a diet, despite my putting on the parliamentary stone in my first year.

I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, the Speaker, all Members of this House and all staff in this House an incredibly safe Christmas, but hopefully a better year when we all come back together in 2021.