Pakistan (UK Support)

Debate between Rehman Chishti and Andrew Griffiths

Monday 26th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to raise in Parliament the horrific, evil and brutal attack on the army public school in Peshawar last month, and the UK’s support for Pakistan in the war on terror.

While the official 40 days of mourning—chehlum—have now passed, the people of Pakistan still weep for the tragic loss of innocent lives that day. The attack claimed the lives of 134 children, as well as the many teachers who lost their lives trying to save their children. Pakistan is a courageous nation that has had to face many challenges in its short history. It worked with the international community in defeating the Russian communist threat in Afghanistan, and stood with the international community after 9/11 in the fight against global terrorism. Its citizens and armed forces continue to face the daily threat from terrorist organisations operating across the border in Afghanistan.

[Andrew Griffiths (Burton) (Con)]

Given the challenges that Pakistan has faced from national and international catastrophes, such as flooding and earthquakes, does my hon. Friend agree that it is incumbent on the UK, given our relationship with Pakistan, to do all we can to support it through yet another difficult time?

[Rehman Chishti]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the importance of our two great countries’ relationship. As vice-chairman of the all-party group on Pakistan and chairman of the all-party group on Kashmir, and having visited the country and being a passionate and strong friend to Pakistan, he recognises the importance of that relationship and knows that the UK has always stood shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan, and will continue to do so. Pakistan is fortunate to have such people as friends and advocates here in Parliament.

Pakistan lost its courageous and talented former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to an act of terror. I had the privilege of working with Ms Bhutto as an adviser from 1999 to 2007. Natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. No one can question the resilience of this brave and courageous nation. The horrific and evil act in Peshawar has united the country and its political parties to come together in the national interest to defeat these evil organisations, with the country’s brave armed forces taking the fight to the terrorists.

Regional Newspapers

Debate between Rehman Chishti and Andrew Griffiths

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Griffiths]

I thank my hon. Friend for that important intervention and agree with him wholeheartedly, because it is essential that our regional press, which are under the greatest pressure, should not be burdened with expensive and difficult regulation, and the finger of blame should not be pointed at them. As Justice Leveson points out, the regional press are free from such accusations. I draw attention to what he says in the report:

“In relation to regional and local newspapers, I do not make a specific recommendation but I suggest that the Government should look urgently as what action it might be able take to help safeguard the ongoing viability of this much valued and important part of the British press. It is clear to me that local, high-quality and trusted newspapers are good for our communities, our identity and our democracy and play an important social role.”

He goes on to say, in the executive summary, that many local and regional newspapers

“are no longer financially viable and they are all under enormous pressure as they strive to re-write the business model necessary for survival. Yet their demise would be a huge setback for communities (where they report on local politics, occurrences in the local courts, local events, local sports and the like) and would be a real loss for our democracy.”

That is why it is so important for us to have the debate today and why we agree the importance of the Government focusing on providing a sustainable future for our regional press.

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. We have touched on the Leveson report and certain comments from it. May I refer to another comment by Lord Justice Leveson? He said that the contribution of regional newspapers to local life is “truly without parallel”. In my constituency, we have the Kent Messenger and the Medway Messenger, with circulation of 370,000 a week and 270,000 hits on the internet site, clearly showing how important their contribution is.

[Andrew Griffiths]

My hon. Friend wins the prize for being the first Member to mention his local newspaper. For anyone who was having a sweep, we were about five minutes into this important debate at the first name check. However, I agree wholeheartedly with him.

The second development that I draw colleagues’ attention to is the announcement in the past few days of the amalgamation of Local World, a new joint venture that we hope will be part of the solution for the future of our regional newspapers. As colleagues know, it is a joint venture with the Daily Mail group’s Northcliffe Media and includes investment from Trinity Mirror. The new company will contain 100 regional newspapers and 60 websites, which is a massive development in the situation of our regional newspapers. This is the first opportunity for the Minister to put on record his thoughts on the future effect of that and on what more needs to be done in the wake of the announcement.

We have to recognise that our regional newspapers are in a pretty poor state. They are under pressure in a way that national newspapers do not suffer. We all recognise that the print media generally are having a tough time, because of the internet and the change in how people are viewing their media, but regional newspapers are particularly hard hit. Let us look at the figures. Advertising and circulation revenue for regional newspapers in 2004 was £3.113 billion; six years later, in 2010, that figure had fallen to £1.599 billion. The number of regional daily newspapers has fallen from 109 in 2002 to only 84 today. Two hundred regional newspapers, including dailies and weeklies, have been lost in the past decade. We all recognise that the loss of a local newspaper is a loss of an important part of our communities.

We all bemoan the loss of a post office or the local pub—I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary beer group—but we should bemoan the loss of our local newspapers in the same way, because they are the key to information within our communities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Griffiths]

I am sorry to tell my hon. Friend that the picture is the same for local and regional newspapers. They are all suffering loss of revenue, for various reasons. The internet has had an impact on advertising revenue, as has the slow-down in the employment market, the rise in job websites, and the loss of advertising for car sales and estate agents. All that is adding to the severe drop in income for regional newspapers. We must see what we can do to make them more sustainable.

The free weekly newspapers are suffering most, because they are feeling the loss of advertising revenue much more than those that receive a contribution from people who pay for newspapers. There has been some stability in income in recent months, but much of it is because newspapers have been forced to raise their prices. Readership continues to fall, and at the moment newspapers are bridging the gap, but that is not sustainable in the long term, and we must see what we can do to make them sustainable.

[Rehman Chishti]

Does my hon. Friend agree that some newspapers have diversified, such as the Kent Messenger, which has an internet page that receives 292,000 clicks a month? KMFM radio is also available, and if local newspapers are to survive in the long term, they must diversify and attract different audiences. Some are not doing that.