Economic Update

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Finally, my former constituent, Mr Holden.

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker; it is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair. Could my right hon. Friend confirm that all UK households will benefit from the £200 smoothing rebate, and that almost 95% of County Durham residents will benefit from the £150 council tax rebate, including those who are off-grid—a similar proportion to the constituency of the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), who I see has now scuttled away? That £150 is over 50% more than Labour’s VAT plan, which would have benefited the richest people most. Will the Chancellor continue to pursue a one-nation Conservative approach, not an inner London two-kitchen one?

Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Bill

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

3rd reading
Friday 28th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

One of the first things we did was to change the taxation on motorhomes, which is very important to my constituents because North West Durham is where we manufacture many of them. Under the EU regulations that came forward, gold-plated by our civil service, we would have seen a 700% tax increase, which we have been able to reverse since leaving the EU. I agree with my hon. Friend’s point, but does he think that we need to see all those practical examples laid out by the British Government to show the benefits of our having left the EU?

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Before the hon. Gentleman responds to that, is there any possibility of steering his great speech back to Third Reading of the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Bill?

Walsall Arboretum

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

Wednesday 1st December 2021 Commons Chamber

Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)

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On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have given notice to the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) ahead of this point of order. What I understood yesterday in my point of order was in fact incorrect. I am happy to set the record straight now.

Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)

- - Excerpts

Thank you, Mr Holden. I am grateful that that is now on the record.

Petitions

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

Wednesday 1st December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have given notice to the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) ahead of this point of order. What I understood yesterday in my point of order was in fact incorrect. I am happy to set the record straight now.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Thank you, Mr Holden. I am grateful that that is now on the record.

Education Recovery

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

Tuesday 29th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

As a former special adviser in the Department for Education, it is always great to see a few of the details in the debates on estimates days, and it is great to see my right hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards in his place.

Obviously, there are several big issues I would like to raise that relate to my constituency, but there are a couple of overall points that many hon. Members have raised. The first, as highlighted by the Chair of the Education Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), is the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on the most disadvantaged in particular. It has had that impact over the last couple of years, and it is still having that immense impact now, with so many children being kept away from school, as my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Edward Timpson) mentioned. That is in addition to the 100,000 so-called ghost pupils, who really have not been engaging at all in the education system over the last 18 months or so.

I know the Minister cares deeply about standards in our education system, and has really made it almost his mission—his mission as a Minister anyway—to drive those standards. I am really worried, as I know hon. Friends and hon. Members across the House are, that we could see the attainment gap increasing again because of the impact of coronavirus. I think the £3 billion so far is very welcome, but I would ask him to really press the Treasury to ensure that we do not end up going backwards.

On the measures that have been talked about in the press in the last couple of days, with the Health Secretary and the Education Secretary speaking to each other about how we can stop sending huge groups of pupils home, which has been happening in my constituency— whole year groups in some situations—we really need to get that sorted out. I welcome the discussions for later in the year, but the sooner they could happen, the better so far as I and the pupils and parents in my constituency are concerned.

I would like to acknowledge—this is for the Minister to reflect on a little—the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on many teachers, school leaders and support staff. Many, particularly my primary school leaders, have been helping by doing one-on-one checking up on pupils throughout the pandemic when they have had to be at home. In secondary schools, they have often essentially acted as a test and trace facility, putting huge pressure on the evenings and weekends, particularly of the senior management teams in secondary schools, when they have been having to find not only out who is in whose class, but who is on which bus going in. In a large rural community and a semi-rural area such as mine, that can be very difficult, and can cause a cascade effect which impacts on many children’s education.

The issue of rural and semi-rural transport brings me to a couple of issues in my local area. First, I would like to thank the Secretary of State for intervening earlier this year with the regional schools commissioner to stop the formal closure of Wolsingham School sixth form in my constituency. It would have been a big secondary school without a sixth form. It has pupils travelling huge distances at the moment to get the sixth-form education they need. I hope to be able to work with the Minister to look at what possibilities there are to enable particularly children between 16 and 18 who may have to travel up to two hours each way from parts of my constituency to get such an education, and to see if something can be done to help support some sixth forms in very rural areas.

One of the other issues I know has been mentioned recently, and again I turn to the Select Committee, is that of white working class boys. This is a particular issue in my constituency, and toxic talk of critical race theory and white privilege really does not cut any mustard in Consett, Delves Lane, Dipton, Crook, Tow Law, Burnhope or Willington, where, particularly at secondary level, we need to keep driving educational standards.

Locally, I have been visiting a lot of my primary schools, including Ebchester and Bishop Ian Ramsey in Medomsley, but also a small primary school at a place called Witton-le-Wear. It was built for 50 children, but currently has 100 on the roll. I would welcome a meeting with the Minister, if at all possible, to find out what can be done to at help provision there.

There is much more I would like to speak about today, particularly the further education sector. We have an excellent college—Derwentside—in my constituency, which is putting in a funding bid. However, I know time is tight, and I am sure that plenty of people would like to go and watch the football at some point.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

The wind-ups will begin at 4.53 pm and we have three speakers left, so if you could divide the time between you until then, that would be quite fair.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

Wednesday 3rd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

I want to concentrate quickly on three key points today. First, I thought that this was an excellent Budget, which was about recovery, delivering on our manifesto and economic credibility in the long term.

On the recovery, I support the extension of the support and the grants through to September this year. That is really important for all our businesses and for people in employment locally. The VAT support—5% rising to 12.5%—will also give our hospitality sector real time to get on its feet. I ally that with a campaign that I was involved in, along with many Conservative Members, to ensure that our pubs and clubs could get back to recovery with no increase in beer, spirits or wine duty. That is really important. Fuel duty is hugely important for communities such as mine, because those taxes are particularly regressive on people just going back into work at the moment, so those measures are absolutely vital and very welcome.

On delivering the manifesto, it is quite clear that we are doing a cracking job. The cash is there for the police and the NHS. There is a cash increase for schools, as well as cash for the environment—that is really important —and for levelling up, and I will touch briefly on what that means for the north-east today. We have seen that great new freeport in Teesside. We are seeing the Treasury coming to Darlington. That is really important and recognises how important our towns are. Hopefully, that will feed through into some of the Treasury thinking more broadly. I hope that that boosts our campaign for the A68 upgrade, which I am working on with several other Members from across the north-east. I thank the Chancellor for ensuring that that cash going into the NHS means that Shotley Bridge gets the extra £10 million that I have been campaigning for over the last few days.

This is about credibility; we have had a really honest approach from the Chancellor today, outlining where the cash has to come from. That is in stark contrast to the Labour party, which for years banged stealth taxes on our constituents against their wishes. Until the Opposition learn that lesson, they will never be in government again.

Ordered, That the debate be now adjourned.—(Michael Tomlinson.)

Debate to be resumed tomorrow.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Will those leaving the Chamber please do so in a covid-friendly manner, particularly in order for the Minister to take his position?

Public Health

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. Like many Members on the Government side of the House, and I am sure on both sides, the last thing I want to do is to be here again insisting on further lockdowns and further measures to restrict the freedom of my constituents. It is certainly not what I came into politics for.

We have had some good news today: the vaccine coming forward looks like it will put us in the final furlong for furloughed Britain, which is a really good place to be, but we are not there yet, so I will reluctantly support these measures today. I know that the Health Minister has been getting it in the neck from both sides of the House, and it is right that we as Back Benchers challenge the Government on the measures they are taking, but I have spoken to my local NHS hospital trust chief executive today and the trust is seeing a massive surge. Durham is going back into tier 4. It has seen a real spike in cases and a real spike in hospitalisations just over the last couple of weeks, after we had been seeing a real reduction in cases in tier 3 over a very prolonged period of time. It is quite clear that there is a real issue, so everything that can be done to get this vaccine out needs to be done. We really need to get it there as quickly as possible.

Like other hon. Members, I support SI No. 1518—the move from the Government on self-isolation from 14 to 10 days. We must do anything that can be done to improve the freedoms of my constituents at the earliest opportunity. I know that the support has been huge from the Government, but this is taxpayers’ money. It has been absolutely massive, with the furlough, self-employed income support and grants to businesses.

Like my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (James Sunderland), I want to speak about gyms. I have had a huge number of people in my constituency again getting in touch with me today, really concerned about the impact that this is going to have. I have had gym owners getting in touch because January and February is the time of year when they finally make some money, so any extra support from the Government for them would be particularly welcome. Anything in terms of instruction, via the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on discretionary grant schemes from councils for gyms would be particularly helpful. If I can make a targeted suggestion that those on the Treasury Bench can pass on to the Treasury, perhaps, when we get through this, we could push out a scheme such as “Work out to help out” or something similar for this sector.

High streets more generally, from beauticians to bookshops, have been particularly hammered. They have not suffered like some of the massive international companies, and it is those guys on the frontlines running small businesses—the hearts and souls of our communities —who have been really affected. Anything more to push support, either discretionary or across the board, would be particularly helpful.

I cannot not mention the hospitality sector. I was particularly struck by what the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) said. Whether it is on Shoreditch High Street or South Street in Crook in my constituency, or Sherburn Terrace in Consett, or Stanhope town centre, the hospitality sector across the country has been absolutely mullered by this disease, so anything that can be done to help them now will be particularly helpful. I also urge the Front-Bench team to look particularly at on-sale beer duty cuts come the Budget and at whether there is anything such as a further targeted scheme around eat out to help out, when they are able to reopen, to help them to restart again, just to give them the confidence to get going again. That would also be particularly welcome.

As hon. Members across the House have said, keeping schools open is important, but it is also right that we treat teachers as essential workers. If we can get the vaccines out to them, that would be really helpful. So many of my school leaders have been getting in touch with me. I thank the Government for the extra cash for schools and, if necessary, the military support, but we have to get some more support to them to help, because they are really doing everything they can, on the vaccine levels.

Just on the NHS, I had fantastic visits to both Shotley Bridge Community Hospital and Weardale Community Hospital in my constituency in the run-up to Christmas to see some of the staff there on the night shift. It is quite clear, however, that staff are really knackered, so if there is anything that can be done to support our NHS staff, particularly in terms of mental health, that would be particularly helpful.

Finally on the vaccine, and in reference to my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Anthony Browne)—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Sorry, Richard, you have run out of time.

Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill

Debate between Richard Holden and Nigel Evans

Report stage & 3rd reading & 3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Tuesday 21st July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

I will speak briefly. As I did on Second Reading, I would like to associate a lot of my comments with those of my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill), who again outlined with clarity some of the main issues in the Bill that I think will be challenged in another place. I hope they are to a degree and that the tyres are kicked a little harder.

We need a little more clarity from the Government on why we are moving to this much lower standard of proof. However, I am particularly pleased that the Minister has given clarification on the issue of the polygraph test. On time restrictions, I totally understand what my hon. Friend was saying about sleeper agents. Over the last few months, we have seen people going to ground for perhaps several months, or even years, and then re-emerging, but I think that there has to at least be some oversight of that and of the use of TPIMs.

Finally, I support Government amendment 18 and amendment 50. I do not see why it would be unreasonable for drug testing to be part of the TPIM regime. I generally welcome the legislation, and I hope that the Minister will be able to respond to some of these points at the Dispatch Box.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. We are going to have to introduce a time limit of five minutes to get in as many as we can. The Minister will come in just before 5.50 pm