Health and Social Care

Robin Walker Excerpts

Monday 13th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Charles Walker (Broxbourne) (Con)]

I pay warm tribute to the right hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd). That was an incredibly moving speech—we could have heard a pin drop in the House of Commons throughout those eight minutes—and a fantastic contribution to the debate.

I had intended to make a statesman-like speech, but sitting next to me is possibly one of the greatest statesmen, my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames). I do not want to go out and bat on a losing sticky wicket; I would rather have a general thrash around the field of play. I admit to the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) that I am a Eurosceptic. When I came to the House of Commons, I fell into bad company, including my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Sir Gerald Howarth). Indeed, when I arrived here, I was nursed at the bosom of my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash), so I am a Eurosceptic—[Interruption.] Anyway, I want to crack on.

In 2011, I attended a public meeting in my constituency. We were discussing the future of an urgent care centre. Five hundred of my constituents were there for a lively debate, which ended at about 8.30 pm. I had arranged at 9 pm to travel northwards in my constituency to Hoddesdon to meet 12 or 14 Polish people. As I left the room of what I would regard as fairly natural Conservatives and got in my car to drive up the A10, I thought, “Why on earth am I heading up the A10 to meet 12 or 14 Polish people?”

I was pleased I did. They waited in a circle to see me. We were in a recession at the time, but their eyes were gleaming and glittering. They said, “Mr Walker, this is the land of opportunity. It is fantastic. You don’t just get one job here; you can have two jobs. If you do those jobs really well and do what you are asked to do, you get promoted. This is a fantastic country.” It was so refreshing to see such enthusiasm in the room.

We should have had transitional measures in place when the Poles came over to this country. It was not good enough to say, “There might be 15,000 or 30,000,” when 500,000 ended up coming here. That was a grave error. However, to say that the Poles are somehow responsible for the country’s problems is a gross simplification and a fairly disgraceful statement to make. As I have said, I wish fewer had come here, because we should have had transitional arrangements. The infrastructure was not ready to welcome 500,000 people to this country, but I cannot fault them for a second for wanting to come here.

People say that people from eastern Europe want to come to this country to sponge off the NHS and our welfare system. The minority will, but the majority want to work hard and do the best for their families. There are rotten apples from European nations in this country, but there are quite a few rotten apples from this nation in foreign countries—hon. Members might have managed to see that a British fugitive was arrested by Spanish police yesterday on the Costa del Sol.

Immigration is not a uniformly good thing. It tends to work for the middle classes and the upper middle classes, whatever they are now. Basically, it works for people with money. Immigrants work very hard in our restaurants and cleaning our offices. However, immigration does not work so well if people are competing for scarce resources such as health, transport and education. I understand the concerns of people who now face additional pressures on scarce resources. We did not plan well. I do not want to sound overly partisan, but—dare I say—the previous Government did not plan well for the upsurge in immigration, which has created difficulties in our constituencies and a great deal of concern.

In my remaining three and a half minutes, I want to say a few more things about immigration. I am not a soft touch on that matter. I am extremely concerned about the continued underperformance of the UK Border Agency. About six years ago, I made the decision not to deal with immigration cases in my surgeries; I have enough problems from my own electorate to deal with, without having to take up UKBA’s case load as an unpaid officer.

Although our immigration system is improving, it still has a long way to go. It is simply not right that some people in this country should have to wait seven, eight or nine years for a decision on whether they can stay here. That is inhumane—it does not serve them or the taxpayer well. Unfortunately, those people are egged on by fairly ruthless and unpleasant lawyers, who keep lodging appeals and dragging out the process. However, it is we as politicians, of course, who provide the scope and room for those people to pursue those endless appeals processes. We must truncate the appeals process.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his excellent speech. Does he agree that a system that does not work and leaves people in limbo is neither efficient nor compassionate?

[Mr Charles Walker]

I completely agree. Such a system is not efficient or compassionate and does not carry the confidence of the British people. More needs to be done to ensure that our immigration system carries the confidence of the British people, is fair and rewards immigrants who play by the rules. There has to be a premium for playing by the rules. We have to do something about the immigration system; we have to truncate the appeals process and to deal with people more quickly, including removing them more quickly once a decision has been reached.

I conclude with a few thoughts. I am a great fan of culture; I have travelled the world and immensely enjoyed other people’s cultures. However, I am also a great fan of our culture, which I think is pretty special—indeed, its promotion and protection are probably why most of us have chosen a vocation in politics. Our culture is often caricatured as being about the royal family and maypoles. Those are important—well, the royal family are; I am not so sure about maypoles—but what is our culture? Our culture, which we should promote ruthlessly, is freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of thought and expression, and the rights, protection and promotion of women and minorities. That is what being British is all about and what makes this country so attractive to so many people around the world.

I want to say something that I hope will not be misinterpreted. If people want to come here and make a positive contribution, that is fantastic. But people coming to this country should please value and respect everything that it offers them. It really is a great place. We can celebrate other people’s cultures, but we cannot have separate communities and societies in this country—that is not healthy for us or for those wanting to live here who eventually, I would like to think, integrate and become part of what is still a great place to live.

I am afraid I am running out of time, which probably comes as a great relief to most Members. I would just say that I am a world-expert moaner; if the Prime Minister even thinks about me, it is, “Oh my Lord! There goes Charles Walker moaning away again—the moaner-in-chief.” Actually, however, we are not in a bad place in the United Kingdom. Look at what is going on in Italy, Spain, Greece and Ireland. Things are pretty good here. I am sorry to say this to my Liberal Democrat hon. Friend, the Minister of State, Department of Health, but I am the first to whinge about the coalition. However, we are not actually in a bad place and in the final analysis, we should be grateful for what we have.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak in the debate on the Humble Address that was proposed so elegantly by my neighbour and hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Peter Luff), in whose speech I was named and suitably embarrassed. I was grateful for the kind tributes that were paid to my late father by my hon. Friend and the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), the Leader of the Opposition. I was keen to speak in today’s debate because what the Leader of the Opposition referred to as “that voice of moderation” and what my hon. Friend rightly identified as the middle way, the spirit of one nation conservatism, is not, as the right hon. Gentleman tried to suggest, unfashionable, but is at the heart of this Government’s programme and embedded in the Queen’s Speech.

“Efficiency with compassion” were the watchwords of my late father. He believed that a balance of the two was essential to meet the challenges of the hour and the needs of our country. I believe that the same is true today. Compassion has been shown by the coalition Government in introducing the Care Bill and by being the first to introduce legislation to cap social care costs. I spoke in the debate on last year’s Gracious Speech to express my disappointment that there was no such legislation and to support Opposition Members who were calling for it. It would be churlish of those who spoke out then not to recognise the enormous significance of the move in this Gracious Speech.

By setting a cap, albeit a higher one than many of us would have liked, the Bill will start the process of ensuring that nobody has to lose their home to pay for care. Setting a cap at any level should help the insurance industry to create products that protect thousands more people from that risk. The threshold, as the right hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow) pointed out, is key and will ensure that thousands more people are helped by the Government than would have been the case without the legislation.

This is not a theoretical far-off issue that we can put off tackling, but a real and painful issue that has affected our constituents for too many years. Hard-working people who have laboured and saved for years to afford the roof over their heads should not find that when they need care, their families are deprived of that asset. We all have constituents to whom that has happened. This is not, as some would like to pretend, a problem only for the rich. It affects everyone who owns a home and stands to lose it if the costs of their care are too great. Many of them are people who can afford to own a home only in retirement and many of them live in former council houses.

It was right of the Government to commission the Dilnot review and it is right to strike the balance that Dilnot acknowledged was needed between the cost of the policy to the public purse and the desperate need for a cap. Too many homes have been sold to pay for care. It is a tragedy that Governments of all colours have failed to act sooner to address the problem. It is greatly to the credit of the coalition that it is proposing the first part of a solution. I also draw the Minister’s attention to Macmillan’s ongoing campaign for further progress on free social care at the end of life, which was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton).

Compassion is also being shown in the determination to improve the pensions of those who have spent years bringing up children, in the focus on preventing sexual violence across the world, and through tackling the impact of climate change, which will affect millions of the poorest people in the world. Compassion continues to be served by other ongoing policies of the coalition Government, such as the pupil premium, which directs funding to the most deprived pupils and helps schools to raise their attainment; the greater increase in the basic pension; and the increased investment in our NHS.

We have heard much from Labour Members about the pressures on our NHS and Ministers are right to have acknowledged the challenges faced in A and E and urgent care, but it is absurd for the Labour party to rail against pressures that have been building for years, including under its rule, and then to implement cash cuts in NHS spending in Wales, where that party runs the Government. The South Worcestershire clinical commissioning group will receive a £7 million increase in funding this year as a result of the coalition’s policy of increasing NHS spending. By coincidence, that is the amount by which the funding of Welsh health boards is being cut this year by the Labour Administration. On a recent visit to my local hospital, I saw some of the pressures on A and E, but I also saw how the coalition’s investment had enabled the retention of more nurses and how it will soon deliver a new clinical decisions unit that will help to alleviate some of the pressures.

We have heard much from the Labour party about the supposed privatisation of the NHS. I recently asked my local clinical commissioning group what amount of its budget goes to the private sector. Knowing that it has for some years, including under Labour, contracted certain operations, such as hip replacements, to private sector providers, I had presumed that the amount would be quite significant. I was surprised to find that the spending of the South Worcestershire clinical commissioning group in the private sector amounted to just 1.8% of its budget. That is less than its increase in spending this year. This Government are committed to efficiency and compassion in the NHS.

Compassion and efficiency are served by the emphasis on education in the Queen’s Speech. I would like to expand on that in more detail, but fear that I do not have time. We have heard excellent speeches from my hon. Friends the Members for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw) and for South West Devon (Mr Streeter) about the funding formula in health. I merely point out to the Government that addressing the funding formula in education is equally urgent.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend acknowledge that that is an issue across many parts of England, including in my county of Staffordshire?

[Mr Walker]

I wholly agree with my hon. Friend. I will be in Staffordshire to meet the F40 group and its executive, who are campaigning for fairer funding and a more efficient system.

That brings me to the efficiency side of the equation. As a member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, I would have liked to speak on the day of the debate that was themed on that portfolio. I regret that the Opposition chose to assign that theme to a Friday when I, like most other MPs, have many commitments in my constituency, including speaking to local businesses and schools.

There is a great deal in the Queen’s Speech to support business and increase efficiency in Government. The employment allowance is something that I have campaigned for and it will be extremely welcome to smaller businesses and entrepreneurs as it will reduce the cost of taking people on. I would like to have seen a Bill to reform business rates and will continue to push for further such reforms. The Bill to reduce regulation on business has been called for by almost every business organisation that I have met and will be universally welcomed, as long as it works.

The investments in infrastructure are sensible and necessary to support growth in our economy and to get Britain moving. Reducing the deficit is essential. For all the noises off that we have heard from the Opposition in this debate, they still have not got the point that the answer to a debt crisis cannot be to borrow more. When one invests, it is essential to invest well. The story of Worcester’s colleges is just one example. The previous Labour Government promised huge rebuilds costing tens of millions of pounds, but delivered nothing. This Government have delivered measured investments that have made a difference.

It would be remiss of me, having spoken in the Back-Bench debate on an EU referendum some years ago, not to mention the amendment that has been tabled by many Back-Bench Members, which I hope will be selected for debate by the Chair. I was proud to support a motion that called for a European referendum two years ago. I welcome the fact that our Prime Minister has set out clearly that he will fight for a referendum at the next election and that he is pressing for a renegotiation of our relationship with the EU in the meantime. He was right to wield his veto, he was right to press for a reduction in the European budget, which many thought was impossible, and he is right to say that the people of this country need to be given a real choice. Like my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames), I have every confidence that he will continue to succeed on this issue.

I regret that some in the media have sought to build the amendment up as a criticism of the Prime Minister. It is for that reason that I did not sign it. However, I do regret that we could not include an EU referendum Bill in the Queen’s Speech, not because I believe it could have succeeded against the arithmetic of this House and its current composition, but because the debate would have shown how out of touch the main Opposition party is on this issue. I shall therefore support the amendment if the chance arises, and I welcome the fact that in my party at least, it will be a matter of conscience and a free vote. Although the current media frenzy is trying to paint a picture of division, I am pleased that my party is united in its determination to change our relationship with Europe for the better.

In conclusion, it is a challenge for all Governments to balance efficiency with compassion, but for all the strains of coalition—and there are many—the coalition Government continue to govern in the national interest. Perhaps that is why, despite being mid term and despite visits in the weeks before the recent local elections from the leaders of UKIP and the Green party and the Leader of the Opposition, the party that won the greatest share of the popular vote across Worcester was none of those but the true one-nation party—the Conservative party.

I particularly welcome the historic and long overdue decision announced in the Gracious Speech to place a cap on the cost of social care. I am honoured to have spoken in this debate and I look forward to supporting the Government as they continue to press for a fairer and more prosperous Britain.