Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
Rosie Winterton Excerpts(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con)
I pay tribute to the Chancellor for having listened to the repeated calls made over the last 12 months to do something to help the female entrepreneurs and businesswomen working in what we now call the personal care sector but 12 months ago was just known as hair and beauty.
We have to recognise this is a significant sector that contributes a great deal to the Exchequer and employs in the region of 300,000 employees, most of whom are women. Hon. Members might expect me, as Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, to wish to focus on women and what was done for them in this Budget. I thank the Chancellor for the additional grant funding for the sector. However, I very carefully say to him that there was some consternation at the choice of words used, because some in the sector suddenly became very alarmed that they would not be opening at the same time as non-essential retail. I need some reassurance, and I hope that the Minister on the Treasury Bench will be able to provide absolute clarity that the sector will be in that step.
However, there was a measure of disappointment in the personal care sector that the VAT reduction, which we have seen so fantastically extended to hospitality, was not also extended to that sector. I think it only fair that I voice those concerns today, because that could have been a significant contribution to maintaining the viability of some of these important businesses. However, it is not just about jobs and the economy, because these are businesses that help to combat loneliness and help people to feel more confident in themselves, in turn giving them the enthusiasm and confidence to go and face those job interviews, which we know that many, many women will be facing.
I recognise that the retail sector may be changed irrevocably and would ask the Chancellor to consider how we can ensure that those women in the prime of their lives who may have worked in the retail sector for 20 years or so get access to the retraining opportunities that they will meet, because if the retail sector is changed forever, we will need them to move into new, sustainable sectors. Those jobs cannot simply be held for men. I am very conscious that, when we talk about “Build, build, build”, while construction is important, we also need to think about how we will move more women into that sector, and into STEM jobs and jobs in the green economy. It is so important that we make sure that none of them are left behind.
I would like to follow a Member who spoke previously and comment on the events sector. It is such an important part of our economy, but of course those businesses have not had the business rates break, because they might not have the premises that we see elsewhere in hospitality and in retail. It is a sector, particularly when it comes to weddings, that is crying out for assistance and, again, employs many women.
The Budget was a delicate balancing act, and I commend the Chancellor on his hard work, but I urge him never to forget that 51% of the population are women.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
The hon. Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) is having technical trouble, so we will come back to him.
Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab) [V]
In the 12 months since the previous Budget, we have had three difficult lockdowns, we have lost over 120,000 lives, with one of the worst death rates in the world, and our economy has been one of the hardest hit as a result, with difficult times for families, small businesses and people across the country. We look wistfully at some of the health decisions made in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea where so many fewer lives have been lost and where they have been able to keep their economy and schools open. We should recognise what went wrong last year, but also focus on what we need to get right as the vaccine is rolled out.
We need to rebuild our economy and services. However, the Budget fails to do that. The extension of short-term measures that many of us called for is right, but it is not a growth plan. Capital investment is being cut just when we need to be investing in sustainable growth. Skills and employment support is too weak, especially for the young, who need guarantees of jobs or training places to get them back on track. Kickstart is still too small and too slow, and key sectors such as pubs and the travel industry need more support. On International Women’s Day, we need urgent action on childcare and support for the often working mums who were more likely to end up giving up work while schools were out.
We need growth plans for all the towns that have been heavily hit by 10 years of austerity. We have worked very hard here in Castleford where I am sitting to get our fair share of investment from the towns fund, but after £200 million has been cut from Wakefield Council budgets over the past 10 years, too many other towns are not included. Across the north, we are still not getting our fair share of transport investment in our infrastructure for the future.
Crucially, we need to keep supporting our NHS. After the year that our NHS has had it is incomprehensible that the Government are proposing a real-terms cut in staff pay. Nurses have told me about the traumas they faced working on the covid wards, the long shifts and extra hours, how difficult it was nursing friends and colleagues who got sick, how fearful they were, and how burnt out they now feel, and yet they keep going. We need them to keep going, because it is our NHS staff who are rolling out the vaccine to get us through and it is our NHS staff who we need to catch up on all those lost operations and that vital cancer treatment. We already have 10% vacancies among nursing staff and the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has struggled to get staff. Local health managers have told us already how worried they are that people are leaving nursing because they are burnt out. The Government have no idea what a kick in the teeth this 1%—below inflation—rise is to them. Health and the economy go hand in hand. Our NHS staff have been there for us this year; we need to be there for them and get them a proper pay rise now.
Robert Largan (High Peak) (Con) [V]
During this moment of crisis and uncertainty, I believe this Budget strikes the right balance. It ensures that vital support continues for families and businesses, while being honest and fair about how we fix the public finances. Crucially, the Budget also sets out the next steps for levelling up. Getting back to normal must not mean failing to address the deep-rooted economic and political imbalances in our country, especially the north-south divide.
Last month, my colleagues and I in the levelling up taskforce joined the excellent think tank Onward to launch a report on levelling up the tax system. The analysis showed how capital allowance reform would overwhelmingly benefit the north and midlands, especially in places such as Derbyshire. So I was delighted to see the Chancellor announce the proposed super deduction, which will help businesses to expand and create new jobs. It is exactly what we need right now and it is a potential game changer for rebalancing the economy.
The Budget marks a real turning point for the north as a whole. For decades, Governments of all parties have focused far too much on London and the south-east, to the detriment of places such as High Peak. The Leader of the Opposition chose to pour scorn on the decision to relocate large parts of the Treasury to Darlington, which was announced alongside the establishment of the first infrastructure bank in Leeds. What the Labour leader fails to understand is that these moves represent an important shift in both power and the culture of the civil service. If senior civil servants all live in London and all commute into Whitehall, is it any surprise that the capital has done disproportionately well when it comes to Government investment? If senior civil servants were commuting into Manchester from, say, New Mills, I reckon that railway line would have been upgraded decades ago. I appreciate that that concept might be difficult to comprehend for a Labour party that seems to think that new leadership entails moving from one north London borough to another.
The Budget is a real statement of intent that this Government are going to invest in the north. The £4.8 billion levelling up fund is a key part of this. I was really pleased that High Peak has been identified as one of the top priority areas for the fund and will receive more than £100,000 to help develop a local bid—and with good reason. High Peak badly needs investment in our local infrastructure. On some measures, Gamesley is ranked among the top 1% most deprived areas in the country, which is largely down to very poor transport links. Gamesley has been waiting for more than 50 years for a railway station to properly connect it to both Glossop and Manchester. Politicians of all parties have been promising a bypass to the people of Glossop and Hadfield for well over 50 years as well, and in the second half of 2019 the Hope Valley line had some of the worst train punctuality figures anywhere in the country. The capacity on that line desperately needs to be upgraded. Our digital infrastructure also leaves much to be desired. Given our unique geography in the Peak district, we have some of the worst broadband blackspots anywhere.
However, there are reasons to be optimistic. Highways England and Balfour Beatty have signed a contract to build the Mottram bypass and Glossop spur road. Punctuality on the Hope Valley line has improved markedly since the Government stepped in to take over the Northern franchise and the ancient Pacers have finally been replaced with modern trains. And Openreach has recruited an additional 15 engineers to speed up the roll-out—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. I thank the hon. Gentleman for his speech, but we need to move on now.
Covid-19: Cultural and Entertainment Sectors
Rosie Winterton Excerpts(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
May I say what a great pleasure it is to see the hon. Member for Cardiff Central (Jo Stevens) in her place?
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill
Rosie Winterton ExcerptsWednesday 24th February 2021
(3 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act 2021 View all Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act 2021 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Commons Consideration of Lords Amendments as at 24 February 2021 - (24 Feb 2021)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Matt Warman)
I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 1.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Government amendments (a) and (b) in lieu of Lords amendment 1.
Lords amendment 2.
Lords amendment 3, and Government motion to disagree.
Matt Warman
At the time of the Bill’s Second Reading in the House in early January 2020, it would have been impossible for any of us to foresee the challenges that this country would endure over the following 12 months.
Throughout the pandemic and the lockdowns, this nation’s telecommunications network has provided information and enabled education; it has allowed businesses to operate, children to continue to learn and those in isolation to continue to speak with their families. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the UK’s digital infrastructure providers, our internet service providers and our mobile network operators. They have stepped up and worked with us to bridge gaps in provision, be that through whitelisting websites, providing data to struggling families or connecting the Nightingale hospitals. They have done Herculean work, and we should all be grateful.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
In order to observe social distancing, the Reasons Committee will meet in Committee Room 12.
Business of the House (Today)
Ordered,
That, at this day’s sitting, the Speaker shall put the Question necessary to dispose of the Motion in the name of Bill Wiggin, on behalf of the Committee of Selection, relating to the nomination of Members to the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill not later than one hour after the commencement of proceedings on the motion for this Order; the Motion may be proceeded with, though opposed, after the moment of interruption; and Standing Order No. 41A (Deferred divisions) shall not apply.—(David T C Davies.)
Telecommunications (Security) Bill
Rosie Winterton ExcerptsMonday 30th November 2020
(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Several hon. Members rose—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. There is now less than two hours until the wind-ups are likely to start. By my calculation, that means that if everybody is going to have equal time, contributions ought to take about eight minutes. I do not want to set a time limit, but that is a rough guide for the debate.
Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)
This Bill makes sense. I agree with the right hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) that it is primarily about security. It is a top priority for us to ensure the security of all telecommunications networks, particularly those that might carry classified information and that is what this Bill is all about. I particularly endorse those clauses in the Bill that give the Government robust powers to manage high-risk vendors based, of course, on National Cyber Security Centre advice. That may well also include direct guidance from other intelligence agencies as well. It is also absolutely right that the Government have placed a ban on purchasing new equipment from high-risk vendors from September 2021 and ordered the removal of high-risk vendor equipment from our networks by 2027, but, as I will go on to say, it will have implications. I wish we could achieve that earlier, but, obviously, industry needs time to manage the transition required.
The NCSC is at the forefront in developing telecommunications security requirements. It has done this in collaboration with industry and these requirements are detailed and effectively designed to establish a layered defence against cyber-attacks and infiltration. Codes of practice will devolve from these requirements and they will form a method of operation as well as being a way of calculating risks for operators Ofcom, DCMS, and NCSC. I endorse the view that these requirements and codes of practice will definitely increase the difficulty, the cost and the risks faced by a hostile player attempting to infiltrate or to compromise a UK telecommunications network, but, as the right hon. Gentleman has said, that does not mean that we are invulnerable—oh, no, it does not. There are still risks.
Next year, I gather that we will need to pass secondary legislation to endorse codes of practice that will, thereafter, be used to instruct operators on how to meet their security obligations. Such codes of practice will be policed by Ofcom—we have talked about that a little. Most certainly, it will require training on how to do this. Here there needs to be a serious interchange with the NCSC where a working relationship between the two bodies is crucial—and at cost. Of course there are penalties for this decision. Not only will this change delay the roll-out of the 5G network, but significant consequent costs will be incurred by industry. I know that industry may need the Government to support it in consequence of this decision. On the other hand, a recent report has also suggested that upgrading the UK’s 5G infrastructure could be worth about £158 billion to the economy over a 10-year period.
We have already mentioned that there are three significant vendors who provide large-scale telecommunications equipment in the UK. These are Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei. With the significant removal of Huawei as a result of this Bill, choice of vendors is of course reduced by a third, which is most certainly not ideal. It would be far better if we had more choice and competition, but we do not—that is the fact of it. However, Ericsson and Nokia are very good, trusted and long-standing companies whose security credentials are tried and trusted. I am very pleased by the idea of the open radio access network—open RAN—being developed. It is crucial to develop the UK as a world leader in 5G. Essentially, open RAN allows interconnectivity between different telecommunications mobile networks, and avoids the necessity of all components coming from just one supplier. For instance, Ericsson equipment can be interfaced with that of Nokia, or perhaps another new supplier—let’s hope so. That aids the drive towards competition andthus has cost benefits.
I have been an extremely good boy, Madam Deputy Speaker. I hope I am going to get a thumbs up for finishing in six minutes. I commend this Bill to the House.
Bob Stewart
I got a thumbs up from Madam Deputy Speaker; I sit down with a big glow on my face.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith
I agree completely. The point is that when we were talking about this earlier on, it was clear that that was, underneath it all, the centre’s real opinion, but it was kind of moving and modifying. It was also used in a political way, by the way, which I did not think was right. An opinion is either there or it is not; do not get people in to brief Back Benchers about what they should be thinking. I thought that was wrong.
We are absolutely in the right place at this point and the Bill goes a long way towards achieving that. However, we need to do some other things that could be in the Bill. For example, the Bill is about security but it does say on the front that it goes slightly wider than security: the Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) signed the bit that says:
“In my view the provisions of the Telecommunications (Security) Bill are compatible with the Convention rights.”
That convention is the European convention on human rights. We need to ask ourselves whether that idea applies to many regimes—not just China—and companies that come from those regimes that may be guilty of human rights abuses.
I asked the Minister previously, in a private context, whether he would consider including in proposed new section 105Z8 of the Communications Act 2003, on designation notices, the inclusion of the ability, where it may arise, to do something in the area of genocide and the involvement of companies in that process. There is very strong evidence in a couple of cases—particularly in the Uyghur case—of the use of slave labour, which should result in those companies being outlawed. The Minister may argue that this Bill might not be the appropriate vehicle for that because it is specifically about security, but every Bill has on its face that we abide by human rights laws. I am not trying to widen the Bill’s scope; I am giving the Minister the opportunity to have that extra element as part of his possible designations. After all, we are dealing with countries and nations that have, particularly in China’s case, torn up much of the book on co-operation and diplomacy.
Let me raise a final point before I conclude. My hon. Friend the Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) has gone, but he mentioned Australia. One of our Five Eyes partners, Australia, had the temerity to ask for an inquiry into the covid outbreak. Since then, the Chinese have attempted, in essence, massively to beat up Australia in a very undiplomatic and aggressive manner. It started with abuse of the individuals who asked for an inquiry and then went further into abuse of the Government. Subsequently, it has gone on to sanctions: the Chinese has now broken WTO rules, with sanctions of more than 200% on Australian wine.
In the past couple of days, the Chinese have produced what I think is called a meme—which is a mocked-up instrument on the internet—that shows something about an Australian soldier trying to kill a child. This is appalling behaviour and I want my Government, at some point, to be very clear that such behaviour is simply not to be borne. Although we have said that we stand with China, the key thing about this sort of thing and our co-operation with our Five Eyes partners is to do more than stand with China: we should condemn behaviour like that that deliberately targets and demeans a democratic nation that goes by the rule of law and human rights, which is something that China does not do. I do hope that the Minister will pass on to his colleagues that no matter what we do with this Bill, we need to make sure that we stand up with our Five Eyes partners, now that we have the National Security and Investment Bill and are moving in that direction, and never allow any one of them to be isolated and picked off one at a time. I commend the Bill to the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
The next listed speaker has withdrawn, so we go straight to the Chair of the Defence Committee, Tobias Ellwood.
Women’s Rugby: Government Support
Rosie Winterton Excerpts(3 years, 7 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
What better way to adjourn than by celebrating the Minister’s 50th birthday by discussing Government support for women’s rugby?
Tourism: Covid-19
Rosie Winterton Excerpts(3 years, 8 months ago)
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Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)
I rise to speak in support of many tourism organisations in the wonderful city of Glasgow, which I am so proud to represent. There have been real challenges for many cultural organisations in the city, not least Glasgow Life, the arm’s length organisation of Glasgow City Council that runs our art galleries, museums and sports facilities. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and the Riverside Museum in in my constituency, which have only just reopened, are only able to open on a limited basis and people have to book, so they are really struggling to make the money they need to keep going. Glasgow Life has seen a loss of around £12 million since March. I urge the UK Government to be clear about the Barnett consequentials from the Housing, Communities and Local Government measures that were put in place for England, so that Scotland can see if it can get a share as well.
Smaller organisations such as the Sharmanka Kinetic theatre, the Trongate and Glasgow Police Museum have been able to keep going but their numbers are down, and the effect on the wider tourism economy has had an impact on all museums, whether they are large or small.
In Glasgow, we have benefited hugely for many years from event tourism through the Scottish Event Campus in my constituency. We have the fantastic SSE Hydro, a 14,000-seater venue that has been one of the top 10 venues in the world since opening in 2013, with over 140 events a year. Its closure at the moment has an impact on the surrounding area of Finnieston, which has amazing restaurants and bars, and on the hotels within the wider city as well. I understand from the Scottish Tourism Alliance that hotel capacity in Glasgow is sitting at only about 11% for the next few months. People are clearly put off from coming if they do not know what is going to happen and they cannot plan ahead.
The Scottish Event Campus has been hosting the NHS Louisa Jordan over the past few months and has made a great contribution to that, but we need to recognise that, in doing so and having that instead of the SEC, we are losing out on £136 million a year to the Glasgow economy in the events that the SEC brings in with not just music but conferences, exhibitions and other events bringing in half a million visitors per year to Glasgow.
Lastly, I would like to mention the impact on English language summer schools, such as St Andrew’s College in my constituency. They are seeing a really serious impact, because lots of young people do come and travel to Scotland for these language schools, and they cannot do that now. They bring approximately 10,000 foreign teenagers and employ 500 temporary staff over the summer period. That has gone for them now, and they are very limited in the support they have been able to have. I make a real plea to the UK Government to look more widely at support for the English language teaching sector and to make sure that particular measures are put in place for support through the immigration system as well, so people can come to Glasgow in the future.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
I call Sally-Ann Hart—for, I am afraid, one minute.
Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would like to endorse the comments made today about coaches on behalf of the coach companies in Hastings and Rye—Empress Coaches, Rambler Coaches and Nova Bussing. Tourism is very important to Hastings and Rye, but we are now seeing an increase in benefit claims, with over 14,000 individuals on universal credit as from July 2020. I would like to thank the jobcentre staff, who have been heroic in their efforts to support local people.
This Government have given vital support to tourism and tourism-related businesses throughout coronavirus, and so many of my constituents are enormously grateful for that, but ongoing support is desperately needed. For example, Hastings normally has a buoyant English language school culture, with thousands of students coming every year to stay with families. As well as language tuition, trips are organised to our amazing tourist attractions, and local businesses such as the ABC Student Tours will struggle. I fear these businesses will not survive, which will have a long-term impact on our local economy.
Alex Sobel (Leeds North West) (Lab/Co-op)
I rise to sum up what has been, as such debates often are, a very informative debate. Hon. Members have spoken with great passion about the issues facing their constituencies. I particularly thank the hon. Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby), who secured the debate and spoke passionately about the need to support our coastal communities.
The UK tourism industry is the sixth-largest in the world. It employs 3.3 million people and generates revenue of £155.4 billion. In this debate, we have toured the nation, and this summer, I myself visited many different parts of our tourism sector to see the impact of covid, the effect of Government support and what additional measures the sector needed. We cannot truly understand the impact unless we have seen it at first hand.
I visited the zoos in London and Knowsley, close to the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle), who made excellent points about reduced capacity first highlighted on my visit to Merseyside, and the zoo in Newquay. I see the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) in his place, but unfortunately we did not reach him. I also visited the Eden Project in his constituency and went paddle boarding on the Fowey.
I visited aquariums in Brighton and Plymouth, Hever castle and Powderham castle, the site of the proposed Eden Project North, in Morecambe, and the winter gardens there. I also went to the Manchester museums and galleries and Crownhill fort in Plymouth. I visited Brighton pier and the i360, and the Van Gogh immersive experience in York, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell), who made an excellent speech about need to return confidence to our sector. Although I did not visit Warwick castle this summer, I did visit when I was a child, and I am sure my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western) will invite me back again.
I also stayed at the Seven Bays caravan park in north Cornwall, and I am pleased that the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) stayed at Unison’s Croyde Bay caravan park. I met hotel, restaurant and bar owners around the country, sometimes in person and sometimes on Zoom. Each had a unique perspective, but all had the same central problem: the huge financial black hole caused by the three-and-a-half-month closure of their organisations and the huge drop in visitor numbers. They all spoke about their fears about the coming winter and their future prospects.
Tourism was always going to be hit hard by a pandemic that meant people had to stay at home. When some of the restrictions were lifted in June, when the sun shone and the newspapers led with photos of bursting beaches and packed-out towns, it seemed to many that summer and the tourism industry underpinning it might just have been spared, but tourism reopened later than any other industry. Despite what the front pages might have shown, it has been, and still is, operating at severely restricted capacity. The industry might have had an okay August, but it lost Easter, May half term, two bank holidays and the whole of June. Those four months are crucial to the industry. Some 92% of tourism businesses said that their revenue had decreased by more than 50% as a result—a point made by the hon. Members for Edinburgh East (Tommy Sheppard), East Devon (Simon Jupp) and Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss). This means that the industry is effectively operating through three consecutive winters: the winters of 2019 and 2020 and the winter of coronavirus.
Visit Britain has forecast that tourism revenue in 2020 will decrease by £68.8 billion, which equates to a loss of more than 1 million full-time jobs. Including the 300,000 outlying jobs also at risk, the figure is close to 1.35 million—a third of all tourism jobs. That is 1.35 million full-time jobs that could be lost in the sector, 1.35 million people—people with bills, people with families to feed and people who need and want to work, to provide and contribute.
The Chancellor described his choice to end furlough next month as one of the most difficult decisions. I know the Minister, who is always very kind when we talk, is listening diligently, and I ask that he listen to the tourism industry and reconsider the decision to end furlough. The loss of more than 1 million jobs would be devastating, not just for individual families and households, but for the tourism industry and the health of our whole economy.
With much of the tourism industry yet to reopen and the main summer tourismt season ending in September, ending the furlough scheme means two things: mass unemployment and mass business closures. It is easy to think about the tourism industry from the perspective of the consumer—we can all imagine ourselves sacrificing our holiday to save lives during a deadly pandemic—but we must remember that tourism means jobs. We know that the UK tourism industry is one of our biggest employers and that it is worth 9% of GDP, but many people do not realise that it is also the largest non-governmental mechanism for transferring wealth from urban to rural and seaside communities—a point made by the hon. Member for Arfon (Hywel Williams). These rural and seaside economies are important. Coastal tourism, pre covid, was valued at £13.7 billion in England and £17.1 billion in GB. Tourism employs 20% of the workforce in most coastal towns and more than 50% in many, including Newquay, St Ives, Skegness, Mablethorpe, Cleveleys, Whitby and Minehead. The hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) made the excellent point that the food industry is inextricably linked to the prospects of tourism. Jobs in coastal towns have been disproportionately affected during the pandemic, and covid has cost seaside towns across the country £10.3 billion in lost revenue, according to the National Coastal Tourism Academy. The hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) correctly made the point that destination management organisations need support to help these economies, and the hon. Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) spoke about promoting domestic tourism as a whole.
That is not say that things were rosy for these coastal regions before covid. It is no secret that many seaside towns in Britain have been struggling for many years. Poverty, inequality and deprivation presided over by successive austerity-driven Conservative Governments have meant that many coastal towns have been in social and economic crisis since long before the pandemic swept ashore. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), when he was in Cornwall, said:
“We need a targeted extension of the furlough scheme for the hardest-hit sectors and proper support in place to help those who are unemployed back into work. People are worried about their job prospects. The Labour Party is focused on fighting for every job and every part of the country.”
He is of course absolutely right. He said that in a coastal town because he and we all know that this must include revitalising our coastal communities, reviving jobs and industries, and diversifying these economies. The current crisis has made it patently clear that this is more urgent than ever.
We cannot discuss tourism in earnest without acknowledging the hospitality industry—one of the key forces powering the UK’s tourism economy. Hotels, pubs and restaurants rely on the tourist trade, and vice versa. Equally, the coach industry that delivers the customers to the hospitality industry has been absolutely decimated by this crisis—a point well made by the hon. Members for Angus (Dave Doogan) and for Sedgefield (Paul Howell). While the Chancellor seemingly saved the day with the eat out to help out scheme—and it cannot be denied that the nation ate out with gusto—the fact remains that only half of restaurants are open and two thirds of businesses are still not making a profit. The number of staff furloughed still remains similar to July, with 51% of hospitality staff still not back at work in August. Taken with the fact that over 80% of employees in the tourism industry have been furloughed, compared with 32% of the total UK workforce, it is clear that ending support for everyone at the end of October will be disastrous. It is a one-size-fits-all approach that is destined to fail. We need a targeted extension to the furlough scheme to protect our most vulnerable workers and industries through this critical time. I am pleased that the hon. Members for North West Norfolk (James Wild) and for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) made these points.
As a party, we are also calling for a £1.7 billion hospitality and high streets fightback fund to help tourism and hospitality businesses that are unable to fully trade. We are calling for this because Labour recognises that the Government’s one-size-fits-all approach to jobs risks tourism falling through the cracks. As a minimum, the Government, rather than clawing back the underspend in grants, need to redeploy it to other industries, particularly those struggling in the visitor economy. While the epidemic has dealt a devastating blow to our tourism industry, with a swift and urgent Government intervention there is an opportunity not just for survival but for recovery and growth—an opportunity to limit the long-term impact of covid-19 not just on people’s livelihoods and businesses but on our towns and our collective heritage and history.
Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)
May I place on the record my thanks for everything that you have done for me and for my constituents? I know that you have already visited, but you are very welcome to come back for a Cromer crab sandwich in the near future. I did not get to speak today, but I know that you will take on board many of the initiatives that have been put forward. Can you also spare a thought for the impact that last night’s announcements will have on the tourism industry, particularly the effect of the six-person limit on larger holiday lets? Can I finally say—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. I think that the hon. Gentleman has had quite a good intervention. I really have to say to him that it is very important that Members remember to speak through the Chair, so he should not refer to the Minister as “you.”
Nigel Huddleston
My hon. Friend makes some important points, and I am happy to continue the dialogue outside the Chamber, where he can call me anything he likes.
The Government have put in place a number of measures and will of course continue to monitor the situation. In July, as lockdown restrictions began to ease, we wanted to ensure that tourism businesses were in the best position as they began to open. We therefore implemented a whole range of additional measures, such as the VAT cut for tourism, eat out to help out, the Enjoy Summer Safely campaign, the work that VisitBritain has done and its “We’re good to go” standard, and of course changing regulations to allow bars, pubs and restaurants to extend on to the pavement and into the street, given the capacity challenges.
The additional arts and culture support package, which my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) mentioned, is vital to sustain the economy through the support it has given to heritage venues, theatres, museums, galleries and other draws for our tourism economy. Taken together, these measures have helped the tourism sector to reopen and start on the road to recovery, but there is much more to do.
Covid-19: Support for UK Industries
Rosie Winterton Excerpts(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
This is a very, very well-subscribed debate and I also want to accommodate a maiden speech. Until the maiden speech is finished there will be a time limit of six minutes, including for the maiden speech. However, I must warn colleagues that if everybody who is down to speak actually turns up—I suspect they will—it is likely that we will have to put another three-minute time limit on in order to accommodate as many people as possible. I strongly discourage interventions, because they will prevent others from speaking. That is how I intend to conduct the debate.
Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)
I will follow your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I will not take interventions.
Coronavirus has hit all sectors of the UK economy, some harder than others, and aerospace and air travel will be one of the hardest hit. I have been here long enough to remember the effects on the industry of 9/11 and the banking crisis. These were severe, but nothing compared with the challenge that we face today. For Airbus in Broughton in my seat, this has meant a reduction in production rates of about a third. Some 40% of the UK workforce in the commercial aircraft division is currently on furlough. About 500 employees at Broughton have been working on the ventilator programme. I am sure everyone here and everyone in the country will be extremely grateful and proud that that has happened. It demonstrates what a dedicated workforce we have, but their reward for this work, as the programme comes to an end, is that many of them will not qualify for furlough. I think that that is an absolute disgrace. I would ask the Minister to really look at this situation. It cannot be right that the people who have done this work do not qualify. They are a special case and they should be treated as such. Airbus has stepped in and will cover the furlough, but that is hardly the point. I ask the Minister to press his Treasury colleagues on this matter urgently.
Industry experts do not expect passenger demand to return to pre-crisis levels before 2023. That will in turn mean that actual production rates will not catch up until 2025. With 70% of the value of an aircraft in the supplier chain, the effects there could be devastating, leading to a near total collapse of the sector if intervention does not occur. If we are serious about maintaining a viable aerospace sector in the UK, we need to be serious and have a strategic plan that embraces not only companies such as Airbus and the airlines, but the supplier chain. All parts need to work together to that end. I am concerned that some airlines—well, one in particular—see this crisis as an opportunity to remove rivals and ride roughshod over the terms and conditions of their workforce. That type of attitude and approach needs to change. We need a united front to face this crisis.
In the US, Germany and France, we have had announcements of targeted programmes of support. The latest announcement from the French Government included a raft of measures. Its aim is to protect some 100,000 jobs. It includes a reduced working week or working hours, with the difference picked up by the state. That will last up to two years. There will be a one-year moratorium on aircraft loans under the export credit agencies, amounting to around €1.5 billion. In addition, Airbus will have 18 months to pay loans, rather than the six months currently. That is worth around €2 billion. Defence procurement projects are also to be brought forward with new investment to help the sector, and the defence sector SME fund will be increased by 50% to €100 million a year. Air France-KLM has already been given a €7 billion loan guarantee to secure its future.
In addition, the French Government have promised more investment, with €1.5 billion to decarbonise and produce carbon neutral aircraft by 2035, rather than the current target of 2050. Those are bold plans that look at the medium and long terms. They recognise that there will be no quick fix, and we in the UK need to rise to that challenge, otherwise we will be left behind and could lose one of our greatest and most important industries.
What can we do to help to secure the future? We clearly need a job retention support scheme, not just for now and a few more months, but for the long term. We need to retain skills and we need the flexibility that reduced working hours can offer. We need to build support for Airbus by speaking to the airlines and retiring older, less efficient aircraft from their fleets. Around 70 aircraft flown by UK-registered airlines are more than 15 years old.
We need to address the complete mess, as has been mentioned, of quarantine, which has already added to the crisis. We need to invest in research and development, make advances in R&D tax credits and confirm that funding of the Aerospace Technology Institute will be doubled to £300 million a year. We need something for the supply chain, because that is in many ways the most vulnerable part of the sector. We need a long-term policy to ensure that there is an investment fund to keep suppliers alive during this crisis. We need to bring forward defence projects, but they need to be in this country, not just bought off the shelf from America.
If we do not step up to the plate, the future will not be good. For Broughton, it is always about securing the next wing. If we do not secure the next wing and Germany, France or Spain get it, the future will be bleak. I ask the Government to act and act now before it is too late.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
It is a pleasure to call Darren Henry to make his maiden speech.
Several hon. Members rose—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. I am afraid that we will have to move to a three- minute limit if we are to have any chance of getting as many people in as possible.
BBC Regional Politics Coverage
Rosie Winterton Excerpts(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. Just before the hon. Gentleman answers, may I say that the interventions are getting very long? They are almost mini speeches, dare I say it? Hon. Members may be wishing to catch my eye later, and they can indicate to me if so, but I would just point Members to the fact that interventions should be fairly short.
Neil Parish
Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I think that most Members are probably making interventions rather than speeches. I promise you that I do not intend to speak for four hours, despite what I said at the start of my speech.
My hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Ruth Edwards) makes a very good point about “Inside Out” and the value that it offers for £6 million. She also emphasises the fact that we are, all the time, looking for a much more local basis for our politics today, which means that this would be going in completely the wrong direction. Whatever the party politics of this country at the moment, we have shown over the past few years that politics is not all about London, but about the whole of the country. People’s views are significantly different across the country and that is what we do not always see.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [Lords]
Rosie Winterton ExcerptsThursday 11th June 2020
(3 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020 View all Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Consideration of Bill Amendments as at 11 June 2020 - large font accessible version - (11 Jun 2020)
Saqib Bhatti
I appreciate the positive remarks. I can assure you that no business in the tourism and hospitality sector would advocate a levy on people coming to stay, especially when you yourself have accepted—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. We really must not refer to individuals as “you”. You can refer to the hon. Lady or shadow Minister, but not “you”. I hope you understand that.
Saqib Bhatti
I realised that as soon as I said it, so I appreciate that intervention.
The hon. Member has said that the coronavirus has impacted jobs. Surely an additional levy—an additional cost—impacting demand is not something that businesses in the west midlands would want.
Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill
Rosie Winterton ExcerptsTuesday 10th March 2020
(4 years, 2 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
Order. A point of order should go through the Chair. It is either an intervention or a point of order; it cannot be both.
Mr Ellwood
I was trying to be courteous to the situation, Madam Deputy Speaker, but the message has now been given.
Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his point of order. I hope that Members will not interrupt the debate with too many points of order. I am sure that the hon. Member for Preston (Sir Mark Hendrick) is clear that if there were any need to make a declaration, I would expect him to do so.
Sir Mark Hendrick
Yes, I was about to do so, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have consulted the Speaker’s Office—as it will confirm—and checked this point, and I wish to declare a visit to the Huawei factory 10 years ago.
David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Con)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I say in a polite fashion to the hon. Member for Preston (Sir Mark Hendrick), who is my friend outside of this Chamber, that he is also holding a Huawei reception next week. Perhaps he could declare that. I do not want him to get into trouble—I really don’t.
Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point of order. As I have said, I am sure that the hon. Member for Preston will make any declarations necessary, and I hope that he has sought advice on the issue.
Sir Mark Hendrick
I have written to every Member in this House inviting them to the reception next week, but it is not a declarable interest.
If there are no more points of order, may I just ask the shadow Minister why she does not feel that it is appropriate to take the outlined course of action, given the evidence from GCHQ and the NCSC about Huawei’s limited role and the management of risk?