Alex Mayer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 11 Mar 2025 · Anti-social Behaviour: East of England · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for giving way on that point about councils. In my area, Central Bedfordshire Council has just decided to remove all of its safer neighbourhood officers. The chief constable has said that there will be increased risks to the public because of that. These are uniformed people who go around our streets handing out fixed penalty notices for littering, looking at graffiti and generally making members of the community feel safer. Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in the council voted against an amendment to keep such officers in place. Does my hon. Friend agree that councils have a duty to make sure that they crack down on low-level antisocial behaviour, and that if they do not do so, there will be a real knock-on effect on local people?

• 5 Mar 2025 · Antisocial Behaviour and Illegal Bikes · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) on securing this very popular debate. For far too long, off-road bikes have been driven in an antisocial and dangerous manner. These vehicles tear through parks, speed along pavements and roar through residential areas. The results are noise pollution, frightened residents and a real danger to public safety. My constituents constantly talk to me about this issue. A woman recently told me that the riders “do wheelies through the main streets of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, often in small groups, sometimes with up to 30 or more bikes.” Another constituent told me that the bikes constantly travelled the wrong way down their one-way street; another said that they are an “accident waiting to happen”. An email that turned up in my inbox not long ago said: “Today boys playing football were almost run over by these idiots. It’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt or killed”. Many of the riders are balaclava-clad, with a bag slung over their shoulder, and they are checking their mobiles as they go along. This activity is not just antisocial and dangerous; it is clearly linked to drugs. I commend the police and crime commissioner for Bedfordshire, John Tizard, and Bedfordshire police’s Operation Skytree for the work that they have done to start to tackle this problem, particularly in Houghton Regis and Dunstable. Just last month, more than 25 officers were deployed, along with specialist equipment. They were driving around on quad bikes, so they were able to chase these individuals. They even managed to employ one of their new drones, so that they could track the individuals as they went to places where it is normally more difficult to track them. As a direct result of that operation, one man on a bike was arrested in possession of drugs and five bikes were seized. That is a positive first step, but there is clearly much more work to do. I really welcome, as do many other hon. Members, the introduction in Parliament last week of the Crime and Policing Bill, with the provision to make it easier to seize illegal bikes—ideally, when the crime is actually happening. I would be grateful if my right hon. Friend the Minister could clarify that there is nothing in the law to prevent the police from pursuing riders who are not wearing helmets. People need and deserve to be able to live in communities safe and secure from the menace of misused off-road bikes.

• 4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source

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  1. What steps she plans to take to encourage saving.

• 4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source

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  The nation’s favourite way to save is through premium bonds. Does the Minister think that they are good for the country and a valuable way of encouraging saving? For everyone who has them, they are quite exciting every month.

• 24 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T7. Eenie and Meenie, two white cats from Stanbridge, were recently shot and killed. Could the Minister outline what discussions she has had with local police to that ensure that these crimes are properly investigated and that the law is upheld?

• 5 Feb 2025 · Gambling Harms · Hansard source

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  What does my hon. Friend think about online games that are not gambling, but in which, when someone loses a turn, they are immediately presented with something like an online app roulette wheel to win an extra game? Is that normalising gambling?

• 5 Feb 2025 · Gambling Harms · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 30 Jan 2025 · Local Post Offices · Hansard source

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  I commend the hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) on securing this important debate. I think that most Members and most people are pro-post office. After all, post offices are part of the fabric of our nation. Many Members of my age were brought up on Postman Pat and his black and white cat. It would not have been the same without Mrs Goggins at the local post office. The Leighton Buzzard post office first opened its doors at its current location near All Saints church back in 1887. We all recognise that a lot has changed in the last 137 years, and since Postman Pat hit our screens in the 1980s. I used to queue at the post office to get my car tax. Emails have transformed how we communicate. TV licence sales have moved online or to phone or direct debit. What has not changed is the way that post offices foster a sense of community pride. Half of UK consumers say that their local post office creates a sense of belonging and community identity. An Association of Convenience Stores survey ranked the post office third for having a positive impact on local communities. Post offices also drive footfall to our high streets because when someone goes to the post office in the town centre, they often spend money elsewhere. More and more, post offices support e-commerce, and they are important to small businesses, half of which use them at least once a month. Increasingly, they are a vital means of accessing cash. Since 2015, my constituency has lost 60% of its bank branches. In recent months, two more high street banks, Lloyds and Halifax, have left Leighton Buzzard town centre. In September, when Halifax announced its closure, it was explicit that it expected the post office down the road to take up the slack. Whether that will be possible is a question I will turn to shortly. I was proud to stand on a Labour manifesto that committed us to strengthening the post office network. I welcome the Government’s £37 million investment to support post office branches, along with the £20 million boost to sub-postmasters’ pay and the plans to publish a Green Paper seeking public views on the future of the Post Office. This all comes at a critical time. The 100-plus-year-old Leighton Buzzard post office is a Crown post office. The desire of the Post Office to move to a fully franchised model is not new. It has been on the cards for some time, but it is causing understandable concern for local people who deeply value the service that their post office provides, for all of the reasons I have outlined. I welcome the expressions of interest in taking on those Crown branches. Although not all of those applications will be viable, it is encouraging that third-party operators are willing to step in, potentially integrating retail elements to make these branches more financially sustainable. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst) mentioned, the recent announcement by WHSmith, which hosts around 200 post office counters, has raised concerns about whether third-party takeovers truly are a long-term solution. I would be grateful for the Minister’s views on that. I would also be keen for him to explore with the Post Office whether there is merit in treating Crown branches where it owns the freehold of the building differently from those where it leases the premises. Let me turn briefly to the related issue of postboxes. Some new developments simply do not have them. That means that someone who lives in Bidwell West would have to go on a half-hour hike to post a letter. The law states that residents should be within 500 metres of a post box, but that is simply not happening. Perhaps the Minister might raise that with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to ensure that housing developments include post boxes as standard. After all, letters are vital for a thriving postal service. The Post Office is a national institution. It brings essential services to countless communities, whether sending a parcel, withdrawing cash or topping up an electricity meter. It supports local businesses, high streets and local identity. Yes, it must change, but it must not wither. Local people must enjoy a first-class service.

• 27 Jan 2025 · Creative Industries · Hansard source

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  South Side Studios in Leighton Buzzard repurposes vacant spaces on the high street, which brings people to the high street. We also have the Peppercorn team, who want a cultural and heritage centre, which would bring people into the town centre. Does my hon. Friend agree that cultural industries can bring growth to not just cities, but our market towns as well?

• 15 Jan 2025 · Local Government Reorganisation · Hansard source

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  One effect of creating more strategic authorities appears to be the splitting of transport and highways powers in more areas. Will the Minister provide assurances that this will not slow down the delivery of capital projects that are necessary to achieve economic growth?

• 18 Dec 2024 · BBC: Funding · Hansard source

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  My area has excellent regional news coverage, including BBC Three Counties Radio and “Look East”. However, back in 2022, a decision was taken that has meant that my regional politics programme is now recorded more than 100 miles away from my constituency. Given that all news is local, would my hon. Friend care to comment on whether that is the right starting point for regional news coverage, or whether we might want to do something more local and perhaps better?

• 9 Dec 2024 · Fireworks: Sale and Use · Hansard source

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  I want to draw attention to another petition handed into Downing Street recently, which had 1.1 million signatures. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be helpful to encourage manufacturers to design and produce quieter fireworks?

• 5 Dec 2024 · Improving Public Transport · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to be called to give my maiden speech, and I do so with a sense of trepidation and excitement, which I imagine that many a new MP feels. It has struck me that maiden speeches are a little like buses: you wait ages, and then 335 of them turn up at once. I beg your indulgence, Madam Deputy Speaker, and ask you to listen to one more as we near the end of this journey. As hon. Members will know, the excellent House of Commons Library helpfully provides us with the maiden speeches of our last two predecessors, to give us a feel for this place and to allow us to acknowledge the work of those who came before us. Mr Selous served for a whopping 23 years, and I pay tribute to his work as an assiduous constituency representative who stood up for what he believed in. I discovered in his maiden speech that he in turn referred to his predecessor who served for 31 years, who in turn harked back to the Member who came before him—the last Labour MP for the area—who was elected back in 1966. Clearly, 1966 was a year that was rather good for teams in red, albeit followed by rather too many years of hurt. History shows us how rarely change comes for these communities, yet change is desperately needed: on shop- lifting, as I have met workers who have been spat at, threatened with needles and even a gun; on the lack of healthcare facilities, including in Houghton Regis and Leighton-Linslade; on sewage polluting our waterways; and on transport. I am delighted to be a member of the Transport Committee, and transport is the subject of the debate, which I congratulate the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke) on securing. My constituency has a long history of transport innovation. It has Britain’s oldest road, dating back to prehistoric times, the Icknield way, which runs through the constituency. It has the Grand Union canal, the freight superhighway of its day. Leighton Buzzard railway once transported sand from quarries and is now a much-loved tourism attraction, going full steam ahead. More recently, we gained one of the longest guided busways in Europe, which I hope one day can be extended. That brings me neatly to the topic of buses and encouraging more people to switch on to them, which is so vital in this time of climate emergency. I welcome the BSIP investment announced recently by the Government, and I look forward to hearing more from the Minister about plans to allow more local areas to have a smoother path to franchising. I am keen for the Minister to look carefully at transport governance. London and Greater Manchester, which have franchising already, have also historically had alignment of transport powers, resources and capacity all in one centralised place. Passenger transport executives and their equivalents can accelerate the delivery of transport plans and play a crucial role in unlocking regional economic growth. For 50 years, such structures have benefited from much higher levels of control and co-ordination of buses. They also benefit from running over a much more logical functional economic geography. Outside such areas, transport powers are held in many different places, and they require a number of organisations to independently agree reforms to enact change. That can mean, for example, that bus stops, which are surely the window to the soul of buses, can be owned by an organisation with no say in how the bus service itself is run. In many places in the country, highways and transport powers are split. We perhaps need more passenger transport executives, although the Urban Transport Group advises that the last passenger transport executive was established so long ago—not quite so long ago as when a Labour MP last represented Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard—that the mechanics around establishing a new one are unclear. In any case, we need governance that is fit for the 21st century, with the right delegated functions being granted to a passenger transport executive or equivalent, the establishment of an executive function to speed up decision making and delivery that makes the difference. It needs to be based on a geography that reflects travel patterns as well as wider social and economic geographies, and which gives a large enough base to raise farebox income. On geography, I argue that there need to be possibilities to franchise in areas larger than local transport authorities. Given that franchising is not entirely a silver bullet, I urge the Minister to look at the geography of enhanced partnerships as well. It is only one bus, but the F70, which travels from Luton to Milton Keynes via Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, goes through three separate enhanced partnership areas. Finally, I thank Grant Palmer, Arriva and First, which have invited me aboard their buses recently, and Dawsongroup for bringing a double-decker bus just outside Parliament for Catch the Bus Month, which many hon. Members from across the House came to support. It is my belief, really, that every month should be Catch the Bus Month. I urge all hon. Members to get on board and back our local buses all year round.

• 28 Nov 2024 · Fishing Industry · Hansard source

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  In recent years, fish and chip shops have—excuse the pun—taken rather a battering. Will the Minister comment on what he is doing to ensure that my constituents, and indeed those of all Members, will be able to continue tucking into that tasty British staple?