Alex Mayer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2025 · Christmas Adjournment · Hansard source

  More

  I would like to raise a festive selection box of issues. First, I am sure Members have seen the recent news that a new post box has been installed in Antarctica among all the snow and ice. I thought that was brilliant, because everyone needs a post box, but unfortunately my constituents in Bidwell West still do not have one. It is a complicated issue, but it stems from the fact that the roads in the area are all unadopted, so residents have to take a 30-minute round trip by foot to post a single Christmas card. I very much welcome the fact that penguins are getting a post box, but my constituents need one too. My message to Royal Mail is that next year I am dreaming of a new post box. On a quick Santa dash to another issue, I want to give a big shout-out to the people who grow Christmas trees. It takes seven years to grow a Christmas tree to 6 foot. During all that time, they are sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and providing a fantastic habitat for wildlife. Trees are not just for Christmas. One of the best things that happened this year, I thought, was the announcement of a second new national forest. I am so pleased that all the new trees are going to be planted in Bedfordshire—that is tremendous news.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Christmas Adjournment · Hansard source

  More

  I am pleased that my hon. Friend supports those trees too. Christmas is the season of good will. I was really proud to meet so many volunteers who have been working right across my constituency, particularly at the local food bank, at a local care home, where there was a jolly Christmas jumper day, and at the Leighton Buzzard Railway. Earlier this year, the Leighton Buzzard Railway, which is a steam railway, decided that even though it is a heritage line, it did not think that all of its volunteers needed to be of a certain vintage. It has set up a youth scheme, and this Sunday I will be going on the Santa express with Jacob, who is just 14 years old. He loves getting covered in soot and volunteering on the steam railway. The brilliant news is that the youth scheme has been such a success that now one in five of the volunteers on the steam railway are under 16 years old. I know that they have a bright future ahead of them and it is full steam ahead. On that note, I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and all hon. Members a very merry Christmas.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source

  More

  This summer, when I was travelling by train to a bus conference, I managed to lose my bag. I did what everyone in that circumstance would do and panicked slightly, because my purse and my keys were in it, along with my House of Commons pass. I thought, “Who on earth do I contact?”, because I was not entirely sure where I had left it. Had I left it on the train? Had I perhaps left it at the station when I was changing trains—and, indeed, which train might I have left it on? All the station staff were very helpful. They all pointed me to different online forms, and I have to say that my faith in humanity was absolutely restored about two weeks later, when everything was found, all of it still in the bag. I received an email saying “Come and collect it.” I paid my ten quid and got it back. Then, about three weeks later, I received another email, this time from Transport for London—which I had also contacted—telling me that unfortunately my bag had not been found, and they had finished the search for it. That, I think, is just one illustration of the fact that we have a completely un-joined-up railway. I was struck by the five mentions of competition in the Bill and the absence of any mention of standardisation, which is what I think our passengers are really after. I have a couple of other points on which the Minister might be able to provide a bit of commentary. As mentioned by the Chair of the Transport Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), clause 18 lacks a target for passenger growth. Although that might be missing, I very much welcome the inclusion of the phrase “potential users”, which feels very much like the idea of “prospective” passengers that I tried to get into the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill but did not. I really welcome the five-year stability for infrastructure funding, but could we extend that to operations? I would be grateful for the Minister’s views on whether schedule 2 will allow Ministers to cut funding mid-period too easily. On devolution, I hope we will soon get guidance on how mayoral combined strategic authorities will be able to get the necessary powers. How will they get a devolved railway? There are many references in the Bill to mayoral strategic authorities, but perhaps the wording should sometimes be “mayor”, because it is important that we actually consult the democratically elected person. Finally, on data being open by default, will the Minister assure us that all ticket sellers will get exactly the same data that GBR gets? All in all, this is a fantastic Bill, so we are all on track—full steam ahead.

• 4 Dec 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  South Side Studios is a fantastic temporary custodian of the old Wilko shop on Leighton Buzzard high street. It has put on some brilliant events, such as salsa, more dancing, painting and Lego workshops—who does not like Lego? While it has had fantastic success in persuading commercial businesses to embrace meanwhile use, it has had rather less success with the local council, which has an old, disused care home that I am told costs £7,000 every week for security. Will the Leader of the House consider a debate on meanwhile use so that we can spread the news about the positive benefits it can bring?

• 4 Dec 2025 · War in Ukraine · Hansard source

  More

  I am struck by what my hon. Friend has just said. About eight years ago, during Trump’s first term, I was in the United States with a group of Latvian MEPs. I remember being almost bemused by how often the Latvians wanted to turn whatever discussion we were having to defence. To some extent, it was kind of annoying me by the end, but now I realise that I was completely and utterly wrong; they knew what they were doing in that instance and I did not. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to sell this concept of a peace dividend? I was really sold on it, but it did not exist at that moment, because investment is required first in order to get peace in the long term. What we are really looking for is peace in Europe in the long term, so once again we genuinely do need a peace dividend.

• 3 Dec 2025 · Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor · Hansard source

  More

  I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) on securing this important debate about a place where innovation really happens, but which is also a great place to live. The whole idea of the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor is fantastic, but the name is absolutely terrible: politicians love the word “growth”, but the public at large are scared by the idea of growth. They think it is going to ruin their way of life—and then “corridor”? I mean, that just sounds like a place we never want to be in. It is somewhere that gets people from A to B, but what about that bit in the middle? To me, it just conjures up the Tories running down the NHS and being stuck in a corridor in a hospital. However, it is the right place to be focusing on. We can already see that, because the universities play such a good role and businesses invest there all the time. There are more than 8,000 high-tech firms in the wider area already. Given that it is thriving already, we might ask what the role for Government is? We do not want to mess it up at all; we want to try to improve it. I would argue that there are still bucket-loads of potential, and the three areas where the Government can add value are governance, transport and a sense of place. Let us start with governance. For investors wanting to invest in the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor, particularly those from overseas, it is really difficult to know who to pick up the phone and call. Regional devolution will help with that, particularly with the duty in the Bill for mayors to co-operate with each other. However, we need to get to a position where the whole area has mayors, and we cannot allow some councils, such as the one in my area, to block that progress. We also need to make sure that devolution means that mayors have genuine powers, because sometimes I think there can be an overemphasis on co-operation and consensus, which actually gives us stasis and stalemate. On transport, I absolutely welcome the £2.5 billion the Government have invested in East West Rail. In recent weeks, it has felt as though we are ramping up on that. East West Rail matters to all the stations along the route and those that are nearby—I made that point to the East West Rail chair the other day. It is less than 10 minutes from Leighton Buzzard to Bletchley, and that opens up a world of opportunities for people in Bletchley as well. Finally, on a sense of place, when I used to think about the wider east of England region and what on earth linked it, I sometimes thought it was only our fantastic local broadcaster “Look East”—

• 3 Dec 2025 · Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor · Hansard source

  More

  Indeed. It is so important to make sure that we have things that link us, and I think Universal will make a real difference on that. I very much urge the Minister to make sure that Paddington Bear is a key feature—what an ambassador for our region that would be! The forest is also fantastic news for us; I finish by urging my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge to agree with me that the national forest really is a tree-mendous opportunity.

• 27 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  Advent is approaching. Do you have an Advent calendar, Mr Speaker? If so, is it a traditional one or a chocolate one, or maybe even one filled with wine? If it is filled with wine, the little pouches in it are probably made using technology based in Leighton Buzzard. Those pouches are 125 ml in capacity; because they are sold in an Advent calendar, and there are 24 pouches, that is allowed. Unfortunately, though, we are still not allowed to sell individual 125 ml pouches. Could the Leader of the House explain how I might meet the relevant Minister to see whether we could sell 125 ml pouches, not just at Christmas, but all year round?

• 24 Nov 2025 · English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I really welcome devolution and look forward to a time when every local area really wants a mayor. I have tabled a number of amendments and new clauses, which I will go through in turn. First, on the question of commissioners, I have to say that I disagree completely with the hon. Member for Guildford (Zöe Franklin) in her amendment 85 to clause 9. I really welcome commissioners being brought in; I think that if we want our mayors to do a good job, we need to give them tools that enable them to do that. I think of the commissioners coming in as the Magnificent Seven. However, I have tabled amendments 161 and 162 on this matter, because my concern is how we got to the number seven. I have a gut feeling that we just went down the list and counted all the responsibilities that there were and came up with the number seven. As it stands, an individual commissioner can work in only one specific area, which I think gets rid of any sense of bringing in people with cross-cutting responsibilities. The Government talk a lot about governing in missions—what if mayors want to do the same kind of thing? We could get rid of the cap of seven or that list of responsibilities in order to enable people to look at different things. Of the responsibilities that mayors have at the moment, transport and infrastructure tend to be where they have the most. If we wanted to stick with the number seven, and a mayor wanted to look at somebody who was doing more of transport—an active travel commissioner, or anything like that—we should let the mayor decide. New clause 60 is on the question of deputy mayors. This is, I think, a bit of an oddity. At the moment, the pool of people from which a mayor can choose their deputy is really limited, as it is made up of the people in their cabinet from each of the constituent authorities. That means that we could have a situation—as we already do in one part of the country—where a democratically elected mayor who stands on a political ticket is forced into choosing a deputy mayor who is not of their own political party. My new clause would open this process up so that they could choose a councillor who is also democratically elected, but from any of the different authorities that they represent. This would not solve the problem entirely—it would not help if an independent were elected, for example—but for the vast majority of people, whether the mayor is from the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, Labour or the Greens, or Reform, probably, it would solve that problem. New clause 61, which brings in the concept of mayoral special advisers, is not going to be particularly popular, but I do think it would be useful. I just think this process needs to be more transparent; it happens at the moment, but it happens with a wink and a nod. I would like to bring out into the open the people who are providing political advice to democratically elected mayors. On a more general level, it continues to concern me to some extent that all this devolution is based on the Greater Manchester model, and I think we need to look more widely than that. The Greater Manchester model is very different from other parts of the country, not least because it has a lot of councils that are all of the same political persuasion, and so the mayor ends up with a cabinet of people of the same political persuasion. That is not going to be the case as we roll out devolution further, and I think we need to think about that carefully. Also, as local government reorganisation goes forward, we will have fewer councils from which cabinet members can be drawn, so it will be much easier for one individual to block something. Mayors need to be able to get on with decisive and responsive governance. I turn to transport and clause 27. I often bore Transport Ministers because I really do think that bus stops, bus lanes and buses should all be looked after by the same individual. They are not at the moment, and that is down to the long-standing issue of a split between transport and highways. My area has a unitary authority, so those responsibilities are together, but they would be split up as soon as we got a mayor, as I hope we will, eventually. I very much welcome the power of direction on key route networks and—looking at that split—we could take that further. I have some sympathy with amendment 23, tabled by the Conservatives, on micro-mobility. It seeks to ensure that there is enough parking for e-scooters. That, again, is a reason for looking at the highways and transport split. I welcome the Bill. It presents a real opportunity, and it could well be the most consequential Bill of this Parliament. I am absolutely committed to ensuring that we get devolution right by considering a few tweaks.

• 13 Nov 2025 · Police Reform · Hansard source

  More

  I, too, thank John Tizard for his tireless work in securing extra resources for Bedfordshire police. I tend to agree that the mayoral model is the best way forward. Does the Minister agree that it is vital that we redouble our efforts to move at real pace to ensure there is a mayor in every area of England, rather than let one council block the ambitions of the rest of the area?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Public Bodies: Governance and Accountability · Hansard source

  More

  My concern is about interim officers in local government, and CEOs who pop up in one place and then pop up somewhere else a couple of months after they have resigned. What safeguards are in place to ensure that negative behaviours or actions in one organisation do not appear in another where the same individual is involved?

• 11 Nov 2025 · BBC Leadership · Hansard source

  More

  The BBC is unique and special, and it is ours. Yes, it is absolutely a part of the national conversation—but, importantly, it is also a part of the regional and local conversation. I have fantastic local journalists in my patch on Three Counties Radio and on “Look East”, and the fact is that a local story, which a local journalist has gone out to find, can quickly get on to the national stage because of our BBC; that is special. Will the Secretary of State assure me that in the forthcoming charter review she will take seriously the protection and enhancement of local news coverage?

• 11 Nov 2025 · Remembrance Day: Armed Forces · Hansard source

  More

  This morning, I was thrilled to unveil a plaque in Leighton Buzzard, next to the church, to honour the people who served at a place called Q Central. It is not very well known that during the second world war, 5,000 personnel served just outside Leighton Buzzard, and they were predominantly women. During the war, this became the biggest communications hub in the entire world, but for a long time, nobody knew very much about this story, because it was top secret. I want to thank local historian Paul Brown, who has been working to uncover what those phenomenal women did, and that work has culminated today in the unveiling of the plaque. I was also really pleased today to meet a young child called Bertie, one of the many children who lay a wreath every year at the war memorial in Leighton Buzzard. Bertie’s great-great-grandma, Joan Spencer, was one of the women who served her nation at Q Central. The location was chosen because it already had really good communication links. The wireless signal was good—I wish today’s mobile phone signal was as good as that—and it was also near its famous neighbour, Bletchley Park. Crucially, it was a bit out of the way and therefore hidden from enemy bombers flying overhead. Work was also being done in underground tunnels that were highly camouflaged. I think it is an inspiring story, particularly as the first woman MP for Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable and all the places around them. I talked to some of the young girls there today, and it proved to them that their ancestors had done important war work. We are going to do more. We will ensure that there are boards next to the plaque to tell the story to future generations. We are also looking to get a sculpture that talks of the people and the experiences they had there, with the help of South Side Studios in Leighton Buzzard. I am proud of the community coming together because it feels that for the first time we are truly celebrating the stories of those who served in the shadows and bringing them into the light.

• 4 Nov 2025 · Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation · Hansard source

  More

  It is also important to get letters into the postal service in the first place. In Bidwell West, which is in my constituency, residents face a 30-minute walk to the nearest post box. That is because Royal Mail refuses to put in new post boxes on unadopted roads, despite the fact that the developer is perfectly happy for there to be a new post box. Would the Minister consider raising that with Royal Mail?

• 30 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  A year ago, I delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for quieter fireworks, keeping the whoosh but getting rid of the bang. This year, fireworks night falls on a Wednesday. Will the Leader of the House consider having a debate on designating a specific weekend for bonfire night and fireworks, to reduce all the disruption to animals and people?

• 28 Oct 2025 · Connected and Automated Vehicles · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes) for securing this important debate. I have no doubt that one day autonomous vehicles will be the norm on our buses, and I am perfectly okay with that, because I am fairly sure that any robot would be better at driving a bus than I would be. I am keen to hear from the Minister whether he has a timescale for the publication of the automated passenger services permitting scheme consultation. Technology has moved at pace over the last two decades; LiDAR—light detection and ranging—tech, radar and cameras all working together so that autonomous buses can handle junctions and roundabouts, and keep pace with the general traffic. I thank Ian Pulford, who has recently been telling me about the self-driving shuttles in Milton Keynes that have transported thousands of passengers without incident. I also thank a pair of Dans—Dan and Dan—who talked me through the Connector project. When I travelled on that, I found that it worked rather well, albeit that it had perhaps been programmed to be a little too cautious; it felt a bit like the 21st-century equivalent of having a man with a red flag walking along in front of the bus. Particularly when we sat waiting to turn left into oncoming traffic, I felt that basically we needed braver autonomous buses. I think that passengers will be just fine with AV buses. After all, people travel happily on the driverless docklands light railway or airport shuttles without a second thought. Indeed, research from the University of the West of England has found that in the main passengers’ desire for a safety driver is not so much about the technology within the vehicle, but more about other aspects of safety, for instance personal security. However, there is still some way to go. The Oxfordshire Mi-Link team freely admit that they had not fully anticipated quite how tightly controlled roadside vegetation has to be for their autonomous buses to work, and sometimes on windy days the buses get confused by moving branches, which they regard as hazards. The Connector team also told me that rain sometimes disrupted the sensors on their buses—while tech might be changing rapidly, I do not think that British weather is going to. Also, if potholes frustrate people today, imagine the outcry if the faded white lines along the side of the road stopped buses altogether. Council maintenance regimes would have to change radically; indeed, they would require a complete overhaul. Then there is the question of the highway code. The current one was obviously written for human beings, for our reaction times and our capacity to make judgments in complex situations. I am sure there will have to be an update of the highway code and that it will have to be more than just a basic legal update; there will need to be an entirely conceptual update. Does the Minister envisage that we will need two sets of rules, one for human drivers, and one for the robo-buses of the future? Finally, I turn to cost. Large-scale commercial deployment will mainly rest on cost. The main cost saving with autonomous vehicles is on driver hours, although a human being must still be present under current legislation, of course. I note that the Scottish trial between Edinburgh and Fife’s park-and-ride system seems to have met many of its technical goals. The problem was that, as with many other kinds of buses, the buses in this trial did not attract enough passengers. As we all know, buses outside London have bit of an image problem and many people who could use buses do not use them, not because of the service itself, but because of the perception. As the Minister knows, it has always been my mission to get more fare-paying and probably middle-class passengers on to buses, because increased farebox revenue is the key to sustainable services. However, I wonder whether we need to think more about what autonomous buses of the future will look like, because we seem to be going down two different paths. The ones being deployed in places such as Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge look and feel much more like a regular bus or minibus: they have a steering wheel that is moving, albeit no one has to turn it. The Milton Keynes example, which is also being used in Suffolk and in Birmingham at the National Exhibition Centre, has no steering wheel; it is a little shuttle thing that feels a bit more futuristic. Is this the moment that we could be using to grow passenger numbers? We could attract people who might never in a million years think about catching the bus. It may be that we cannot persuade them to catch a bus, but if it were billed as exciting, technological and futuristic, they might happily get aboard a “zog-pod” or something like that.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Heathrow: National Airports Review · Hansard source

  More

  Regarding the new airports national policy statement, can the Secretary of State clarify whether “airports” is in the plural? If so, will she be looking to change the planning process so that it can take into account the cumulative environmental impact of different airport expansions around the country?

• 22 Oct 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  As Britain faced peril in world war two, Winston Churchill took a radical step: he changed the clocks to shift extra daylight into the evenings. As the clocks go back this weekend, will the Prime Minister take a look at the evidence on trialling Churchill time again to cut carbon, reduce bills, improve road safety, boost the hospitality industry and be the Prime Minister who will brighten up all our lives?

• 20 Oct 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  A new school has been in the offing in Bidwell West for almost a decade now. The independent council promised me that places would be available from September 2027, but now appears to be backtracking. Is the Minister willing to meet me to discuss the obvious concerns of parents, many of whom moved into the new build estate because of the promise of a brand-new school?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Tree Maintenance: Guidance to Local Authorities · Hansard source

  More

  With so many new-build estates that are home to young trees, where watering and aftercare are so essential, does the right hon. Member agree that any new guidance should have a large section with a focus on early years for trees as well?

• 11 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  Sadly, last week in my constituency there was yet more flooding. This follows on from a very dry period and the hottest summer on record. Clearly, the weather is changing. Would the Leader of the House consider bringing forward a debate on building resilience to more extreme weather events, as he makes the political weather?

• 11 Sept 2025 · Regional Transport Inequality · Hansard source

  More

  I strongly believe that a regional geography is the right scale to make substantial public transport improvements. That is why I back this Government’s devolution agenda as the right approach to improving transport. The real inequality of the future will not be north versus south or urban versus rural, but between those areas that have well-respected, ambitious mayors and those that do not. For the sake of passengers, I hope that the Government move swiftly to fill in the gaps on the devo map, even if there is not complete consensus. Inequality in transport is already linked to some extent to governance. In the past, larger areas had passenger transport executives, and that gives them a head start, as more power heads to strategic authorities. I still believe that the Government could go further to encourage the creation of more executive bodies to co-ordinate transport regionally. I also remain concerned about the highways-transport split. I very much welcome clause 25 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which will allow mayoral combined authorities to take on civil enforcement of traffic contraventions, but we could go further. Fundamentally, the same organisation needs to be responsible for the bus, the bus lane and the bus stop. We also need to think differently about geography. From the Victorian radial rail network through to modern motorways, there has for too long been an assumption that all roads and rails should lead to London, but we cannot just think north to south; it must be east to west too. That is why I warmly welcome the £2.5 billion commitment to East West Rail to rebalance decades of under-investment in cross-country links. I will continue to call for the expansion of the Luton-Dunstable busway to Leighton Buzzard and on to Bletchley, linking it into East West Rail. The Minister will be delighted to know that my final question is a train question, rather than a bus question. I am keen to hear from him about plans for Great British Railways within regions. Does he believe that the current Network Rail regions are the right ones to build on as we move to GBR, or does he believe there are other opportunities and shapes other than triangles? We must always see transport as a driver of growth. In order to build thriving networks, we need a relentless focus on growing passenger numbers, which we can all do, as we know that September is Catch the Bus Month.

• 11 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T9. Does the Minister agree that extending the Dunstable-Luton busway on to Leighton Buzzard and then Bletchley would be a real boon to more fully link the area into the Oxford-Cambridge growth area?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

  More

  My amendment 66 and new clause 46 are not intended to change Government policy, nor to bind the hands of locally elected mayors or transport authorities—quite the opposite. Amendment 66, which my hon Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), the Chair of the Transport Committee, talked about some considerable time ago, would require local transport authorities to set out a clear, transparent formula for calculating whether a service is socially necessary and then to use that formula in deciding how funding is allocated. That reflects recommendation 53 in the Transport Committee’s “Buses connecting communities” report.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Neurodivergent People: Employment · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire (Charlotte Cane) on securing this debate. Our workplace, culture and society thrive not when everyone thinks alike, but when talent, creativity and difference are allowed to shine through. There is strength in diversity. Although many debates on neurodiversity understandably focus on those furthest from the labour market, I would like to focus my remarks on those who do work who do not have a learning disability, but who, as society, we absolutely need to support to keep working. The recommendations of the Buckland review were about transforming employer behaviour and workplace design to ensure inclusivity. I often find that people seem to think that that just means a knee-jerk reaction from an employer—“Have some noise-cancelling headphones, and then we are covered”—but it has to be much more than that. I think that there are a lot more autistic people in the workplace than is suggested by any of the statistics that have been quoted in this debate. King’s College London published research yesterday that said that 89% of autistic adults aged over 40 are living without a diagnosis, so simple tweaks in the workplace could help both those who are diagnosed and those who are undiagnosed. As we have heard in this debate, such tweaks could also help many neurotypical people. It is particularly important to make job adverts a bit less woolly. That would ensure that every applicant understands what is actually required. Designing the option of quieter spaces with softer lighting can create calmer, healthier and more productive workspaces, and in a modern world where people are popping off to do Zoom and Teams calls all the time, organisations need those quiet spaces for everyone. Flexible hours, remote working and no expectation of going to the pub after work can be much more inclusive all year round. That is not to minimise the experience of people with autism. I firmly believe that the Equality Act is vital, and potentially more so for women with autism than men, because workplace norms are gendered. A blunt male colleague may be described as being straight-talking, efficient or assertive, whereas a woman in that circumstance is far more often judged to be rude and abrupt. Human resources studies show that women are much more likely to receive criticism about their tone or communication style. I sometimes worry that our debates focus a bit too much on misery rather than success and happiness—I am not just talking about this debate; I think it is a matter right across this place—and I do not want any child who has received a diagnosis to think that they cannot go on to have a really successful life, so it is really important that we highlight those positive role models. They can be a Lioness. They can be an author. As my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) pointed out, they can be a politician like him or like me. Many of us grew up watching Chris Packham on “The Really Wild Show”. These conditions make people who they are—passionate, knowledgeable and observant. In a survey of silicon valley professionals, 30% believed that they may be on the autism spectrum. Some argue that Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci or Mozart were neurodivergent—Elon Musk, too; I am not sure whether he fits anyone’s definition of happiness, but he certainly sees the world in a different way. Neurodivergent minds can excel to drive innovation. We succeed as a society when we embrace the talents of all. If we all did everything the same, frankly, nothing would change, and I think life would be very, very dull.