Ben Maguire MP: speeches

Speeches

• 26 Jun 2025 · Aviation Sector · Hansard source

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  It was good to see Doncaster regional airport recently attract £30 million from this Government. The public service obligation flight route between Newquay airport and Gatwick is a vital regional connection between Cornwall and the capital, but with the current service ending in July, it is now up for renewal. Will the Minister please meet me as a matter of urgency to ensure that this vital link remains in place?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The town of Camelford in my constituency has been left in limbo for decades over the future of the proposed Camelford bypass. I raised this with the Minister responsible for roads, the hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood), in a meeting in March, and a follow-up letter was sent in April, but I am yet to receive a response. Will the Leader of the House please urge Transport Ministers to finally give Camelford’s residents an answer on whether the bypass will ever get built?

• 11 Jun 2025 · NHS Funding: South-west · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Steve Darling) on securing this debate. Following the Chancellor’s spending review announced in the House today, I am appalled that Cornwall and the wider south-west have been seemingly overlooked yet again, with Swindon the closest place to get a mention. Hospitals such as North Devon district hospital in Barnstaple, which serves thousands of my constituents, are crumbling before our eyes, as is the Camelford GP surgery. Our constituents deserve to get appropriate care when they need it and, crucially for those living in rural areas, where they need it. With the recent cuts to bus routes such as the numbers 11 and 12 by the previous Tory-run council, residents of Bude, Launceston, Padstow and many other towns do not have a direct public transport route to their cancer appointments at Derriford hospital. Those routes urgently need Government funding. Our Liberal Democrat policy aims for every cancer patient to start their treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, but for many cancer patients in Cornwall, disruptions to vital transport links make that much more difficult. All the while, the number of cancer patients waiting over four months for treatment more than doubled between 2020 and 2023 under the previous Tory Government. In comparison with the plans laid out today in the spending review, the Liberal Democrats would invest in a rural fund for our GPs, dentists and pharmacists so that, for example, my nine-year-old constituent Sophie would not need to wait 12 hours at A&E in Treliske with a tooth infection. That sort of investment would significantly reduce the number of visits to our hospitals in the first place. At the same time, we would tackle the fundamental issues that hold back our social care system; solve the care crisis with cross-party talks; introduce a fair deal for our carers, with a higher wage and a new royal college of care workers; and, finally, get our NHS back on track. We owe it to our brilliant NHS staff and our patients across the south-west.

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

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  That is exactly what has happened in Cornwall. The No. 11 and No. 12 bus served lots of rural towns and villages to Derriford hospital, but it has been salami-sliced—I have just got off the phone to Go Cornwall Bus—after years of underfunding. My constituent Mary in Padstow relies on that service to get her breast cancer treatment at Derriford, and she can no longer afford to get to the hospital, which would involve spending hundreds of pounds on taxis. Does my hon. Friend agree that in rural areas like mine, we need ringfenced funding to protect those key healthcare routes?

• 15 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The town of Bude in my rural constituency is further from a district hospital than almost anywhere else in the country. Derriford hospital in Plymouth is more than an hour and a half away. The No. 12 bus from Bude to Plymouth has made two changes, which means the route now has three buses and often three different bus fares. Will the Leader of the House grant a debate in Government time on how the Government should fund vital healthcare transport routes?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Draft Cornwall Council (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025 Draft East Midlands Combined County Authority (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025 Draft York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 2025 · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I welcome the devolution of this money to Cornwall, and I am pleased that the Launceston adult education centre will remain open as a direct result of local people there standing up and making their voices heard. Unfortunately, the adult education centre in Camelford is still set to close. That is baffling decision. This is an area with limited public transport, high levels of deprivation and real need for accessible education and support. Removing this service risks cutting people off from opportunity entirely. Simply telling them to go elsewhere is not an option. These centres provide far more than learning. They are safe, welcoming spaces where people build confidence, access support services and begin to move forward in their lives step by step—all things that cannot just be replaced by an online equivalent. I recently met a constituent who is a single mum living in Bude in the north-east corner of my constituency, who travels every week to Newquay for her adult education course on counselling—a journey that takes one hour and 20 minutes on two buses. Now that Cornwall has secured more than £10 million in devolved funding for adult skills, we should be expanding the provision, not winding it down. I hope that that happens following this announcement. We must use this funding to create a service that is better promoted, more responsive and rooted in communities such as Camelford, which desperately need them. We must ensure that no one is left behind, and that every adult in Cornwall has the opportunity to learn, grow and contribute.

• 6 Feb 2025 · Rural Crime: Prosecution Rates · Hansard source

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  The tragic hit-and-run case of Ryan Saltern in my rural North Cornwall constituency, as well as many other cases across the country, highlights a concerning problem in our legal system. The driver failed to stop, render aid at the scene, or even call 999, leaving Ryan for dead. The case was heard in a magistrates court, where the driver received a four-month suspended sentence. Ryan’s parents, Helen and Mark, and sister Leanne have campaigned tirelessly on the issue. Will the Solicitor General please look into the issue in conjunction with the CPS and the Department for Transport, and meet me to discuss her findings?

• 3 Feb 2025 · Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill · Hansard source

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  I am interested to hear about the measures in the Bill relating to local authorities and public authorities. Has the Secretary of State considered expanding remit of the Public Sector Fraud Authority to investigate cases of serious mismanagement of funds by local authorities, such as the recent botched sale of Newquay airport by Conservative-controlled Cornwall council, which reportedly cost Cornish taxpayers over £1 million in consultancy fees and the like?

• 19 Dec 2024 · Misdemeanours · Hansard source

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  I wish you and your team, Mr Speaker, and everyone in the House a very merry Christmas, and I welcome the Solicitor General to her place. However, I am afraid that it will not be a merry Christmas for all my constituents. Rural crime in North Cornwall is on the rise, from rural theft to increased drug trafficking. County lines drug gangs are grooming and recruiting children as young as nine to traffic drugs, while elderly and vulnerable constituents have been cuckooed in their own homes by the gangs. What steps is the Solicitor General taking to work with the police to increase the number of prosecutions of the ringleaders of these ruthless gangs that blight our communities and expose our young people to violence and crime?

• 10 Dec 2024 · Rural Cycling Infrastructure · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo) for securing what is an important debate for rural constituencies such as his and mine. Too often, only urban areas attract the focus for funding and infrastructure when it comes to active travel, yet the benefits to physical and mental health and wellbeing and in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and improving air quality are just as applicable, if not more so, in rural areas such as my North Cornwall constituency. Cornwall is a region with very poor transport infrastructure and high car dependence. The Cornwall local transport plan sets out an ambition for at least 50% of journeys under 5 miles to be completed via active travel by 2030, which is only five years from now. A road network sufficiently free from harm and fear of harm supports wider environmental and public health ambitions and encourages and sustains the adoption of healthier, active modes of travel. We have in my constituency one of the most popular off-road multi-use trails in the country—the Camel trail. Recent data shows that each year the existing trail attracts more than 400,000 users, of whom more than 50% are residents of Cornwall, and two thirds of these users are cyclists. Currently, only 1% of these trips are used to commute to work. However, with the growing popularity of e-bikes, this use has huge potential to grow. Early feasibility work by Sustrans shows that there are two ways that the current trail could be significantly expanded to deliver cycling networks that are sufficiently free from risk or fear of harm to make the option of active travel, and especially cycling, an attractive alternative to using the car. I discussed the first expansion option with the Minister recently, so I hope he will bear with me as I set it out once again. The trail, which utilises a redundant railway line that follows the River Camel, could be extended inland to make its final destination the old market town of Camelford—providing much-needed regeneration and giving the residents who live there greater access to the countryside and a viable non-car commuter route to the larger towns of Bodmin and Wadebridge and elsewhere. That not only would help to meet Cornwall’s active travel ambitions, but could provide the Government with an opportunity to meet one of their manifesto promises—to improve responsible access to nature and create nine new national river walks. The second option would be to introduce a network of quiet lanes across the wider rural area, which would provide connectivity between outlying villages and the Camel trail, offering local people viable options for active travel for their day-to-day living needs. A feasibility study for that has already been conducted by local councillor Dominic Fairman. The key design principles for rural quiet lanes are as follows. There is the introduction of 30-mph speed limits on roads that already have low motor vehicle flows. People walking, running, cycling and, where appropriate, horse riding should feel safe and comfortable to use the routes, and all users should be aware of those with whom they are sharing the surface of the lane or road, with signage and markings where appropriate. Quiet lanes are a key solution to connect people in rural areas. On many routes, there is insufficient space to build cycle tracks and other infrastructure next to roads. Quiet lanes can also help facilitate a rural modal shift by making people feel safer when using what are already light-traffic lanes for walking and cycling. We need greater investment to start addressing rural transport poverty. We should make schemes such as those I have outlined a reality and deliver transport infrastructure fit for the carbon-neutral world to which we are aspiring. If the Government really are serious about their claim that they will cut GP appointments by millions by delivering unprecedented investment in our cycling and walking infrastructure, they must consider schemes such as the Camel trail connect project. We do not have a single main line train station in my North Cornwall constituency, but we already have a world-class cycle trail. Now is the time to expand it and fund that shovel-ready plan.

• 21 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We have just seen the third fatality in six months at the Plusha junction in my constituency. How many more lives will be lost before her Department, National Highways and Cornwall Council finally plan to implement a flyover at this accident blackspot?

• 31 Oct 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Given long-standing community concerns in my constituency about road safety, the extremely high rate of fatalities on the A30 at the Plusha junction, and the need for a graded junction at that location, may we have a debate in Government time on how National Highways and the Government can better work together to deliver critical infrastructure projects to reduce accidents and fatalities on our busy A roads?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Rural Bus Services · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister and his Department commit to working with me to bring back the 503 National Express service, which served my town of Launceston in North Cornwall and ran through to Exeter and London? The community in Launceston and other towns in North Cornwall have been left without any connection to Exeter and London.

• 29 Jul 2024 · Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill · Hansard source

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  What benefit will this Bill bring to my North Cornwall constituents who currently do not have a single railway station? Will the Secretary of State please explain to them what mainline train services will be coming to towns in North Cornwall such as Bude, Bodmin, Wadebridge and Launceston?