Freddie van Mierlo MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 4 Mar 2025 · Bathing Water Regulations · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Every year, we welcome to Henley thousands of visitors who contribute to our local economy. I urge the Government to row back—no pun intended—from the idea that cost and deliverability should be determining factors for investment in a site. When Henley welcomes the world to our wonderful section of the Thames each year, it would be simply unacceptable to say, “Sorry, we must expose you to our sewage, because the Government think it is too hard to treat.” I would therefore be grateful if the Minister commented on the intended change to the criteria for bathing water status and met me to discuss the situation in Henley.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Europe: Diplomatic Co-operation · Hansard source

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  The Thames valley is one of the most important economic zones in this country. At a recent meeting that I held with the business leaders of the Thames Valley chamber of commerce, the overwhelming message was that Brexit has been a disaster for business, and that Boris Johnson and the Tories did them dirty. Will the Minister commit to correcting that wrong, and start negotiations to join a European Union customs union?

• 25 Feb 2025 · Europe: Diplomatic Co-operation · Hansard source

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  8. What steps he is taking to increase diplomatic co-operation with his European counterparts.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  It is hard to imagine a dataset in which it is more important to maintain confidentiality than patient data. This Bill makes changes to the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Can the Secretary of State guarantee that there are no changes to patient confidentiality?

• 12 Feb 2025 · Fuel Poverty: England · Hansard source

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  Like the hon. Lady, I represent a rural constituency in which the number of residents who use heating oil and gas is more than double the national average. Will she comment on how we can transition those residents to more sustainable and cheaper sources of fuel?

• 12 Feb 2025 · Fuel Poverty: England · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

• 5 Feb 2025 · English Devolution and Local Government · Hansard source

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  I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. It is fair to say that in the streets of Henley and Thame, strategic mayoral authorities were not on the lips of residents during the general election. Health was, however, with the dire situation that the Conservatives left in my constituency. There is still perhaps a crumb of opportunity in this reorganisation regarding realigning authorities with integrated care boards, so that we avoid issues where constituents cannot get services on other borders. Is that being taken into account?

• 4 Feb 2025 · National Cancer Plan · Hansard source

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  Members across the House will be all too familiar with constituents reaching out to let them know that safe, effective new medicines are not approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The Minister speaks of research and the need for access. Will he commit to being a critical friend of NICE, to ensure both good value for the taxpayer and good access for patients?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Youth Mobility Scheme: EU · Hansard source

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  The Minister is giving a good account of the diaries of various Ministers. If meetings were a measure of success, we would all say that the Government were very successful, but they are not. When will we see outcomes from this rapprochement with the EU?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Youth Mobility Scheme: EU · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the advantages of the Erasmus scheme was that it provided funding so that people from disadvantaged backgrounds could take advantage of the scheme, and that any youth mobility scheme should ensure access to everyone?

• 28 Jan 2025 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  The measures we propose should be taken in the round. All our amendments significantly improve the Bill. New clause 21 would also improve sewage outflow in Henley-on-Thames and the villages along the Thames Path national trail. That is desperately needed to end the shame of welcoming the world to our beautiful town of Henley at the royal regatta, only to subject it to what we put down the toilet. In conclusion, I welcome the Bill and the protections it will deliver to my constituents, but I hope the Government will consider going further very soon.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Bill. While its provisions are modest, I none the less welcome this step to improve on the failures of previous Conservative Governments on sewage pollution. For too long, water companies have been allowed to operate without proper regulation and oversight. Since privatisation, English water companies have paid out £83 billion in dividends while amassing £74 billion in debt. Shockingly, with the Bill still making its way through the House, water companies have brazenly said that they plan to circumvent the ban on bonuses by jacking up C-suite salaries to compensate. The Bill must do more and be more ambitious to truly hold water companies to account. I am therefore pleased to support the new clauses in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), which would strengthen the Bill, improving monitoring, protecting consumers and ensuring responsibility falls on sewerage companies to clean up their act. I will speak to amendment 9 and new clauses 11 and 21. Amendment 9 would ensure that creditors, not bill payers, pay for the bail-out of water companies in special measures. It would protect consumers against the reckless financial mismanagement of Thames Water. Ordinary bill payers should not be required to pay for the mistakes of a company they had no choice to use and the folly of investors that indulged it. New clause 11 would require sewerage undertakers to install volume flow meters in all their locations where overflows occur. Campaign organisations in my constituency, including the famous Henley Mermaids, tell me that flow meters would help to inform them when it is safe to go in the water. New clause 21 is also of special importance to my constituency, much of which is in the Chilterns national landscape. It would commit sewerage undertakers to secure and then maintain high ecological status in protected landscapes. It would require them to improve outflow from storm overflows in areas such as Goring, in my constituency, which lies within the Chilterns national landscape. My right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) would very much welcome that, as we both enjoyed stand-up paddleboard yoga in Goring in July.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Road Safety: Young Drivers · Hansard source

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  May I express my sadness and join others in commemorating constituents lost? I would like to name Sammy Phillips and Lewis Moghul, who died in Bix, just metres from where I lived at the time. As a father, I can express sympathy, but I can never really, truly understand such pain. Other Members have spoken of the particular hazards that drivers face on rural roads, including the darkness, narrowness, higher speed limits and other dangers. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be helpful to look specifically at the dangers on rural roads?

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman spoke of the need to focus on the provisions of the Bill, so will he outline which provisions he is opposed to? Is it net zero ambitions, increasing net biodiversity, or developing a nature and biodiversity plan?

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  Many hon. Members have spoken ably of the importance of rivers and waterways and the nature contained within them. Will the Minister continue to work on that issue and address the shameful legacy of the Tories?

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 22 Jan 2025 · Public Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  National trails, which run through much of the countryside, provide vital access to the countryside both for people coming out of urban areas and for people living in rural areas, but the amount of funding for National Trails UK has not risen since 2012, and stands at just £1.7 million a year. Will the Minister commit himself to looking at that again and seeing what we can do to help out our friends at National Trails UK?

• 22 Jan 2025 · Public Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  Some villages, including Ewelme in my constituency, successfully signed up to the previous voucher scheme but were then excluded from Project Gigabit as a result. The previous Government failed to deliver on the scheme, which meant that such villages were left with no internet at all or no fast broadband. Will the Minister commit to looking specifically at the village of Ewelme to see what he can do to include it in Project Gigabit?

• 22 Jan 2025 · Public Services: Rural Areas · Hansard source

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  On healthcare provision in rural areas, does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is a desperate need to review GPs’ core contracts, so that we better incentivise GPs to set up in rural areas? Would he also agree that, in areas where the ongoing need for a GP surgery is clear, integrated care boards have a role in managing that estate so it can be secure over a long period?

• 17 Jan 2025 · New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill · Hansard source

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  South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils’ brilliant new joint local plan proposes that new homes should be net zero, with solar being the obvious way of delivering that, but that ambitious plan is now sat with the Government inspector, and we are in his hands. Does my hon. Friend agree that local authorities should be empowered to deliver on their net zero ambitions?

• 14 Jan 2025 · Agricultural and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  Does the right hon. Member share the concerns that my farmers have about their mental health, who are already in an industry where mental health issues are very high? They are concerned about the deadline of April 2026 and what impact that could have on their wellbeing.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. A Thame to Haddenham cycleway would transform how residents of Thame get to the local railway station. However, active travel funding from central Government is essential to get such schemes off the ground. Will the Secretary of State commit to increasing the active travel budget beyond what has been announced to truly revolutionise rural cycling?

• 9 Jan 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder services in Oxfordshire are in crisis. There are no adult specialised commissioned services available and waiting lists have been closed. Those lucky enough to have a diagnosis and treatment cannot get medication, because of shortages. In one case, a constituent was unable to continue their care, having turned 18 and been kicked out of paediatric services. Will the Leader of the House make time to discuss ADHD services nationwide in this House?

• 9 Jan 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  May I associate myself with the words of the Minister, the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) and others on the comments made to the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls? I am appalled by the comments made online and by well-known members of the public. Will my hon. Friend join me in wholeheartedly condemning public sexual harassment, including so-called cat calling, which is designed to harass, intimidate and humiliate women and girls? Shamefully, 68% of adult women have experienced sexual harassment by the age of 15. Will my hon. Friend also join me in asking the Government to pass the statutory instrument required to enforce the legislation passed last year on that?