Ian Roome MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister also join the Worshipful Company of Engineers in congratulating Sir Rich Knighton on being the first engineer to become the chief of the Royal Air Force? Being ex-RAF, it is nice to have an engineer who has never been a pilot as the chief of the Royal Air Force.

• 16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I thank the hon. Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper) for bringing this important debate to Westminster Hall. I concur with the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois): the Liberal Democrats also welcome Air Marshal Harv Smyth to his new appointment as Chief of the Air Staff—congratulations to him. He will be a fine leader. The E-7A Wedgetail represents a major update to the UK’s airborne warning and control capability. Future-proofing our armed forces is something that the Liberal Democrats strongly support. Wedgetail’s predecessor, E-3D Sentry, first entered service in the Royal Air Force around the same time as I entered the Royal Air Force, but fortunately it stayed at the cutting edge for a good deal longer. Indeed, the aircraft was still flying operational sorties and keeping the UK safe right up until it was decommissioned in August 2021. Although Sentry has since made some extra flights over home soil, the UK has officially been without an airborne warning and control capability for several years. That is just one example of how the last Government allowed our armed forces to be hollowed out over time.

• 16 Jul 2025 · RAF E-7 Wedgetail Programme · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend, and I am sure that the Minister will reply. Unfortunately, Sentry’s intended replacement, the Wedgetail programme, has already been through some major turbulence during its early years, from questions over the fairness of the MOD’s procurement decision in 2018 to a two-year production delay and an order reduction from five airframes to three under the last Government’s integrated defence review—a move that Boeing says slowed down the project, and a decision described as an “absolute folly” even by the then Defence Committee. We now read news reports that the Trump Administration are seeking to cancel Wedgetail orders for the US air force over claims that it would be too vulnerable in contested airspace, casting doubt over the programme’s future interoperability and cost. I am sure that many hon. Members will also have seen the recent letter signed by 19 retired US four-star generals criticising that decision. The United States aspires to a fully space-based replacement, but that is still many years away. With hindsight, knowing what we know about Russian aggression in eastern European airspace, the timing of all this could hardly be more perilous. Just a few weeks ago, my colleagues on the Defence Committee and I visited Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany. The UK is committed to a 24/7 NATO air policing mission, and the strategic defence review states that the UK’s defensive posture should be firmly “NATO first”. The Liberal Democrats believe that the UK should work as closely as possible with our European allies on our shared defence, and that our military should complement our allies’ capabilities. In addition to raising the UK’s defence spending to 2.5% and beyond, it is essential that we co-ordinate our allied air forces in Europe, especially those of our Nordic and Baltic partners, to give more bang for buck. In the European airspace, this airborne capability is very specialised. Various NATO forces still operate old E-3 aircraft, including Germany, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Norway. France and some Scandinavian air forces also operate similar aircraft from rival manufacturers such as Saab and Northrop Grumman. However, as has been pointed out before the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, the cost of repairs to the old E-3 fleet keeps increasing, and their availability to fly keeps decreasing. Australia, South Korea and our European allies in NATO, faced with the same choice as the UK, are choosing to replace their E-3 fleets with Wedgetail. Next month, Australian Wedgetails will be deployed to Poland as part of efforts to support Ukraine. European Wedgetails are not expected to enter service until 2031. That may be six years of expensive repairs to ageing aircraft—six years during which UK Wedgetails could play an outsized role in European air defence, but only if the current Government work to rebuild our armed forces capacity, and only if our aircraft are ready to fly. As the Public Accounts Committee keeps highlighting, large overspends are unacceptable. Long delays that leave this country’s Air Force without an essential capability are a sign of a procurement system that is badly broken. The strategic defence review recommends more Wedgetails for round-the-clock airborne surveillance, and says there may even be cost-sharing opportunities with NATO allies. I put these questions to the Minister. First, do the Government plan to meet our defence commitments this way, either by ordering additional Wedgetails, in lockstep with our allies, or even seeking an alternative? Secondly, what steps will the Government take to improve the Ministry of Defence track record on this kind of aircraft procurement, so that our defence of NATO airspace is never put in doubt again?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Afghanistan · Hansard source

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  I, too, welcome the statement given by the Secretary of State today. As a member of the Defence Committee, I look forward to giving this matter the scrutiny it deserves. I will not go into the detail of the report, but I think it is important to clarify, if the Secretary of State is able to do so, whether the data breach in question has in the past put or is now putting any serving members of the UK armed forces at risk?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Beer Duty · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that a reduction in beer duty would help hard-working publicans like Simon and Alison from a micropub in Barnstaple called Beer Matters, who have just won the CAMRA award for North Devon, to continue in business? Not only is it a fantastic micropub, but it serves as a good social hub in the community.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q11. In the past few weeks, I have spoken to five people from my rural North Devon constituency who have been forced to remove their own teeth with pliers or with amateur surgical kits bought online because they are unable to find an NHS dentist. What would the Prime Minister say to those people, and when will the Government banish this dentistry crisis to the history books, where it belongs?

• 26 Jun 2025 · Floating Solar Panels · Hansard source

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  I am really happy to join this debate, which is not only amusing, but very educational. For me, it is a matter of great concern for this country to conserve the water supply we have. Does the hon. Member therefore agree with me that floating solar stops the evaporation of water because it avoids direct sunlight hitting the water, and that it also conserves water?

• 26 Jun 2025 · Armed Forces Day · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Minister’s opening speech; as a member of the Defence Committee, I look forward to scrutinising the detail of his remarks. I wish to say a brief word of thanks to the Royal Marines Association, the Royal British Legion, SSAFA, the Veterans Charity and many others that all do good work in my constituency of North Devon, which is home to more than 4,800 veterans across more than 11% of the households. Obviously, North Devon is also home to the Royal Marines Barracks Chivenor and the Commando Logistic Regiment, and has the Royal Marines, the Navy and the Army all stationed there. Back in January, I spent a day with a wonderful organisation called the Root Cause Project—a community of veterans and serving personnel who meet regularly around the camp fire in the great outdoors of North Devon to look out for each other and to talk. Their message is simple: being able to talk to people with shared life experience is vital to those who have served in uniform, and is good for their mental health. I know from my time working for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, just how important that support structure is. When I left the Royal Air Force in the 1990s, many veterans still found the experience of being out of uniform not just strange but very isolating. I hope that Armed Forces Week continues to bolster our forces community, and shows that we all appreciate the service of those who keep us safe. Recently, I visited the British Normandy Memorial with fellow parliamentarians, including some in the Chamber today, to lay wreaths in memory of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. It was a truly moving experience. Officially opened on 6 June 2021 by His Majesty the King as royal patron of the Normandy Memorial Trust, the memorial stands as a powerful tribute to the 22,442 servicemen and women under British command, who lost their lives on D-day and throughout the battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944. I was extremely honoured to meet a veteran of the D-day landings who had just turned 100 years old. He told me that, on that day, he had landed on the beach seven times. When I asked him why, he said it was because he was the pilot of one of the crafts. I thanked him for his service and he recited some memories from that momentous day. Walking among the stone inscriptions, I was struck by how the memorial brings together the names of individuals from over 30 different countries, all united in sacrifice. Set on a hillside overlooking Gold beach, the site offers a poignant reminder of the scale and diversity of those who fought and fell. That day certainly put a large lump in my throat, just as every remembrance service does. We recognise that dedication to duty this Armed Forces Week. Most importantly, I hope that veterans and serving personnel know that a support structure is there for them and that they will never be alone.

• 25 Jun 2025 · GP Funding: South-west England · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate. Patients in Lynton, one of the remotest communities in North Devon, will soon have access to a GP, but that only happened because of a spirited campaign by local patients. Does he agree that if we are relying on an active community to highlight gaps in provision, it will always be the marginalised communities who find it hard to see a GP?

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for agreeing to visit North Devon district hospital very shortly, and I look forward to welcoming her to my constituency. Despite some welcome extra repairs under the estates safety fund, that hospital now faces many years of make do and mend. What provision have the Government put aside for those years of increasing maintenance costs?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Swimming Facilities · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson) for securing this debate, which is important to my constituents in North Devon. I will briefly raise the case of a brave young man from North Devon. His name is Oscar, he is 14 years old, and he recently saved the life of a man who got into trouble in the sea off Saunton Sands. Oscar learnt his lifesaving skills at Barnstaple swimming club and with Saunton Sands surf life saving club, but their local pool is run by a private operator and is among the most expensive in Devon. I thank my constituent Rob Enever for his hard work to highlight that there are no concessionary rates for low-income families. Many concerned parents have written to me, worried that basic access to swimming is becoming a question of the haves and have-nots. That means fewer children learning to swim, fewer thriving swimming clubs, and perhaps—if we cannot keep access to swimming available and affordable—fewer heroes like Oscar. I hope that when the Government are able to look at this issue again, there is greater recognition of the public safety aspect to this whole question, especially in coastal areas such as mine in North Devon.

• 2 Jun 2025 · Government Announcements · Hansard source

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  I am sure the Sunday papers would like to thank the Government for advance sight of their upcoming statement. I am a member of the Defence Committee and I ask the Leader of the House to acknowledge that this urgent question is actually wasting all our time. Mr Speaker is quite right in granting it, but if procedure had been followed and we knew about the statement, we could have got on and debated the rest of the day’s business. Does the Leader of the House agree that there are few announcements to be made in this Parliament that are as important as our defence strategy?

• 2 Jun 2025 · Strategic Defence Review · Hansard source

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  Much of the new hardware pledged today will not be delivered for some years and will not be effective without the personnel to operate it. What more will the Government do right now, not in 2034, to ensure that our armed forces recruit the service personnel who these long-term plans will rely on?

• 2 Jun 2025 · Neighbourhood Policing · Hansard source

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  Last week, I visited many retail businesses in North Devon that are suffering from prolific shoplifting. This is a big problem across the country. Will the Home Secretary explain what she is doing to help police forces resource the tackling of shoplifting and dealing with antisocial behaviour?

• 14 May 2025 · Future of Public Libraries · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) for securing this important debate, and all hon. Members for their passionate contributions. The Liberal Democrats believe in keeping libraries well funded and accessible, recognising their role in promoting literature, people skills and public wellbeing. Public libraries are some of the most beloved community services, and we are all painfully aware that despite the statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service, many local authorities across the country have tried to find financial savings in this area. Speaking as a lifelong councillor and a council leader, I know the hard choices that many local authorities are facing. Many will be trying to either consolidate library services, reduce opening hours or delay important building repairs. Research by the BBC suggests that at least 190 libraries in the UK have closed in the last five years, and the potential long-term consequences are troubling. Shockingly, the UK has one of the lowest rankings for teenage literacy among OECD countries, which affects the personal attainment and life chances of young people. It is in a library that many children first learn that books can be chosen and read for fun, not just assigned for homework by a teacher. The last Government’s independent review of public libraries, published in 2023, highlighted a lack of awareness of what libraries achieve, not just among the public but across local and national Government, which is compounded by a lack of adequate reporting on their good work. Libraries are vital to many marginalised adults in our society, including the elderly, those living in poverty or in social isolation, the unemployed or those with limited digital and literacy skills. They offer somewhere that is free to use, safe and easily accessible with a wealth of important information on everything from jobseeking to medical advice. The library is a lifeline. I have not mentioned all the adopted uses of libraries: as a venue for a vast range of community events, support groups, employment workshops, live music, art and craft activities, flexible working spaces, and access to the internet and public records, among many other functions. Braunton library in my constituency of South Devon recently won south-west England’s library of the year award at the British Book Awards. Among the features that make the library stand out is reading initiatives, its popular children’s Lego club, social groups like “knit and natter”, and an Arts Council project called “The Gatherers” which brought local people and resettled Afghan families into a flower-collecting society to break down language and cultural barriers and help to integrate people more fully into British society. As Liberal Democrats, we welcome the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s announcement in February of an additional £5.5 million for the libraries improvement fund, but it is likely that other Departments owe a debt of gratitude to public libraries that is not fully recognised. Even a small public library such as Braunton library holds over 300 community events annually. That is a typical example of the way public libraries are being asked to pick up ever wider duties from other public services. In England, 30% of adults aged 16 and over—around 13 million adults—have used a public library in the past 12 months; 27% of them brought a child with them, and the most recent figures suggest as that many as two thirds of all children in England visit a library at least once a year. Our libraries are a public service with a colossal reach into communities. They represent people who sometimes have a very quiet voice in public debates. The Liberal Democrats would be open and flexible to ensuring a sustainable funding solution, including a review of the good causes eligible for lottery funding and possible mechanisms for library endowments. Libraries support lifelong learning and social cohesion, yet they are being asked to do far more with far less. We must ensure that in the future, the funding of libraries reflects the increasing diversity of the roles they fulfil.

• 8 May 2025 · Trade Negotiations · Hansard source

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  One area that is important to this country and worth billions of pounds is defence. What changes will the deal bring to the proposed defence industrial strategy for the big primes and for small and medium-sized enterprises, which this Government, and all of us, want to support?

• 23 Apr 2025 · Hospitals · Hansard source

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  Laying in an operating theatre, a patient at North Devon district hospital in my constituency can take great comfort in knowing that they are surrounded by some of the most dedicated healthcare professionals in the world. But astonishingly, the operating theatre around them is little changed since it was first built in 1978. The theatre is barely 60% of the size the NHS now expects, and it cannot accommodate more modern equipment. Much of the air-handling system and ventilation infrastructure has either never been upgraded, or is simply beyond repair when it breaks down. That is a critical risk to patient care. North Devon district hospital now has a maintenance backlog of £44 million, over £13 million of which is for its operating theatres alone. There are no independent providers, and the next nearest NHS acute hospital is more than 40 miles away. The trust says that failing theatre facilities are the most urgent threat it faces during the next five years—not 10 years, but five—so what happens next? Well, we know what happens, because that exact scenario struck Torbay hospital in 2018, with failing air-handling infrastructure closing down a number of operating theatres and causing widespread cancellations of surgery for more than a year. North Devon district hospital faces the same nightmare. Thanks to woeful behaviour by the last Conservative Government, not a single penny was put in place to do something about it. Now the Labour Government say that none of the planned rebuild will be delivered until after 2035. North Devon is one of nine hospitals pushed right to the back of the line by the new hospital programme review, and the Government still fail to recognise the increased maintenance costs that will flow from that decision. If the Government ignore the symptoms, the problems will only get worse. Our hospital trust has put forward alternative plans for a lasting refurbishment at North Devon district hospital that would cost just £250 million—a fraction of what is really needed, but enough to keep the maximum number of operating theatres open beyond 2027 and avoid spiralling costs down the line. I thank the Minister for agreeing to visit North Devon district hospital to see the facilities and to listen to the trust board’s proposals. I am really grateful to the Minister for listening, but I urge the Government to seize the initiative and act now before it is too late.

• 2 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q8. Since the Prime Minister and I last spoke, more than 6,000 people have signed an open letter to the Health Secretary in support of North Devon district hospital, which faces a 10-year wait for urgent repairs. Why is that hospital still being denied a ministerial visit, and will the Government consider the trust’s emergency plans and meet me and the trust, so that we can discuss keeping the operating theatres open beyond 2027 to meet capacity?

• 12 Mar 2025 · Rural Communities: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) for securing the debate. My constituency covers nearly 1,100 sq km, which raises some unique challenges for rural services that will be familiar to many hon. Members. The most pressing of those challenges is equal access to local health services, due not just to geography, but to an ageing population; more than a quarter of residents are over 65. My constituents, and many in neighbouring constituencies across Devon and Cornwall, must travel some distance to the remotest acute hospital in mainland England: North Devon district hospital. That pattern can be seen across the UK: 97% of urban households live within 8 km of a hospital, but only 55% of rural households can say the same. Astonishingly, 98% of the urban population also live within 4 km of an NHS dentist, compared with just 57% of rural residents. Government figures from November suggest that there are 460 more people per dentist in rural areas than in urban areas. After the removal of the rural services delivery grant, North Devon council highlighted to me the fact that pockets of intense deprivation in the poorest rural and coastal communities can easily be lost in Government statistics for wider areas. According to Government statistics on rural England published last month, when talking about the roll-out of gigabit broadband, Ofcom and DEFRA even use different definitions of “rural” and “urban”, defining rural areas as settlements of under 2,000 or under 10,000 people respectively. By those measures, I have either two urban centres in my constituency, or nine, depending on whose maths I use. We need a reliable picture of just how isolated some people in rural and coastal communities are and how much support they need. Will the Minister tell us what the Government are doing to ensure that publicly funded support for rural areas is targeted effectively, especially in pockets of deprivation?

• 27 Feb 2025 · Rural Crime · Hansard source

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  Sadly, in the last week my constituency has suffered a spate of rural break-ins on the edge of Exmoor, and a quad bike and a chainsaw were also stolen from sheds in West Anstey earlier this month, in a pattern that we are very familiar with. Just this past week, South Molton and Umberleigh joined a string of other Devon villages where thieves believed to be targeting cigarettes struck local shops and service stations overnight. Does my hon. Friend agree that, when we talk about rural crime, we are really talking about the perception among criminals that rural areas are soft targets for obtaining goods that can be easily fenced elsewhere?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q5. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) said earlier, last week North Devon district hospital got the devastating news that investment would be delayed for 10 years, beyond 2035. In the five years since the last Government’s empty promises, our hospital’s maintenance backlog has grown to over £40 million. Given that £200 million has reportedly been spent just on consultancy fees for the new hospital programme, what funding for extra maintenance will be available for those hospitals that now face another decade of waiting?

• 27 Jan 2025 · Apprenticeships · Hansard source

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  Back in the autumn, the new Government announced plans to reduce the financial support available for level 7 apprenticeships. Does the Secretary of State understand that curtailing higher-level apprenticeships will make it harder to access graduate-level skills and qualifications in rural areas such as North Devon, where there are no universities nearby?

• 27 Jan 2025 · Apprenticeships · Hansard source

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  20. What plans she has for the future of apprenticeships.

• 20 Jan 2025 · Global Combat Air Programme · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, with our Italian and Japanese partners committing to multi-year funding plans for GCAP to give confidence to industry, the UK should show a similar commitment?

• 20 Jan 2025 · Local Government Reorganisation: Devon · Hansard source

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  16. What plans her Department has for local government reorganisation in Devon.