Joe Morris MP: speeches

Speeches

• 12 Nov 2024 · School Transport: Northumberland · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered school transport in Northumberland. It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. In Westminster Hall today, I am delighted to see Members who share my concerns about school transport, not just in my constituency but across the county. I place on the record my thanks to organisations such as Contact, Adapt North East and local schools, in particular Queen Elizabeth high school, for their valuable contributions. The future of school transport is a pressing and increasingly concerning issue affecting my constituents —parents, students and teachers—in Hexham and in Northumberland more broadly. I grew up in Hexham. I was fortunate enough to have been educated at Sele first school, Hexham middle school and Queen Elizabeth high school. I am, and always will be, incredibly grateful to my teachers for the valuable education that I received. In particular, I mention Tony Webster, my former headteacher at QE—he filmed a video supporting me during the general election campaign—for his constant support and mentorship. Meeting students and teachers across my constituency—from Queen Elizabeth high school to Longhorsley St Helen’s Church of England first school and back to Sele first school, where I went a few weeks ago—has provided valuable insight into the issues affecting our local schools, and school transport in Northumberland is raised again and again. During my maiden speech, I said: “a great state education has the ability to change lives and to lift and change entire areas. I want every child in the constituency to have access to the kind of education that I was lucky enough to get.” —[ Official Report , 19 July 2024; Vol. 752, c. 347.] That is my motivation to secure this debate. Ensuring that every child in Northumberland gets the best education is a commitment that I share with my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), and with my hon. Friends the Members for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) and for Cramlington and Killingworth (Emma Foody), who cannot join us today. Home-to-school transport is an integral part of our education system in Britain. It ensures that no child of compulsory school age is prevented from accessing education by a lack of, or the cost of, transport.

• 12 Nov 2024 · School Transport: Northumberland · Hansard source

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  As constituency MPs, we all hear the frustrations of parents, teachers and students, who, because of school transport provision, are often hit with lateness marks or are forced to attend schools that they would rather not attend, as the hon. Lady said. It is something that we need to address properly, considering all the solutions in the round to ensure that we can provide great education to every child. I know from looking at my inbox that the 685 bus in Hexham is regularly full and delayed by up to 40 minutes. When people rely on commercial bus routes to get to school, it becomes an additional barrier to attendance. That is damaging to children’s educational attainment and future prospects, simply because buses cannot always be relied on. I spoke in the rural affairs debate in the main Chamber yesterday. Too often, people in rural communities pay more and get less. The previous Government, and other Governments before them, have allowed that to sail through without challenge. When we talk about rural-proofing our policies, it is essential that we look at things through the prism of how they affect some of our most isolated communities. Fourteen years of Conservative austerity and neglect broke the very foundations of Britain and our education system, and took hope away from our young people, who have been let down and overlooked. I am extremely proud of our new Labour Government’s commitment to increasing funding for schools, to putting our younger people first and to ensuring that every child receives a world-class education. Parents want the best for their child’s education; they want their children to learn in a safe and secure environment where they feel part of the community and supported in their educational development. No child should be restricted from that because of inaccessibility. I am proud to have secured this debate, and to be a voice for students and parents as we champion school transport in our local community. As Members— particularly the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron)—do not tire of hearing, I represent England’s largest constituency; I am delighted to see the silver and bronze medallists here today. The rural landscape has a considerable impact on school transport services. The reality of rural roads means that, despite having relatively short journeys, children are regularly late for the start of the school day. Children’s education is suffering, and more transport vehicles and a reassessment of transport routes could make considerable headway in reducing the number of pupils who are late for school. I have had one constituent raise the fact that delays to school transport mean that her daughter regularly receives late marks at school. Despite the fact that her daughter is a 14-minute journey from school and is collected at 7.45 am, she does not get to school until after 9 am. That is a case of a student’s education suffering from a lack of adequate school transport services. As the early grid for learning report outlined, missing 15 minutes of school per day equates to 2 weeks’ absence a year, and that is equivalent to missing 55 lessons a year. Being late negatively impacts a child’s education and contributes to a loss of learning. Home-to-school transport is often available only through the local authority, along with the additional support offered by parents and carers. Across the Hexham constituency and the Northumberland county council area in general, the provision of local bus and train services is unreliable—I have already mentioned the 685 bus—and not regular enough for young people to access when travelling to or from school. I am pleased to see that North East Mayor Kim McGuiness has launched a consultation on the north-east local transport plan. That plan will cover five areas that are necessary for my constituents to be able to access a public transport system that is fit for all our communities, not just those in centralised areas. Those five areas are: journey planning and customer support; ticketing and fares; expanding infrastructure and making it more resilient; enhancing safety, especially for women and girls; and improving links between different modes of transport. There is a clear delivery plan that has outlined and established targets for 2040, setting the path for overcoming the current challenges and creating a more efficient and resilient transport network for the future of the north-east. That will make considerable headway in helping my constituents access education and training opportunities, as well as work and social opportunities more broadly. The system on offer in Northumberland provides inconsistent results for families when they are allocated school transport places. One of my constituents, who is a resident in the far north of the constituency, contacted me to say that his daughter has obtained a free transport place but his son has not. As a result, he has to drive his son 170 miles a week, alongside the bus that takes his daughter to the same school. That is not just illogical, but vaguely Kafkaesque. It has environmental implications, in addition to educational ones, and it places a financial and administrative burden on a family who already qualify for free transport provision. I am sure the Minister will agree that we need to support the families in my Hexham constituency and families across Northumberland, ensuring that the provision of school transport is consistent for siblings within the same family. We cannot allow administration to provide inconsistent results for families. In my constituency, I am often asked questions about school catchment areas. I was on a call with Northumberland county council on the train down here, and I was informed that one of the school catchment areas in my constituency is larger than the area contained by the M25. Unsurprisingly, I get quite a lot of incoming casework on this. Many students who are outside catchment areas and ineligible for school transport services require commercial public transport to get to school. That is particularly common in constituencies such as mine, and those of my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland or the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale. Villages and towns such as Haydon Bridge, Bardon Mill and Haltwhistle, as well as settlements such as Falstone, Greenhaugh and Kielder, have considerable numbers of students who travel to Hexham middle school and Queen Elizabeth high school, which sits in the Tyne valley at the centre of my constituency. Such places are deemed to be outside the catchment area for those schools, but the safety of students travelling to and from school in Northumberland should be a priority. Those children should feel safe travelling to school, and parents should be reassured about their safety. A constituent has shared a deeply concerning story about the 685 bus breaking down on the side of the A69, with children being required to stand on the side of the A69—one of the busy roads running through the constituency—without any police presence or safety measures in place. I am sure that the Minister is aware of the growing concerns over that road. Since 2019, there have been 191 crashes on it between Hexham and Carlisle, with 44 of them being deemed serious by the police and six people losing their lives. When I heard about children standing on the side of the A69, I was deeply concerned. They should not be in that position. Constituents frequently mention the delays to the 685 bus service, which affect children getting to and from school. Despite petitions by parents to change the service from a single-decker to a double-decker bus—that was raised with the previous Conservative MP—no action was taken to resolve the issue. Constituents have said that their children have had to wait for more than an hour for the next bus service to collect them, because of a lack of space in addition to delays to the service. We need to work collaboratively with local bus companies and local councils to ensure that the safety of our students is protected as they journey to and from school. I will briefly mention transport for children with special educational needs and disabilities. I know that the Minister and the Government agree that SEND needs urgent attention, as has been demonstrated by the devastating consequences of the previous Government’s actions. In Northumberland at present, there are 407 routes transporting 1,738 pupils and their escorts. In six years, the number of children in Northumberland requiring an education, care and health plan has doubled, from 1,679 in 2017 to 3,369 in 2023. The figure is still rising, and the failure of the last Government to adequately provide for children with SEND is a damning indictment of that Government and indeed the Conservative party. Children with educational needs and disabilities often have to travel further to schools, not through choice but just to get the education that meets their needs. My constituency surgeries are often attended by families who have to travel from the far west of my constituency to the coast of Northumberland—a journey that does not take a small amount of time. In large rural areas such as mine, the need for children to travel such extremely long distances isolates them from their local communities and friendships, and it ultimately undermines their potential to have a local support network. I was contacted by a parent who travels from Prudhoe to Berwick every day, which is a three-hour round trip, to ensure that their child receives the support they need. We must ensure that parents feel supported as we look to reform the SEND framework. One of the things I am most proud of in the autumn Budget is the £1 billion uplift in SEND education and the prioritisation of improving SEND education nationally. I am hopeful for the future of SEND education and will always support the Minister and the Government in their commitment to it. I want to acknowledge the work of Kim McGuinness on her Kids Go Free initiative, and her commitment to improving public transport services for young people across our region. That initiative offers free transport to children during school holidays, reducing travel costs for families, promoting sustainable public transport and encouraging families to explore the wonderful region that is the north-east—I draw attention to my Westminster Hall debate next week on improving tourism in Northumberland, at which I look forward to seeing the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). It is a positive step in the right direction in terms of improving transport services in the region. Through that collaboration and co-operation we will increase prosperity and make a real difference to the lives of young people. I am sure Members present can agree that every child in Britain deserves an accessible and safe education. Moreover, every parent should feel safe and secure in the knowledge that their children are receiving support. Children deserve to have a safe and sustainable passage to school, to arrive on time and to access an education that is appropriate for their learning requirements. For my constituents in Hexham and for people across Northumberland, school transport is jeopardising that promise. With rural geography, inconsistency in allocating school transport places, problems with catchment areas, and journey delays, the very premise of that principle is being jeopardised. I am proud that this Government are putting students and young people at the heart of the agenda, following the neglect of the previous Conservative Government. I am sure Members can agree that more can always be done to ensure that our young people access the educational support they need and deserve. Providing clearer guidance on transport provision for children will minimise confusion for local families. Giving more attention to the eligibility of SEND children will make a considerable difference to many of my constituents across Hexham. I know that the Minister and the Secretary of State are committed to finding long-term solutions for education, school transport and SEND education. I hope the Minister will consider how, in the vast rural communities that make up my constituency, having greater provision for SEND students closer to their homes would minimise journeys and go a long way to dealing with the central issues we are debating. Everyone deserves the opportunity to access education, and we cannot allow a lack of access to appropriate school transport to jeopardise that.

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rural Affairs · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. When I go to places like Bellingham, where I have a constituency surgery coming up soon, I am often told about the impact of second homes on the community. It contributes to a decline in a sense of place and in opportunities, and of course it crowds out younger people from getting on to the housing ladder. I agree that we urgently need to look at that, and I hope that the Government will consider it strongly. Briefly, in the time I have left, I will celebrate the rural crime strategy. Members from all parts of the House have spoken about it a lot. During the election campaign, I spoke to a farmer who had someone try to nick her quad bike. She confronted him and had to wait 30 minutes for a police officer to arrive. She said that was a speedy response, and she was quite pleased with it. That just shows the level to which rural crime fighting sank under the previous Government.

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rural Affairs · Hansard source

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  Given the time limit, I cannot deliver the magnum opus I wrote on the train on the way down here, but having been told in a call with Northumberland county council that one of the school catchment areas in my constituency is larger than the area surrounded by the M25, I think I can speak on rural affairs with authority. It has been said to me in my constituency when I have been out and about that we pay more and get less in our communities. We go to smaller shops, so we have to buy things that are less efficiently priced; and our communities are used to being forgotten. They are used to being under-invested in, and to seeing their younger people leave due to the inability to find an appropriate job and home. One of the real tragedies of the last 14 years has been the Conservative party’s failure to appreciate that, and to invest in those communities. I gently invite Conservative Members to reflect on the reason why I stand here as the first ever Labour MP for Hexham, and why so many of my party colleagues represent rural constituencies. It is not just because it was a change election; it is because the Conservatives fell out of sync with what rural communities wanted and needed. I am very proud to be out there working with and meeting local civic organisations, such as the Clean Tyne campaign led by Dr Stephen Westgarth, or Sustainable Haltwhistle. I have also sat at the kitchen table with my farmers to talk about the issues with the sustainable farming incentive, and payment schemes that do not really work for upland farmers. I invite the Secretary of State or the Minister responsible for farming to come and meet upland farmers in my constituency, who have really positive stories about the work they want to do, but who have been disadvantaged and had their hands tied by the legacy we have inherited. I would like briefly to plug my Westminster Hall debate on school transport in Northumberland tomorrow. Although I will be speaking about school transport in that county, I would very much welcome participants from across the country, as I know that getting to school and accessing a great state education is fundamental for everyone. Finally, I would like to touch on the health of the rivers. The north-east is one of the most iconic parts of the UK. We have Hadrian’s wall and some of the most stunning countryside in the UK, and we are a region defined by our rivers, including the Tyne, Tweed, Coquet, Wansbeck and Aln. One of the many reasons why I was sent to this place was the state of the River Tyne; it was seen by my community as an “open sewer”, to quote one person I spoke to on the doorstep, and there was an absolute lack of faith in the previous Government to get it cleaned up. The north-east would not be in the minds of so many people across the world if it was not for our rivers, and I absolutely welcome the steps this Government are already taking to clean them up. I know it will not be a quick process, but I look forward to working with them. I want to touch on a few speeches by Opposition Members that were very constructive. They talked about rural-proofing policy, which is incredibly important. Rural policy should not just come up when the DEFRA team is sat on the Front Bench; it needs to be at the heart of every single thing this Government do to get our schools working, our economy moving, and our energy policy right.

• 4 Nov 2024 · Budget: Implications for Farming Communities · Hansard source

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  For 14 years, farmers in my constituency were let down and betrayed by the Conservative Government on things like the Australia and New Zealand trade deal, and repeated broken promises that saw thousands of farm businesses across the country close. Does the Minister share my assessment that they were betrayed for those 14 years?

• 31 Oct 2024 · Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  4. What recent progress he has made on developing a new industrial strategy.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  For 14 years, businesses in rural communities such as my constituency were ignored and neglected by the Conservatives in government. Will the Minister elaborate on how the industrial strategy will allow rural communities to share in the proceeds of growth?

• 29 Oct 2024 · Living Standards · Hansard source

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  1. What steps she plans to take to help improve living standards.

• 29 Oct 2024 · Living Standards · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives oversaw a living standards disaster. In places such as Hexham, Prudhoe and Throckley in my constituency, people saw hardly any improvements to their incomes in over 14 years. Surely the clearest sign of whether government is working is whether working people feel better off. Does the Chancellor agree that papering over Tory failure is not enough, and that in tomorrow’s Budget we must reset the foundations of our economy?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Water Companies: Regulation and Financial Stability · Hansard source

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  Does the shadow Minister not feel embarrassed that it was his Government who beggared the Environment Agency and weakened regulators to the point where we had sewage flowing into rivers such as the Tyne and the Coquet in Northumberland? Does he not feel a little bit of guilt about trumpeting his Government’s apparently positive record?

• 22 Oct 2024 · Pub and Hospitality Sector · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Chair; it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, and I thank the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) for securing a very important debate. My constituency of Hexham is home to 116 pubs and nine breweries, spanning 2,200 local jobs, with about 580 of those being worked by people aged between 18 and 24. I want to start by paying tribute to a lot of those pubs, including The Tannery in Hexham, where I bought my first pint; The Angel of Corbridge, where I went for lunch on Saturday after I went door-knocking; my local, The Crown in Humshaugh; as well as The Falcon in Prudhoe and—particularly—The Samson in Gilsland, which is due to reopen this weekend, having been bought by the community after a longstanding campaign by local people to get their pub back. There are a lot of other pubs I could name, such as The Dipton Mill, Travellers Rest, and The Engine in Walbottle. Ultimately, these pubs are essential to my local economy. They are essential to so many people and communities in the small towns and villages that dot across the Tyne valley. They are also incredibly important in supporting our tourism sector. Northumberland—as I am sure many hon. Members will be incredibly aware—is probably the most beautiful county in England. We have Hadrian’s wall, one of the most iconic sites of these islands, and somewhere that brings people from all around the world to walk. The advantage of having pubs along the length of Hadrian’s wall is of course that you can find somewhere to stop after a long and often rain-sodden walk along it. Ultimately, however, they are the route into employment for so many people in my constituency. They are where people learn to cut their teeth and pick up those soft skills that end up serving us so well in later life and in future professions. It is where people learn their responsibilities, and even how to turn up on time. I would also like to pay tribute to a lot of the pubs that are sadly no longer open in my constituency. They have left a void in their communities. Ahead of the Minister’s remarks, I look forward to hearing what we can do to help communities in future reopen pubs that they have lost.

• 17 Oct 2024 · Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) on securing this debate. We have already spoken briefly in an all-party parliamentary group meeting about the similarities between our constituencies. She and I both know the importance of a thriving agricultural sector, the jobs it provides, and the almost undefinable contribution it makes to the character of the constituency and to a community. I am concerned because farmers in my constituency have told me that they have been dealing with the chaos of the economy for the last 14 years. They have been dealing with crashing consumer confidence and an international trading situation in this country that simply is not conducive to the long-term success of the agricultural sector. For example, the Australia and New Zealand trade deal was a betrayal of the sheep farmers in my constituency in particular and has threatened their long-term business prospects. I hope that the Minister not only responds to the points made in this debate but talks about how we can make sure that the economy is stable, secure and on firm foundations, and that we never again see our farmers sold down the river as they once were.

• 17 Oct 2024 · Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I take the right hon. Gentleman’s point. I am glad that the last Government learned some of the lessons of the Australia trade deal and implemented them. It is important that we get an answer on APR and BPR. I am making a slightly political point, and I hope the right hon. Gentleman will humour me for it, but it is important that we maintain that international trade is an ongoing piece and the agricultural sector does not exist in isolation. None of these reliefs exist in isolation. Farming, more than anything, is an industry with concerns that sit between the Treasury, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Business and Trade. More than almost any other industry, it is reliant on good cross-party and cross-departmental working, and we need to ensure that the Government do that. I hope that we do not consider these things just in isolation but overall and together, and we must ensure that the Government are working towards securing them. One of the main concerns that I picked up from my constituency is the inability of consumers to distinguish between British and foreign produce when it is badged up the wrong way. I hope the Treasury will listen to representations on how we can combat that kind of false advertising when foreign produce is repackaged as UK produce. How we keep the family farm going, and how we ensure that small farms are able to continue to produce in the Tyne valley, is deeply concerning to me. I have spoken to a lot of local farmers about land loss and about large corporations buying up prime agricultural land and using it to—I think it is fair to say—greenwash. That is genuinely a national issue that requires cross-party cohesion and cross-party solutions. My own hackneyed political point scoring is not going to help in that, but in the long term and in this Parliament, I would always welcome working to address that. However, I urge the Minister to remember that farms are businesses and they need long-term consumer confidence. They need an overall business climate that rewards investment and entrepreneurialism, but not one that is not built on sand. They need one that is built on secure, stable foundations and that is open to serious cross-party working. When we look at how we get the rural economy growing, it is really important that both land-owning farms and tenant farms in particular can continue to employ people and that there is money going out of those farms into the local economy. I have spoken to my constituents: they have had to take certain crops out of production to grow those that need less manpower. They would have employed people to work those fields or work that livestock, but they have been forced to change by often badly designed initiatives from DEFRA, and we need to work cross-party to ensure that those initiatives are better designed in future. They have been forced into those measures that, over the course of many years, slowly bring their workforce down and lead to less money coming into the local economy. In his response, I hope the Minister can ensure that the Treasury hears the pleas of rural communities. This issue is genuinely a concern across parties, and my constituents are very concerned about the ongoing removal of prime agricultural land from food production.

• 17 Oct 2024 · Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his highly unusual intervention. I will make a brief university point and say that it is highly unusual to have a Mansfield College MP intervene on a Mansfield College MP; it is probably the first time that has happened in this Parliament.

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

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  Many of my constituents are frustrated by rip-off car parking companies such as Hozah, which issue threatening letters and fines to people who have, in many cases, followed or barely breached the rules. May we have a debate in Government time on how we clamp down on those parking pirates to ensure that our town centres can thrive and our retailers can grow?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Access to Primary Healthcare · Hansard source

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  I want to speak about some of the challenges I experience when I am out in my constituency. Whether before the election or since, whether I am out in Throckley in the western reaches of Newcastle or in Otterburn, Bellingham or Wark in the Tyne valley, the inability to get a decent GP appointment is continuously raised with me as one of my constituents’ greatest frustrations, and they appreciate the sheer scale of the task that this Government have inherited. One of the things I want to gently ask of the health team on the Front Bench is that when we look at building the community health service that we so desperately need, we consider that our rural communities in particular have suffered from health services being hollowed out for 14 years. If people are forced to go on public transport and it takes hours to get between small towns and villages, the barrier to a GP appointment becomes all the bigger. That was communicated to me throughout the election in visits to wards that I do not think Labour canvassers had knocked in before. Many residents of Hexham raised it as one of the primary reasons for switching to the Labour party, and it is why I am stood here as Hexham’s first ever Labour MP. Five out of the seven dentists in my constituency are not accepting new patients. That crisis is particularly acute in the western part of Newcastle, in Callerton and Throckley—it has been raised with me multiple times on the doorstep—and the devastating impact of that crisis on families and on people’s mental health, as well as their physical health, has been illustrated by many of the contributions from across the House. The absolute disgrace of people getting visibly emotional when talking about their struggle to secure a dentist’s appointment in 21st-century Britain is one of the many badges of shame that the Conservative party should wear as it considers its future. I note the empty spaces on the Conservative Benches. Ultimately, I want to pay tribute to the GPs and frontline staff who work tirelessly to deliver healthcare across my constituency and further afield, but also to emphasise that the challenge facing the NHS has never been greater, particularly in rural areas. The NHS has been brought to its knees by 14 years of mismanagement and complacency, and we now need to rise to the challenge. I am confident that this health team and this Government will do so.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Gaza and Lebanon · Hansard source

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  I have been heartened to hear the Minister’s call for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza. Can she assure me and my constituents that we are evaluating and exhausting every available diplomatic effort not only to secure that ceasefire, but to get much-needed aid into those regions?

• 15 Oct 2024 · Estate Adoption: North-east England · Hansard source

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  To pick up some of the points made by my hon. Friend about estate adoption, in particular in areas such as Medburn, Corbridge and Hexham in my constituency, residents contact me regularly, concerned about the state of their roads and the fact that we have unsafe compounds, often outside communal areas. In the rural communities that I represent, that can be particularly toxic, and it damages ongoing faith in the community and the community spirit itself. I hope the Minister can, in his response, elucidate a little the importance of adopting such estates, in particular the smaller settlements.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q13. In my constituency of Hexham, frightened parents and families are having to fight tooth and nail and to travel extremely long distances to secure fair treatment and full education for their children. Will the Prime Minister outline steps that the Government will take to improve outcomes and results for children with special educational needs and disabilities, particularly those in the most rural parts of the north-east?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T3. Accessible transport is a major challenge for my constituents, especially accessing rail stations on the Tyne valley railway line. Will the Minister work with the Department for Transport to ensure that Great British Railways puts disabled access at the heart of its plans?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Farming and Food Security · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) on such an impassioned maiden speech, and I wish him the best of luck in his naming battles, as they develop. I have become very fond of saying that I am the MP for the largest constituency in England, where I am conscious that agricultural and rural communities have a significant stake. They make a significant contribution to the local economy. If the farms were taken out of the constituency, it would not just be the economy that is ruined; the landscape and tourism would also be ruined, and countless communities that have existed for centuries would be undermined. Unfortunately, our rural communities are in the midst of a crisis, including a depopulation crisis. Young people cannot find the jobs and homes that allow them to afford to remain where they grew up, and therefore we have an ageing population. Hospitality businesses are unable to continue to grow and are forced to close their doors. That is directly linked to the crisis in our farming communities, because they are often the customers for those businesses. Over the weekend I was privileged to visit Goodfellow Farming in Longwitton, on the eastern border of my constituency. I spoke to the owner about the shape of British farming and the very real crisis we have inherited from the Conservatives. The shadow farming Minister, the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore), is a former Northumberland county councillor. He was very gracious in welcoming three new Labour Members for the area to this place, and I thank him for his friendliness and candour in doing so. I just complimented him on the beauty of the Alnwick ward, where I look forward to campaigning in the local elections that are coming up. The people of the Hexham constituency voted for Labour for the first time ever at the last election because they recognise the crises we face. I say that not to make a hackneyed political point, but to make a real point about the work that I intend to do, as a new Member in the House, to shine a light on the depopulation crisis we face. I gently remind shadow Ministers on the Opposition Front Bench that we know that we have inherited a very broken farming system. I was delighted to welcome my right hon. Friend the now Secretary of State to my constituency during the general election campaign to meet local farmers. I am confident that this Government and this Front-Bench team are listening to them and that we can work to drive up standards in our farming and secure generational farms for the future. Ultimately, a Department that managed to underspend by £300 million is not one that was functioning properly under the previous Government. I say that not to be overtly political, but simply to emphasise that we need a Government who work in the interests of communities up and down the Tyne valley and from the County Durham border up to the Scottish border.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  7. What steps he is taking to introduce his warm homes plan.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for her answer and for her commitment to the warm homes plan. I congratulate her on the announcement over the conference recess to end the scandal of cold, draughty homes in the rental sector, which particularly affects people in my constituency in towns such as Haltwhistle, Throckley, Newburn, Hexham and elsewhere. Does she agree that often the very poorest in our communities are forced to live in those cold and draughty properties, and it is important that we cut bills and give those families energy security?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Rural Depopulation · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz; I will be brief. I applied to contribute to this debate because I wanted to speak not just about my experiences, but about the experiences of people I grew up around, people I was at school with and people who, in many cases, were forced to leave my constituency of Hexham, which colleagues will be surprised to learn is the largest in England. As the hon. Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper) spoke about the beauty of his constituency, I feel compelled to remind people of the beauty of my constituency, which is in the county of Hadrian’s Wall, and to note that we will be marking the anniversary of the loss of the Sycamore Gap tree during the conference recess later in September. When I go through so many towns and villages in my constituency, I see that they are marked by exactly what Members have spoken about today: a lack of younger people, who have been forced—they have not chosen—to move away. They have been forced, by a lack of jobs and opportunities, to seek to make their lives elsewhere, often leaving behind families and caring responsibilities, which means large amounts of travel back home to meet those obligations. The last Government failed to grapple with this issue, which we know is a huge, inherited, generational and demographic challenge, and one that I urge our Government to take on fully. I spoke to some of the businesses in my constituency on the campaign trail. They want to take on more people, but they simply cannot find the skills they need or people who want to work and can afford to live in such an overheated and over-inflated housing market. That leads to a decline for those businesses and, for some of them, a slow death. One of the larger employers told me during the election that if they take on someone and train them up, but then they cannot afford to live in my constituency and move somewhere else, they bear all the training costs, only to see that individual go and work in a far more urban part of the country. We have spoken a lot about the rural premium and the rural cost of living, but there is a rural cost of doing business as well, which we should note very carefully. As the representative for the Hexham constituency—the first Labour representative for the constituency—and as someone who was privileged to be out knocking on doors with my school friends and my schoolteachers, I know that we are not just letting our young people down, but letting our older generations down. I am privileged to be able to go back to visit my grandma every week when I am back in the constituency, but I have friends who now live three or four hours away and are unable to do the same. This is having a genuinely devastating impact on a lot of families, particularly given the acute social care crisis that this Government have inherited. Ultimately, only by addressing this issue and the really biting crisis of rural depopulation can we turn our communities around and ensure that they can become the thriving engines of growth that the economy needs them to be.

• 10 Sept 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  The Government the hon. Gentleman supported were responsible for driving living standards down, in the first Parliament on record in which that happened. Does he not agree that it is traditionally bad form for the arsonist to start criticising the fire brigade?