John Lamont MP: speeches

Speeches

• 26 Mar 2025 · Fishing Quota Negotiations: Impact on UK Fleet · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Member is being generous with his time. I am fortunate to represent the fishing fleet off the Berwickshire coast, which is relatively small but very active, together with the fish processing industry. The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation produced a very helpful briefing note ahead of today’s debate. One of the points it makes is that, since the UK left the EU in 2020, the UK and Scotland’s opportunities have increased greatly, and those opportunities would not have been there had we remained in the EU. Does the hon. Member agree with the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

  More

  According to Knight Frank data, the average English less favoured area livestock farm will, as a consequence of these changes and assuming no other income streams change, see its profit fall by almost half. I am slightly concerned that, according to the explanatory notes, no financial impact assessment has been done. Will the Minister explain why no financial impact study has been done?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend makes an important point. When the House considered the 2020 Act, we were expecting that different Governments in the UK might give extra subsidy to different businesses, but the converse can also happen: taking subsidies away can affect the competitiveness of different industries. I am a Scottish MP and will always stand up for Scottish farming, but the severe reduction in the cash flow of English farmers will arguably put them at a competitive disadvantage.

• 26 Mar 2025 · Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I just want to highlight the briefing from the National Farmers Union, which I think all Members received, expressing real concerns about what the Government are proposing. The NFU is strongly opposed to the way the Government are approaching this. It has highlighted that this measure, together with the changes to inheritance tax, will threaten investment in the future of UK food production. Does my hon. Friend share my concerns, first, about the Labour Government’s disregard of the NFU and farmers, and secondly, about investment in farming and our ability as a nation to produce our own food?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making a first-class speech, standing up for her constituents in Cheshire. Is she aware that the Confederation of British Industry forecast has said that Labour’s rural and farming policies are set to cut turnover, jobs and investment across Britain. Further, according to the CBI forecast, family farms will shrink by 9% and cut staff by nearly 9%. Does she agree that that is a real concern?

• 26 Mar 2025 · Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

  More

  An additional point is that the change will affect not only farm businesses but the wider rural economy. All the other businesses within communities that depend on the farm businesses spending money in the local economy will also be impacted, not just by this measure but by the inheritance tax change and all the other terrible things this Government are doing to the rural economy.

• 25 Mar 2025 · Construction Standards: New Build Homes · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech, and I agree with many of her points. Does she agree that when someone buys a new home, not only do they expect to have the mains water running, electric and gas, but in this day and age they expect to have a good broadband connection? Although the last Government made significant progress with obliging new house builders to connect properties, the £2,000 cap is sometimes giving developers an opt-out—a get-out—from connecting some properties to high-quality broadband. Does she agree that we should go further to ensure that all properties have access to high-speed broadband?

• 25 Mar 2025 · Construction Standards: New Build Homes · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and he is right to highlight the important role that local authorities have. However, speaking as a former commercial property lawyer, I think part of the problem is that, when buying a new home, the purchaser is forced to take a contract package that is geared in favour of the developers. When someone buys a second-hand home, there is a degree of negotiation between the parties, but when buying a brand-new home they take the pack from the developer and the remedies for the purchaser to deal with snagging items are very limited. Does he agree that that is part of the problem?

• 25 Mar 2025 · Construction Standards: New Build Homes · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Member is doing an excellent job of highlighting the problems with new house developments in his constituency. The National House Building Council will in many cases provide a guarantee backing up the developer to fix the repairs that are required, but I have certainly had difficulties with the NHBC in the past. Has he any reflections on the role it plays?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Member is making an excellent point—it is a rare moment of unity between him and me. I agree that the compensation is not enough. Does he agree that part of the problem is that the developer—in our case, Scottish Power Energy Networks, which is building the pylons across my constituency—assumes that it will get consent and approval, so it pushes ahead and the compensation does not really matter?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Many aspects of the Bill will affect Scotland and make things much more difficult for local residents to oppose certain types of application, including those in my constituency who are fighting hard against a 94 km pylon route and battery storage plants. For me, democratic accountability should be at the heart of the planning process, but we seem to be moving towards a planning system that China would be proud of. Does he agree?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T3. Last week, it was announced that the SNP Government are sending more shipbuilding contracts abroad. Seven CalMac ferries that could be constructed on the Clyde will instead be built in Poland. Will the Minister share how many warships the United Kingdom Government are currently building in Scotland?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Farming · Hansard source

  More

  Will the hon. Lady give way?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Farming · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech. Throughout the debate, I have struggled to understand the point put forward by Labour Members that while they rightly acknowledge that farming is not profitable, they support a policy that will take even more cash away from farming businesses. Does she, like me, find those two policies hard to reconcile?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Farming · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent speech, but does he agree as a fellow Scottish MP that our farmers are facing a double whammy? Not only do we have to deal with the vindictive family farm tax being imposed by the Government opposite, but we face the hostile environment that the Scottish National party Government are creating towards our farming communities in Scotland.

• 13 Mar 2025 · Farming · Hansard source

  More

  Will the hon. Lady give way on that point?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Farming · Hansard source

  More

  The importance of farming cannot be overstated. It is vital not only for farmers, but for all our communities, our economy and our national security. Farming allows us to keep food prices as low as possible in shops and supermarkets. Farming is the foundation of the rural economy. It supports tens of thousands of jobs not only on farms, but all along the supply chain. There is no national security without the food security that home-grown farming provides. I have known this for all my years because I grew up on a farm. I saw my family and friends work extremely hard to earn a living—getting up before dawn and sometimes working until after the sun went down—and toiling in difficult conditions away from the limelight in protecting the environment and the countryside, often with little thanks or reward. That is the story of so many family-run farms across our country. It is a story of the Borders, of Scotland and of British businesses up and down the United Kingdom. The Labour Government are putting the huge benefits that farmers deliver at risk. The future of farming is under threat because of Labour’s family farm tax, which will only compound the damage that the SNP has already done to rural areas across Scotland. Family businesses, which have often been passed down from generation to generation, will be hit hardest by Labour’s vindictive family farm tax. These small family businesses are the lifeblood of entire communities. They support jobs in local shops, the workers who rely on their trade for their own business to survive, and the businesses that maintain their equipment and supply their farms. They are more than family farms; they are community farms, because they benefit everyone in the local area. These facts have been ignored by the SNP during its 18 years in power, and they have already been ignored by Labour within a year of its being in power. What does the future of farming look like once Labour brings in its family farm tax? The National Farmers Union estimates that hundreds of farms will face collapse because of this tax, and future generations will be denied the chance to farm their family’s land. If their farms do not need to be sold, farmers will still be discouraged from investing in their properties because that would only increase the tax their children will have to pay, and they may feel the need to save cash to cover future tax bills. What will happen is that Labour will force farmers to sell their family businesses, our countryside will not be maintained to the same standards, the same volumes of high-quality food will not be produced, our environment will suffer as more foreign food has to be imported, other rural businesses in the supply chain will suffer from the decline in investment and ongoing trade, and food prices in shops and supermarkets will rise. In the end, Labour’s family farm tax will not just harm the future of farming, but the future of the economy and the cost of living for us all. In conclusion, if the Labour Government were serious about supporting farms, they would listen properly to farming communities. They would listen to the single biggest thing that farmers in our country are demanding, which is to scrap the family farm tax, and restore the exemptions of APR and BPR. That is the only way to secure the future of farming. The Government should do the right thing, and scrap the family farm tax.

• 13 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  As the Leader of the House knows, there is strong opposition among residents in the Scottish Borders to plans by ScottishPower Energy Networks to build massive pylons along a 94-km route through the Scottish Borders. The regulator, Ofgem, plays a vital role in the decision-making process but, shockingly, is refusing to meet me or the local action group. Can the Leader of the House write to her Cabinet colleagues to try to encourage Ofgem to engage with me, and can she speak to Ofgem on our behalf and try to persuade it to speak to local residents?

• 13 Mar 2025 · Minimum and Living Wages · Hansard source

  More

  Last Friday, I spent the day visiting local shopkeepers in Kelso, many of whom employ their staff on the national minimum wage and the national living wage. Their biggest pressure just now is dealing with this Labour Government’s national insurance hike. They are facing a very difficult choice about whether they continue to employ people. What is the message from the Minister to those hard-working local shopkeepers?

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

  More

  The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech about the challenges that her constituents in South Devon are facing. Many of those challenges are similar to those in my own constituency in the Scottish Borders. Does she agree that all decision makers, whether in the Government, the Scottish Government, local authorities or banks, need to do much more rural-proofing of their policymaking process? Before they announce these policies, they need to understand more clearly the impact they will have on those in constituencies such as the hon. Lady’s and my own in the Borders.

• 11 Mar 2025 · Draft Industrial Training Levy (Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2025 · Hansard source

  More

  The draft order’s preamble mentions that the Government have consulted Scottish Ministers. Can the Minister say whether the Scottish Government support these proposals? Did they make any contrary suggestions?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  May we have a debate on access to banking services in small towns and rural communities? For years, big banks have treated loyal customers very badly—they have shut branches and reduced services, especially in more rural and remote areas, such as my constituency in the Scottish Borders—and last weekend I had to contact cash machine providers because Selkirk and Eyemouth ran out of cash. Will the Leader of the House back my call so that the residents of small towns and rural communities can get access to the cash and banking services they need?

• 5 Mar 2025 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

  More

  The SNP Government continue to be opposed to nuclear energy, despite the huge economic benefits it would bring to Scotland. We can see that in the jobs and investment that the Torness power station generates. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that investing in nuclear would help bring down bills for our consumers, help the environment and create many more jobs?

• 4 Mar 2025 · Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I should declare an interest as a member of the Church of Scotland and an elder of the Kirk. I very much support the Bill, but the Minister will be aware that the Law Society of Scotland has suggested that it would have preferred consultation before the Bill was introduced. Does he have any reflections on that? I think that its particular concern was about wider religious discrimination on the statute book that could have also been dealt with as part of this process.

• 3 Mar 2025 · Independent Schools: VAT and Business Rates Relief · Hansard source

  More

  I would be amazed if the voters of Edinburgh endorse the policy in the way that the hon. Gentleman suggests. He should put that suggestion to some of the Facebook groups that support the directly affected Edinburgh parents—some of his constituents are directly affected by the policy—and see how many of their members say they support the policy. I suspect that very few will. If he paid any attention to those groups, he would know how much animosity there is towards the policy among parents in Edinburgh.