Mark Francois MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  They’re not going to risk that! Mr Speaker, we know you are an animal lover—the world knows that—but some may recall that our great friend, Sir David, was a passionate animal lover, too. One cause that was very close to his heart was pig farrowing crates. Another was banning the import of foreign hunting trophies, which is an awful trade. There was a private Member’s Bill in the last Session that sailed through the Commons but ran into trouble in the Lords. Can the Secretary of State confirm that the Government are committed to banning the import of hunting trophies? At the moment, they are not providing any private Member’s Bill Fridays for other reasons, so how will that ban be achieved?

• 18 Dec 2025 · Animal Welfare Strategy · Hansard source

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  My wife, who is a radiographer, is on call on Christmas day, but luckily we are going to the in-laws, so hopefully that will cover it.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Christmas Adjournment · Hansard source

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  As I have three minutes, I just want to raise two quick issues. The first, I hope, is good news; it is to do with Riverside medical centre. I have been trying for seven years to get an extension on its GP practice, but because of the unbelievable NHS bureaucracy, about which I will not try the patience of the House, it has not been possible to do so until recently, even though a brand new housing estate called High Elms Park, built by Barratt Homes, has produced many extra residents who need a GP. The parties have now come up with an innovative solution. Barratt has just sold the last couple of houses on the estate, and for a notional £1 it is going to donate its sales office to the practice, which will convert it into a GP annexe that can accommodate three GPs with attendant training and administrative facilities. This is a big win for the local community; we had a public meeting in April at which there was overwhelming public support for the idea. The planning application has been slightly delayed because of red tape, but Riverside assures me that that application will go in soon, and it should be a relatively straightforward conversion. Hopefully, that annexe—which I think will be very popular in the village of Hullbridge—will open some time in the summer of 2026. That is a good-news story. We then have the saga—and it is a saga—of the old Co-op supermarket site in Wickford. In a nutshell, the Co-op closed over three years ago. The site was bought by a South Africa-based developer called Heriot. It tried to do a deal to redevelop the site with Morrisons, but that fell through; it tried to do one with Asda, but that also fell through. Heriot recently got planning permission, yet it still has not managed to secure a contract with a new tenant. There are rumours all over the town of Wickford that it has been talking to everyone from Lidl to Waitrose, although I will believe the latter when I see it. My constituents in Wickford are exasperated with Heriot. They just want a new supermarket. They deserve one by now, so I make a plea in the Commons to the directors of Heriot, with whom I have had numerous meetings: “Please, please bring this to fruition. You’ve got planning permission; pick one group and do a deal with them. Get them on site, and let’s get that new supermarket opened in a way that my constituents in Wickford—who have waited more than long enough—deserve.” In my final 10 seconds, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish you, all MPs, the staff of the House, and our own staff—without whom this job would be impossible—a very merry Christmas.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  Absolutely; it does pertain to the statement. We had been hoping for a Christmas present in the form of a defence investment plan. The Minister has told the House that the Government are working, in his words, flat out—

• 18 Dec 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  It is—it is about when it will be delivered.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  indicated dissent.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. On behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition, I echo the Minister’s rightful tribute to Lance Corporal George Hooley of the Parachute Regiment, who gave his life for the cause of freedom while serving in Ukraine. His sacrifice will never be forgotten. There are things that we welcome in this statement, including the imposition of further sanctions and the provision of new equipment, including drones, missiles and in particular air defence equipment for Ukraine. We must not forget that Vladimir Putin is a former KGB colonel who has sanctioned the barbaric use of highly accurate cruise missiles against children’s hospitals in Ukraine. In particular, I agree with the Minister that no enduring settlement of the war can be reached over the heads of the Ukrainians. A world war one Admiral, Sir Jackie Fisher, once remarked, “Ultimately, all nations desire peace…but peace on their terms.” We cannot allow peace on Putin’s terms, as that peace would surely not last for long. It is also worth reminding our American allies that article 5 of the Washington treaty has only ever been invoked once—by them, in 2001, following the appalling attack on the twin towers. Thousands of Americans were murdered that day, as were several hundred Britons. When the Americans rightfully called for help, within weeks British special forces were working alongside their American counterparts, killing terrorists in the caves of Tora Bora. Alliances work both ways. For the record, when the call came, we turned up. The Minister also made reference to the coalition of the willing. However, if British troops were to participate, they would need to have modern, effective equipment. That brings me to the elephant in the House: where is the long-awaited defence investment plan? Prior to the summer recess, the Defence Secretary assured us that the DIP would be published in the autumn. As the autumn came and went, it slipped right, but Ministers remained adamant that the DIP would still be published before the House rose for Christmas. So where on earth is it? As there were multiple references to industry in his statement, let me say to the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry that our defence industry will rightly be furious at this continued delay. To give just one example, we still have no decision on the new medium helicopter—a programme vital for the future of Leonardo’s workforce of thousands at Yeovil. Roberto Cingolani, the corporate CEO of Leonardo, said recently: “We cannot subsidise Yeovil forever”. That frustration will be repeated up and down our defence manufacturing base, from primes to fourth-tier subcontractors, the latter of whom struggle to subsidise anything at all. Is it any wonder that Mr Kevin Craven, the chief executive of ADS, said only yesterday in the Financial Time s that the “delay in releasing the Defence Investment Plan…is frustrating, to say the least”? If we are to defend the Ukrainians successfully, we have to be able to defend ourselves. At the Liaison Committee on Monday, the Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, who as ever is in his place, told the Prime Minister: “the Government does not seem able to agree on the money involved. It cannot deliver the defence investment plan on time. It means that things are moving very slowly, rather than moving at pace, given the threats from adversaries.” Is it any wonder that his all-party Committee recently described the Government’s progress on increasing war readiness in Britain as “glacial”? We also welcome the ongoing financial commitment to Ukraine, which follows a similar path to our approach when in government. Would that we had such financial clarity at home. The three distinguished authors of the strategic defence review were adamant that it required defence expenditure of 3% of GDP to deliver it. But the Government cannot even give the year in which that will be reached because they are incapable inter-departmentally of agreeing it. Moreover, in-year—now—Defence Ministers are pursuing an efficiency savings exercise—“savings cuts” in pub English—of £2.6 billion in the Department’s operating budget, which is materially affecting our readiness for war and thus our ability to deter it. In summary, our commitment across this House to the brave Ukrainians remains unwavering, but as someone once famously said, “To govern is to choose.” Yet again, the Government have avoided making choices, moving key capability decisions even further to the right yet again. When it comes to the future procurement of vital military equipment for the defence of the United Kingdom and our allies, they have kicked the can so far down the road that we can no longer see the can at all—even with an Ajax. In contrast, while our Ministers prevaricate, our Polish allies are digging anti-tank ditches along the border with Belarus. The Romans had a saying: “Si vis pacem, para bellum” —he who desires peace should prepare for war in order to deter it. The Conservatives announced a £50 billion sovereign defence fund this morning to do precisely that.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Jury Trials · Hansard source

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  4. What advice she has given the Government on the potential impact of removing jury trials on the rule of law.

• 18 Dec 2025 · Jury Trials · Hansard source

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  Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. I am sure the Solicitor General is aware of Operation Nova, which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and assists veterans who come into contact with the criminal justice system, so may I set her a theoretical challenge? Let us assume that an Op Nova veteran who fought in Afghanistan goes out one evening and is assaulted in a bar, perhaps by someone who does not like soldiers very much, but the situation is confused, and the soldier—the veteran—ends up in the dock. Should not that person, who fought for his country in a war zone and in this country’s uniform, be entitled to put his defence in front of a jury of his peers?

• 18 Dec 2025 · Local Government Reorganisation · Hansard source

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  Labour’s process of local government reorganisation is descending into farce. Two days ago, the Secretary of State assured the House that next May’s elections were going ahead. Now, the day we rise for Christmas, the Minister comes here and says, “Well, they might not.” I back to the hilt the Conservative leader of Essex county council, Kevin Bentley, when he says that they must go ahead. He is right, but what about the lower tier? What about Labour-led Basildon, Labour-led Thurrock and Labour-led Southend? Are they allowed to run away and hide, just because Labour is tanking in the polls?

• 17 Dec 2025 · Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation · Hansard source

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  That’s what the generals said.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation · Hansard source

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  Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am too experienced to try to displease you in any way. For clarity, I was responding to the fact that the hon. Gentleman had accused— [ Interruption. ] Pardon me. He had accused my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart) of saying something that, as Hansard will prove conclusively in the morning, he clearly did not say. If the hon. Gentleman and you, Madam Deputy Speaker, feel that that word was inappropriate, I withdraw it. However, I still believe that the hon. Gentleman was wrong.

• 17 Dec 2025 · Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation · Hansard source

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  He didn’t say that!

• 17 Dec 2025 · Northern Ireland Troubles: Legacy and Reconciliation · Hansard source

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  What are you talking about, you idiot!

• 16 Dec 2025 · Planning Reform · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives were right to abolish Whitehall-imposed mandatory housing targets, and Labour was wrong to bring them back. May I ask the Minister specifically about call-ins? Under the well-established system, the Secretary of State might have called in, on average, about 20 applications a year if they raised issues with national implications, and there was almost invariably a full public planning inquiry. Under Labour’s proposals, councils will have to notify the Secretary of State if they intend to refuse any application for more than 150 homes. The Secretary of State could then call it in before local councillors have even had a chance to vote on it. There would be no guarantee of a public inquiry, and the application could even be given to a planning inspector to deal with it behind closed doors by written representations—by letter—so that local people and their councillors would not have a chance to say anything at all. That is completely undemocratic, is it not? Why have a local plan at all?

• 15 Dec 2025 · Veterans · Hansard source

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  Regarding Northern Ireland veterans who served on Operation Banner, the Government’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill has now been powerfully described by eight retired four-star generals and an air chief marshal as: “A direct threat to national security.” Can the Minister confirm that not all the Government’s six protections for veterans are even in the Bill, and that, moreover, at least half of them also apply to alleged paramilitaries?

• 15 Dec 2025 · Veterans · Hansard source

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  That is not true. We had hoped to hear from the wannabe future Prime Minister, the hon. Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns), but as we have not— [ Interruption. ] He is not denying it. If what the Minister claims is true, how does she explain the recent comment by General Sir Peter Wall, the former head of the British Army, who said that the protections are “a meaningless insult and only become relevant once re-investigation is under way”? Respectfully, who knows more about defending our veterans: a brand new Minister or a former chief of the general staff who actually commanded them?

• 8 Dec 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  For the avoidance of doubt, I am on this side of the Westminster Hall Chamber only because it is so packed that this was the only remaining chair. I have not defected to the Labour Party and I never will—nor to anyone else. Can my hon. Friend confirm that this policy was not in Labour’s general election manifesto, so it has absolutely no electoral mandate to extend the surveillance state over the people of this country with this gimmick?

• 26 Nov 2025 · Driving Test Availability: South-east · Hansard source

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  Tell us!

• 26 Nov 2025 · Driving Test Availability: South-east · Hansard source

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  Unfortunately, it was right that Loveday Ryder, the previous chief executive of the DVSA, had to resign because of this terrible ongoing problem. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we need new leadership at that organisation, to grip this problem with alacrity? We must particularly address the problem of bots sweeping up the tests, as there is not much point in increasing the number of tests if the bots capture them. We are then back to the 6 am problem of parents dialling in, which he has articulated so well.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Homelessness Strategy: Housing First · Hansard source

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  We do need to build more homes, including more affordable homes, but they have to be built in an environmentally sustainable way. Why are Ministers, through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, taking powers such that any planning application for more than 150 houses, if turned down by the democratically elected councillors, is sent straight to the Secretary of State? Why have local elections and elect people who know their own area to take decisions if they will simply be overruled automatically by someone whose whole mantra is “Build, baby, build and let the devil take the consequences”?

• 24 Nov 2025 · Ministerial Code · Hansard source

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  I listened carefully to the Minister’s rather Kafkaesque reply, but could I ask him a technical question? Given that the Prime Minister oversees the code and appoints the independent adviser, when the independent adviser reports, who adjudicates whether to take further action, because it could be argued that the Prime Minister has a vested interest? Should another Minister take that decision—perhaps the Health Secretary, or does he have a vested interest, too?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Transport Infrastructure Upgrades · Hansard source

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  The lower Thames crossing—or the late and tardy crossing, as it is now known in Essex—is the second largest piece of infrastructure in the country after High Speed 2. When will the work actually commence, when will the crossing be open to traffic, and—this is my third time asking the Secretary of State this question at the Dispatch Box—specifically which banks and companies will fund it? Many people in Essex are beginning to believe it is never going to happen.

• 19 Nov 2025 · Flooding: Monmouthshire · Hansard source

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  Although I am not a Welsh MP, I would like to express my sympathies for what the people of Monmouthshire are going through. In 2014, when I was the Armed Forces Minister in the Ministry of Defence, I spent weeks in Cobra meetings helping to co-ordinate military assistance in response to the severe flooding in the west country, particularly on the Somerset levels. Can I offer a suggestion? We all hope that this will not happen again, and certainly not quickly, but if there are further named storms, has the Minister or the First Minister considered speaking to the Ministry of Defence about military aid to the civil authorities—so-called MACA arrangements? We learned in 2014 that there are some specialist units, such as the Royal Marines or the Royal Engineers, who have capabilities to offer in these circumstances that can really make a difference to local people. Is that something that she and the First Minister might at least be prepared to consider?