Polly Billington MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 12 Sept 2024 · Short-term Lets: Regulation · Hansard source

  More

  I could have not said it better myself. The large increase in short-term holiday lets has left whole streets dark and empty for months on end as the days shorten, with perhaps a small glimmer of light and activity over Christmas and new year. One of my constituents said in an email only today: “We don’t have any neighbours: they are all Airbnbs…Our lives are being hugely impacted by huge parties each weekend!” The problem affects the community in many ways. How can primary school places be planned for when family homes do not hold families? How can the council prepare for waste collection and disposal from effectively commercial premises when it does not know where they are or when they are occupied? How do the police deal with the increase in antisocial behaviour that follows from the proliferation of party flats when they are not licensed or regulated? How does a whole community deal with spiralling property prices, driven by an increased appetite to make money from homes rather than live in them? If Members search on Zoopla or Rightmove for rental prices in Thanet, they will find 140 flats and houses available for less than £1,000 a month. Then if they search Airbnb for Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs or equivalent places to stay, they will find more than 750 short-term lets next spring for £100 or more a night. There can be no doubt that such a mismatch is helping to drive house price inflation, rent inflation and the shortage of housing availability in Thanet where, during the summer months, a flat can be rented out as a short-term holiday let for potentially three times or more the rent it would fetch as a home for someone. We are a seaside community made up of holiday resorts. We are proud of our heritage and know that it will and should be part of our economic future. Yet the beauty and attraction of the place that people come to visit needs to be underpinned by a strong community, with decent services and affordable homes for those who live there all year round. There must be a balance. I am confident in my advocacy for regulation, not just because of the concerns raised by residents but because voices within the industry in my community also see the impact of rising house prices and stretched public services on their families and employees. The Minister should be in no doubt: East Thanet is ready for regulation and licensing to support our holiday industry and our community. I only urge that the package of measures really is designed with communities like ours, not imposed on them. Ideas on how to license, introduce and enforce standards, plan services and facilitate a process that works for those who offer the service, as well as those who use it, should be taken on board from those who are already living with the consequences of an unbridled market with few, if any, checks or balances. We know we are not alone in Thanet. Many of my colleagues along the Labour Benches also represent coastal communities. This debate shows that the unregulated nature of the market is blighting a host of communities where people rightly go to enjoy themselves and contribute to the local economy. I urge the Minister to consider how the package of powers and tools can support our coastal communities in particular to thrive.

• 12 Sept 2024 · Short-term Lets: Regulation · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) for securing this debate. My constituency is made up of three towns that symbolise English seaside holidays: for more than two centuries, people of all classes have visited Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate to take the fresh sea air and enjoy our marvellous beaches and amazing microclimate. Where and how people stay has changed over the years. As boarding houses, holiday camps and large hotels have declined, short-term holiday lets have opened up the chance for many to take a short trip to the coast; but that is not without its drawbacks for many in our community. Hotels and places offering bed and breakfast are regulated and licensed, which ensures good standards of safety and environmental health for customers, and means that the services the council needs to provide for such establishments can be planned for. Appropriate business rates also mean that the services can be provided. None of that happens with unregulated short-term holiday lets, facilitated by platforms optimistically set up as part of the sharing economy. Instead, as the popularity of British holidays and short breaks has risen, not least since the pandemic and Brexit, so have property prices in places such as East Thanet, as people buy homes as a second place for them to stay at weekends and then rent them out when they are not there. Data compiled by VisitEngland suggests that there has been a 75% increase in short-term holiday lets since 2019: more than 2,000 properties are available for short-term let this year.

• 12 Sept 2024 · NHS: Independent Investigation · Hansard source

  More

  A recent survey of staff at East Kent Hospitals University NHS foundation trust showed that less than half of employees would be happy for their loved ones to be treated at an east Kent hospital. That is a devastating verdict from staff, showing the impact on their morale and on confidence in the community for the care that people need. Does the Secretary of State agree, however, that a broken NHS is not the fault of staff like them, but down to the previous Government’s decade of austerity and top-down reorganisation of the NHS?

• 9 Sept 2024 · Post Office Horizon: Redress · Hansard source

  More

  As my right hon. Friend will be aware, sub-postmasters such as my constituent have experienced an enormous amount of devastation without even having been convicted—30 years of reputation absolutely destroyed. Although he has had some compensation, he still does not know whether he has had the right amount of money, and whether he is paying the right amount of tax, and he still does not have an admission of responsibility and failings from the Post Office. How much of that will be dealt with by this redress scheme?

• 9 Sept 2024 · Bus Franchising · Hansard source

  More

  As has been said, the past 14 years of Conservative Government have left local bus services, especially those in coastal communities, in a shocking state. In East Thanet, the 33, 34, 9 and 8A bus services have all been drastically cut, meaning that in certain areas of Broadstairs and Ramsgate there is no bus service at all within easy reach, and no one in either town has access to a bus to Canterbury outside commuter times. Conservative-run Kent county council must take up the powers that are being offered by this Government to serve disadvantaged communities such as that in East Thanet.

• 5 Sept 2024 · Great British Energy Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The right hon. Lady mentions Robin Hood Energy and other local energy companies that were in fact supply companies. We are talking about a Great British Energy company that will be generating energy. She simply does not understand that. She is making a mistake about our plans, and failing to understand what is actually going on. She is suggesting that something is going to happen that is not going to happen.

• 3 Sept 2024 · Contracts for Difference · Hansard source

  More

  The Conservatives continue to oppose our publicly owned clean power company despite widespread public support for it, including in my constituency. Does the Secretary of State recognise the absurdity of the Opposition’s arguments? They are quite happy for public ownership of energy in this country, as long it is by foreign Governments, not UK citizens.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Infected Blood Compensation Scheme · Hansard source

  More

  My right hon. Friend will appreciate that injustice is often compounded by a brutal, faceless and unnecessarily complicated bureaucracy; ostensibly established to right the wrongs, it quite often fails to do that. That is certainly what I have heard from my constituents affected by this scandal. What support in getting compensation will be available to victims of this huge injustice, and will the Infected Blood Compensation Authority have dedicated caseworkers to help people navigate the process?

• 2 Sept 2024 · Technology in Public Services · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Gentleman claims to support UK technology and science, but he is on the record as opposing solar and wind farms. Is he actually a shadow anti-science Secretary?

• 29 Jul 2024 · Public Spending: Inheritance · Hansard source

  More

  Will the Chancellor confirm that, despite the Conservatives’ failure to set aside money for transport commitments, Labour’s plan to modernise the network—vital for my community in East Thanet—will deliver a unified rail system that means we can deliver more for passengers and local communities?

• 26 Jul 2024 · Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower · Hansard source

  More

  Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your elevation. It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden) —a constituency much closer to mine than the one that he represented previously. First, of course, it is right to pay tribute to the fortitude and resilience displayed by my immediate predecessor, Craig Mackinlay, who represented the old seat of South Thanet. He demonstrated extraordinary strength of character when faced with life-changing injuries as a result of sepsis. His return to this House, when Mr Speaker permitted Members to applaud, was unforgettable. I know that he will use his elevation to the other place to promote his various passions, now including better prosthetics for amputees. I wish him and his family well. Craig was immediately preceded by my good friend Laura Sandys. Although Laura took her seat for the party now sitting on the Opposition Benches, she and I have worked together on a range of issues, not least the importance of tackling climate change and the opportunities that a transition to clean and renewable energy offers in helping us to tackle social and economic injustice. If she were still in the House, she would have a lot to say in this debate. Before her, the South Thanet seat was Labour’s for 13 years. It was held by Dr Stephen Ladyman, a Minister of State in the last Labour Government who was able to effect real change for his constituency and beyond with his work as a Health Minister and also in the Department for Transport, where he secured the transformational high-speed rail service to Thanet. As a result, the three towns that now make up my constituency —Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate—became highly accessible to the rest of the country, and that accessibility is both a new thing and a constant characteristic of the story of this beautiful place. Much is said in Thanet about DFLs—“down from Londons”, of whom I am unashamedly one—as though this were a new phenomenon, but it is a tradition that goes way back. New arrivals, mainly but not solely from the capital, have made their home in Thanet recently, as the pandemic has changed working patterns and the train link has made commuting more possible; but people have been coming down from London to enjoy the sea air, the sandy beaches and the stunning skies of Thanet for more than two centuries. J.M.W Turner started a trend that runs to this day. Margate can argue that it is, in fact, the first seaside resort. Working-class Londoners took a sea packet down the river and stayed over in Margate, often only for a night, to fit in with the strict holiday limits before the trade unions secured a proper weekend for working people. In that tradition, I will be proud to vote for a better deal for workers when the time comes. Despite this strong working-class tradition, and the fact that Labour held its party conferences in the town after the second world war when Clement Attlee was our Prime Minister, the boundary changes mean that I am the first ever Labour MP for Margate. From Chas and Dave to “Carry On”, Margate has been home—or escape—for some of England’s best entertainers. John Le Mesurier and Hattie Jacques lived there, and Eric Morecambe held his wedding reception in a pub in the old town. Margate is now the home of the world-famous Turner art gallery, which has driven the growth of a vibrant art scene, supported by Tracey Emin and involving the Margate art school and Open School East. Yet, as in so many places across the country, many people are locked out of access to the arts, either as makers or consumers. That is something that we can and must address as a Government, and as a community in East Thanet. My good friend the artist Bob and Roberta Smith, a resident of Ramsgate, campaigns tirelessly on that, and I welcome the Government’s approach to the school curriculum, which will mean that all children can experience art in all its forms. Ramsgate is a town steeped in history, with the only royal harbour in the country, gracious houses built for naval officers in the Napoleonic wars, a rare Georgian church with a chapel dedicated to the heroes of the evacuation of Dunkirk, and Ramsgate tunnels, which were a place of refuge for hundreds of people during the second world war. Thanks to the Ramsgate Society and the town’s residents, there are blue plaques where van Gogh painted, where Wilkie Collins wrote and where Coleridge recuperated. It is also where the architect of this place, Augustus Pugin, built his home. This history deserves to be more widely known and celebrated, including the stories of ordinary people. Access to understanding the fullness of our past is crucial to shaping our future. Ramsgate is also home to a publicly owned port, which hosts a range of companies and services, from the Border Force and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to the wind farms that generate enough electricity to power more than a quarter of a million homes—wind farms owned by another Government, however, not ours. I look forward to working with my right hon. Friends on the Treasury Bench to ensure that Great British Energy enables not only more energy to be generated, but jobs to be created and supply chains to be developed, in Thanet and in places like it where high-quality jobs are in short supply, and renewable energy sources—commonly known as sunshine and strong winds—are plentiful. This amazing climate means that Broadstairs is synonymous with holidays for many, but the reality is that its economy, like that of the rest of the constituency, is affected profoundly by the sewage scandal. As one business owner explained to me, “No one wants to paddle through poo.” It is a priority for me and the Government to tackle the sewage scandal, which has not only environmental and health implications, but economic implications for East Thanet. What Thanet needs more than anything is a year-round economy. That will require something that so many towns need—including that of my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato), as well as Beccles and the villages—and that is a coastal communities strategy that addresses the challenges faced by constituencies such as mine and makes the most of what these amazing places have to offer. For all of the ways in which Thanet is unique, my experience here and elsewhere in the country tells me that, as ever, we have more in common than that which divides us. Thanet shares challenges with many other coastal communities: poor healthcare, creaking bus services, a housing crisis partly driven by unregulated, short-term holiday lets, shocking crime statistics, blighted high streets and few good job opportunities. It shares opportunities, too: renewable energy, heritage, stunning natural assets and the creativity and determination of the people who live in our coastal communities. Whether born here or drawn here, people value Thanet’s unique character—it is one of our unifying characteristics. Like many before me, I have chosen Thanet and I am honoured that it has chosen me. I felt able to ask the voters of East Thanet to have me as their MP because it is a place where I can walk safely and freely in town hand in hand with my wife. That is a precious and special thing. Thank you, Thanet, for having me. I may not have the wit of Chas and Dave, the timing of Eric Morecambe or the vision of J. M. W. Turner, but I will serve you as best I can.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  Coastal communities such as mine in East Thanet have been let down for far too long, with poor public services and a lack of infrastructure. That is made even worse by a shortage of high-quality, well-paid jobs. On top of that, one of those communities’ biggest assets—the sea and its environment—has been trashed as a consequence of Tory neglect and chaos, making sustainable economic recovery even harder. However, that has not deterred my constituents across Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate from channelling their energies into enterprises in hospitality and tourism, as well as in the vital creative industries. Will my right hon. Friend arrange for us to have a debate in this House about the way that this Government’s regional growth strategy will address the long-term challenges and opportunities for our coastal communities, with special consideration of how the visual and performing arts can drive economic—