Richard Foord MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 22 Apr 2025 · Ukraine Update · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the Defence Secretary on co-chairing the 27th meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group. While it was good to see the German Defence Minister also chairing, that role was carried out until 9 January by the US Secretary of Defence. Defence Secretary Hegseth did attend earlier this month, but it was remote attendance across a secure platform. If we see in the coming weeks any reduction in US air defence support for Ukraine or other matériel, how might the UK respond?

• 22 Apr 2025 · Road Safety and Active Travel to School · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. Across mid and east Devon, I have heard time and again from young people who want safer ways to get to school by foot and by wheeling. Students at Sidmouth college have been asking for something very simple: a cycle path between Sidford and Sidbury. Right now, the main road between those two villages is narrow, winding and dangerous, especially for schoolchildren walking or cycling. When there is a bus, cost is a barrier. Without a dedicated path, young people are missing out on after-school clubs, social time or extra help with learning. A safe cycle path would give those young people real independence; it would help them to stay active and healthy, and it would cut down on car use. We have a separate problem in Ottery St Mary. Coleridge bridge was built back in 2011 but was damaged over a year ago by a storm. Parents are now driving their children to school where previously they went over that footbridge. The bridge repair is being held up by environmental permits, and I have asked Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to find a better balance. Of course, protecting our biodiversity and our rivers is vital, but so is the safety of our children. We are having children risk their lives in the dark hours during wintertime by going on very narrow pavements and into the road. The third example that I want to speak on is the King’s school in Ottery, which proposes a multi-use path from Feniton to Sidmouth along an old railway line. A survey by the Otter Trail group found that 73% of local people currently felt unsafe cycling in the Otter valley. To recap, the Sidbury-Sidford cycle path, the Coleridge bridge and the Otter trail are all practical, community-backed projects that Devon county council really ought to get behind. The Westminster Government have a role to play in getting behind rural local authorities to enable them to make more safe routes to school.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Road Safety and Active Travel to School · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 8 Apr 2025 · Easter Adjournment · Hansard source

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  I rise to talk about South West Water and Pennon Group. I speak today for anyone in Devon and Cornwall who has ever had to walk past a polluted stream, stay out of the sea when visiting a beach, or stare at a water bill and wonder, “How did we end up here?” South West Water, like its parent company, Pennon, has become a byword in the south-west for failure, aloofness and even arrogance. In 2024, the company dumped sewage into our rivers and seas for over 540,000 hours. These spills are supposed to happen only in exceptional circumstances; in reality, this has been regarded as a licence to pollute. If that were not enough, South West Water is now trying to flush out our constituents’ wallets, issuing bill rises of over 50% in some cases. I should say that Ofwat ruled last December that bills can rise by 36% on average over five years, before inflation. However, that 36% rise is permitted on average bills, and many bills for residents in Devon have risen by much more. Stuart Thompson, who lives near Aylesbeare, has found that, even though he is not connected to South West Water’s sewerage system, his annual bill is now £761, even though last year it was just £486. That is a jump of over 56%. Stuart is a cancer patient, and his immune system is weakened from treatment. To protect himself, he boils his water before drinking it, because he is conscious that South West Water had an outbreak of the Cryptosporidium parasite last year. One can understand his caution, given his weakened immunity. When Stuart tried to ring South West Water, he found himself 178th in the queue, and that is not a one-off. Graham Long, who lives in the Blackdown hills near Honiton, also tried ringing South West Water. Like Stuart, Graham found on the first occasion that he was 106th in the queue. On another occasion he was 94th, when he tried at a quieter time he was 87th, and on a day that was quieter still he was 74th in the queue. That is absolutely crazy from a water company hiking people’s bills in some instances by 56%. Louise Thompson from Sidmouth contacted me in disbelief about her instalments. She did get through to South West Water, and when she raised her concern about her higher bill, she was offered a reduction to £49 a month, rather than the £70.32 for which she had been billed. However, she worked out that this was because the instalments would be spread over 12 months rather than 10, so it was a cloak for no bill reduction whatsoever. Yet, since privatisation, this company has paid out more than £4.5 billion in shareholder dividends. South West Water is proposing to spend £3.2 billion on infrastructure improvements, but the crying shame is that it has failed to invest in its infrastructure in years gone by. This week, we have learned that the PR side of the business is going to be joined by none other than the former MP for East Devon, Simon Jupp. He is going to speak for South West Water, having attacked it while he was a Member of Parliament.

• 8 Apr 2025 · Horizon Redress and Post Office Update · Hansard source

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  Tony Hibberd, a former sub-postmaster from Colyton in east Devon, is 84 years old. Four years since he submitted his claim, and 14 years after his wrongful dismissal, there has still been no meaningful progress towards a fair and final settlement that reflects the loss to Tony’s reputation. Following the statement from the Dispatch Box on 18 December, I wrote to the Minister about Tony’s case and the reply that I received referred to an offer made to Tony in December, but no such offer had been received. The Minister refers to a new Horizon shortfall appeal scheme with a turnaround time of two months; but again, I say that Tony is 84 years old. Will the Minister urgently review Tony’s case to ensure that he finally receives the compensation that he deserves?

• 8 Apr 2025 · Armed Forces Covenant · Hansard source

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  I commend the Defence Committee for talking to the families of service personnel as well as directly to soldiers, sailors and airmen. If I think back to the people with whom I served, they tended to be phlegmatic about making the ultimate sacrifice, but they cared a great deal about the satisfaction of their immediate family—their spouses, their partners and their children. Could the hon. Member talk a little bit more about what the Committee learned from the engagement it had with the families of service personnel about the armed forces covenant?

• 2 Apr 2025 · Gaza: Israeli Military Operations · Hansard source

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  We have heard Ministers refer many times to the risk of breaches of international humanitarian law. On the one occasion, on 17 March, when the Foreign Secretary admitted that withholding aid to Gaza was “a breach of international law” —[ Official Report , 17 March 2025; Vol. 764, c. 41.] , he had to retract the admission and refer again to a risk of breaches. If the recent attacks on aid workers constitute a further risk of breaches, will the Minister outline what would constitute an actual breach?

• 2 Apr 2025 · Digital Landlines: Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  If there is a recognition that we need to switch from copper to broadband, then this plainly is another incentive to get broadband rolled out to the most remote rural areas. A councillor wrote to me to say: “As we only get 2MBs on a good day, adding the land line will reduce the signal to a point where our devices will not work”. These are people who are trying to work, earn money and pay taxes in rural areas. Does the Minister agree that, if we are going to scrap copper, we need to make sure that we have broadband?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Access to Dentistry: Somerset · Hansard source

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  The Minister talks about the previous Government’s dental recovery plan, and part of that was to impose a firmer ringfence on dentistry spending so that there was not an underspend that was reallocated elsewhere. The previous Government tasked NHS England with collecting monthly returns from ICBs to establish spending as against the allocation. Now that NHS England is being scrapped, will we still see that monitoring of ICBs to ensure that the spending matches the allocation?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Access to Dentistry: Somerset · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend’s point about the south-west is absolutely right. Some 217 visits per 100,000 to accident and emergency are for dental-related issues, compared with 154 for the next highest region. So the south-west is a real outlier, and not in a good way. Does my hon. Friend think that that is having a detrimental effect on hospitals and A&E?

• 1 Apr 2025 · Royal British Legion · Hansard source

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  Absolutely. I would add that the Royal British Legion is fantastic at bringing in volunteers—people who have not served, but on whom the RBL depends. We have some really strong local branches in Cullompton, Honiton, Kilmington, Sidmouth, Sidbury and Sidford, Beer and Seaton. They are all fantastic examples of commitment from not just veterans but people who have not served. The Axminster branch, for example, has won significant awards, including the Crediton cup and the national RBL award of the Lister trophy. On 11 November last year, it was striking to see how the branch encourages veterans’ stories to be passed on to children in the town and the community, which would not otherwise happen. David Rickard of the Honiton branch was the winner of the prestigious RBL 75th anniversary cup in February, and all of Honiton was very proud. The Kilmington branch has 120 members, despite the village having only 1,000 residents. We have a thriving RBL community in Devon. I am massively grateful for all that its members do, and I am grateful to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth for giving me the opportunity to thank them.

• 1 Apr 2025 · Royal British Legion · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. Mid and east Devon has a very strong veteran community. Although the national average for people who have served is 3.8%, there are 4,616 households in Honiton and Sidmouth with at least one veteran—6.3% of the population. It speaks volumes about Devon’s connections to the armed forces and the duty we all feel to support not just those who have served, but their families. Often it is the family who bring a serviceperson out of the armed forces, but the family are then supported by the Royal British Legion when the veteran is looking for a place in society where they can belong.

• 31 Mar 2025 · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Hansard source

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  The Minister has acknowledged that the secessionist moves in Republika Srpska could have ramifications for the western Balkans more broadly. One part of that is the north of Kosovo, where there is a Kosovo Serb minority. While the UK does not contribute to EUFOR and Operation Althea, we do contribute to KFOR in Kosovo. What contingency plans exist for British troops to reinforce KFOR through a strategic reserve, as happened in 2023?

• 26 Mar 2025 · UK-China Relations · Hansard source

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  The Intelligence and Security Committee published a report on China in 2023. The public version said that it is China’s “ambition at a global level—to become a technological and economic superpower, on which other countries are reliant—that poses a national security threat to the UK.” How does the hon. Gentleman see it?

• 25 Mar 2025 · Terms and Conditions of Employment · Hansard source

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  I think a negotiating framework might be helpful, but a lot will depend on the negotiations. It would be far better if the Government looked at the minimum wage, sector by sector, and identified social care as a special case. The turnover rate for social care staff in Devon is 27%. That is not only higher than the national average, but roughly double the figure for other sectors. That is why I want a separate, higher minimum wage for social care. A striking 16% of social care workers cited low pay as the primary reason why they left the job. Many of them are simply not paid enough for the skilled, difficult and vital work they do, and many are earning more by moving into jobs such as stacking supermarket shelves—important though that is—than by doing the vital work of social care. In a rural county such as Devon, people have to travel long distances between the people for whom they care, which sometimes means that their real income is less than the national minimum wage. We in Devon are looking at a shortage of social care beds. Devon county council projects that by 2027, Devon will face a shortfall of 270 care home beds for older people with complex needs. Looking further ahead, the situation gets worse. By 2033, in Honiton, the unmet need will be 72 care beds; in Cullompton, the need will be 79 care beds. In Seaton and Ottery St Mary, an additional 40 care beds will be required by then. The shortage of facilities in mid and east Devon makes it plain that even more care workers will be required to meet the growing demand for social care. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of a carers’ minimum wage, £2 per hour more than the minimum wage. Of course, that funding cannot come from thin air. According to Skills for Care, increasing pay by between £1 and £2 per hour above the national minimum wage for care workers could save up to £947 million from reduced hospital admissions, but there would need to be some funding up front to make that happen. I suggest that the remaining funding comes from an additional tax on the gambling industry, which, according to Public Health England, costs the UK economy about £1.4 billion annually due to the financial, physical and mental impacts of problem gambling and the resulting crime and loss of productivity. According to the Gambling Commission, 300,000 adults and 40,000 children in the UK suffer from problem gambling. It is not an industry that we should be incentivising through low taxation. Doubling the remote gaming duty is recommended by the Social Market Foundation. That would not only address the harms of problem gambling, but be a fairer way of funding that £2 per hour increase above the national minimum wage for social care workers. It is time that the Government acted to ensure that those who profit from gambling contribute more to the public good. Increasing pay for the lowest-paid social care workers is a simple, effective step to attract and retain staff, and ensure that people in our communities receive the care that they require. I support the national minimum wage increases, but we must go further and pay our social care staff more, recognising their vital role in looking after the elderly and vulnerable.

• 25 Mar 2025 · Terms and Conditions of Employment · Hansard source

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  The increase in the national minimum wage in the next fortnight is very welcome. Nobody in work in this wealthy country of ours should be struggling to make ends meet. While that uplift is a step in the right direction, it does not address the challenges that we face in social care, both nationally and in Devon, the area that I know best. Devon has 28,000 filled social care positions, but 2,000 positions remain unfilled, and I am very concerned about that shortage in the workforce. It partly explains why people are going without care, and why our hospitals are struggling to discharge patients.

• 25 Mar 2025 · Asylum Hotels and Illegal Channel Crossings · Hansard source

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  Last month we learned that overseas development assistance would be cut from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income. Some of us assumed that this saving would be found in the closure of so-called asylum hotels, but now we learn that the Government will continue to hire hotels for many years to come despite the broken contract. The Minister says that she wants to minimise the effect on the ODA budget, but how much of it will remain?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  My point relates to the cliff edge. Anne Addis from Cullompton is a 76-year-old widow. Her late husband’s Army pension pushed her just £15 over the pension credit threshold. That means that she is one of 130,000 people who are worse off than those on lower incomes who continue to qualify for pension credit. Will the Minister consider introducing a taper to get rid of that cliff edge?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Council Tax Reform · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member makes a good point in comparing his constituency with the situation here in London. To continue that point, on top of council tax, there is the settlement funding for councils, of which London boroughs have received roughly twice as much as shire counties. Does the hon. Member agree that that is also a problem with the current council tax regime?

• 19 Mar 2025 · Council Tax Reform · Hansard source

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  Shire counties have had their settlement funding cut from more than £300 per person in 2015 to less than £200 per person now. Does the Minister recognise that counties such as Devon have huge road networks to maintain, and that that difference in funding helps to explain why roads in Devon are falling apart?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Welfare Reform · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Secretary of State’s shift towards prevention. Last May, my constituent Alexander McRandal was riding his motorbike on the lanes of east Devon when he struck a pothole and was thrown from his bike. His collision resulted in permanent nerve damage. He has had to leave a 40-year career, and his wife Louise has given up work to look after him. While they will be reassured to hear that the Government will not freeze PIP, does the Secretary of State recognise that more investment in local government is needed to prevent situations like theirs?

• 18 Mar 2025 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source

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  I agree with the shadow Minister on the point about special schools. Additionally, in Committee in January, he raised the point about local authority consent for some children to be withdrawn from school, and how that should be extended from children who are subject to a child protection plan to children who are regarded as a child in need. Why are the Opposition not pushing that to a vote today?

• 17 Mar 2025 · G7 · Hansard source

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  Last spring, the UK joined the United States in conducting five combined joint naval and airstrikes against the Houthis. This weekend, the US conducted airstrikes without participation from the RAF except routine refuelling support. Why the change? What does that signal about British foreign policy? Does the Foreign Secretary consider that getting US involvement in a backstop in Ukraine is more challenging when the US has to operate alone against the Houthis?

• 12 Mar 2025 · Housing Development Planning: Water Companies · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) on securing this debate on both housing and sewerage. These matters are clearly important to the 13 Liberal Democrat MPs who have been present in the debate, but they are frankly important to all 72 of us. I am pleased to follow my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed)—I do regard him as a friend on this issue, because we share the same sea, which has been dogged by sewage pollution from the same water company. We co-operate very well on this issue. I recognise what my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire talks about regarding sewage backed up in people’s homes; at a surgery six weeks ago in the village of Feniton, I had people come to see me who showed me photos of sewage in the leat or stream at the end of their garden. It was very visible; the toilet paper and condoms give us a pretty good idea that it is not naturally occurring sewage. They told a story of neighbours having to knock on the doors of people in their street to ask that flushes are not pulled and baths are not emptied at a time of heavy rain, for fear that the sewage will back up into people’s private homes. Water companies and Ministers, when seeking to excuse the volume of sewage that is spilled, have told us for a while that it is a simple choice between either having sewage backing up into people’s homes or its being emptied into our rivers and seas. The purpose of this debate is to show that it is not a straightforward, binary choice. There are other options. We heard this week that the Government are removing Sport England, the Theatres Trust and the Gardens Trust as statutory consultees on planning. I am hoping to hear that they are doing that to make way for water companies. To again use the example of Feniton, the village has been subject to flooding over a very long period, a fact well recognised by both councils and the water company. East Devon district council has spent £6 million of taxpayers’ money to introduce a flood alleviation scheme to the village. That spending would not have been necessary had there been good advice at the outset from water companies when planners were proposing to build in that area. In Acland Park in Feniton, residents have been left to try to get their sewer adopted by the water company themselves because the developer has gone bust; again, had the water company been consulted at the planning stage, that might not have come about. We have heard about water companies objecting to being statutory consultees. That is not my experience. I met the chief executive of South West Water in recent months—I have been a thorn in the side of South West Water; if we are having a competition this afternoon about the volume of sewage spilled, I think I can win it, with over half a million hours of sewage spills in 2023 in the south-west region, though I confess that is not the figure for my constituency alone. The south-west region is dogged by sewage spills, and there was an 83% increase in spills from 2022 to 2023. The chief exec of South West Water asked me to lobby the Government to have water companies as a statutory consultee. I say that not because I am being lobbied, but because it is in the interests of the residents I represent. I would be curious to know whether the Minister, too, has been asked to make water companies statutory consultees.

• 10 Mar 2025 · Syria · Hansard source

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  The Foreign Secretary wrote to the Foreign Affairs Committee last week about the importance of ensuring accountability for crimes committed under the Assad regime. Today’s statement in the wake of the violence over the weekend calls on the interim authorities in Syria to set out a path to transitional justice. Has the UK’s position on accountability for war crimes under Assad changed in the wake of that sectarian violence?