Roz Savage MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 17 Dec 2024 · Climate Change: Nature-based Solutions · Hansard source

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  The climate and nature crises are now recognised as inextricably interlinked—we cannot resolve the climate crisis without addressing the nature crisis—but that is not recognised in current legislation. Will the Minister meet me to discuss my Climate and Nature Bill and its potential to achieve the Government’s stated goal of integrating UK climate and biodiversity policy?

• 17 Dec 2024 · Climate Change: Nature-based Solutions · Hansard source

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  11. Whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on nature-based solutions to help tackle climate change.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for her intervention, but I will make some progress now, as I am aware that I am on a time limit, with the clock ticking. The Prime Minister has also expressed support for Palestinian statehood as a contribution to the peace process, describing it as an “undeniable right” of Palestinians. The Government, however, have not committed to a fixed timeline for recognition. Currently, the state of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign country by 146 other countries, representing a little more than 75% of UN member states. On 3 December—just earlier this month—the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the creation of a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with 157 votes in favour, including that of the United Kingdom. A YouGov poll in early October found that 70% of respondents agreed that Palestinians have a right to a state of their own. I was proud to stand on a manifesto that committed to the immediate recognition of Palestine on 1967 lines, something that the Liberal Democrats have long called for. In fact, in each of the past three Parliaments, my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) has tabled a Bill to recognise the state of Palestine. The recognition of Palestine is a tool that will inject into Palestinian society hope that having their own state is possible. We believe that that will help wrest control back from the extremes at the edges of Palestinian society. Ultimately, if such a step were mirrored by other countries, widespread recognition of Palestine would have significant practical and political implications, including full participation in international organisations such as the UN and its agencies; access to economic benefits, including predictable market access; membership of the IMF and World Bank, opening avenues for financial support; and the establishment of full embassies in countries that recognise Palestinian statehood.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petitions 653509 and 652949 relating to Israel and Palestine. It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris, and to introduce these two e-petitions on behalf of the Petitions Committee. I want to open this debate by expressing the grief and horror that many of us have felt so strongly in response to the tragic events in Gaza and Israel, particularly over the last 14 months. I am aware that this issue provokes powerful emotions in this place and across the country, and the roots of the broader Israel-Palestine conflict are deep and complex. I do not presume to speak as an expert on the history or politics of the middle east, but I do speak as someone who deplores the killing of innocent, defenceless people, no matter what their place of origin, their religion or the colour of their skin. The loss of life, including the lives of so many children, is truly heartbreaking, and my thoughts are with all who have been injured, maimed, displaced or bereaved. I would like to position the debate within the framework of a guiding principle, which is that none of us gets to choose where, when or into which religion we are born. In that spirit, I hope that we can begin the debate from a shared reference point—that what we are watching in the middle east is innocent people being punished unjustly for where and when they were born, that that is wrong and that it is our duty as parliamentarians to do all we can to put a stop to it. The intensification of this conflict began on 7 October 2023 with Hamas’s attacks on Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israelis. As of October 2024, 154 hostages had been freed, but 101 remain in captivity, with 33 believed to have died. The 101 include British national Emily Damari. Across the political spectrum, we are calling on the Government to do all they can to ensure her release. Over the past year, the situation has escalated dramatically. The official death toll in occupied Gaza stands at more than 42,000 Palestinians, although estimates from reputable sources claim that as many as 186,000 may have been killed. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire, with approximately 90% of the population having been displaced at least once. I continue to call on the Government to do all they can to secure an immediate bilateral ceasefire in Gaza, to put an end to the humanitarian devastation there, to bring the hostages home and to open the door to a two-state solution, which is the only way to ensure dignity and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I wholeheartedly agree. As we debate these petitions, we must consider how the UK can best contribute to lasting peace in the region, what role we should play in supporting Palestinian statehood and ensuring Israel’s security, and how we can align our arms export policies with our commitment to international law and human rights. I am sure Members will reflect that in their contributions. The question of how we achieve a sustainable solution to this long-running conflict in line with international law is not easy to answer. However, the widespread public support for these petitions demonstrates that the British people want the UK Government to play their part in helping to end the appalling suffering we have witnessed over these past 14 months and the decades prior. I close this opening speech with a quote from Nadeem Ahmed: “From the seeds of hope, the tree of peace shall grow, sheltering both nations.”

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention and likewise look forward to the Minister’s statement on the matter. One of the petitions states: “Palestinian children have been made orphans, people have been crushed by buildings in airstrikes, and there have been many other tragedies. Arms that have been partly manufactured in the UK appear to be being used in the current military action in Gaza…We believe the UK Government is on the wrong side of history, and must stop the sale of arms to Israel.” I stood on a commitment to ensure better controls on the UK’s arms exports to countries with poor human rights records. Liberal Democrats have been calling for a presumption of denial to those countries listed as human rights priority countries by the Foreign Office, including Israel. Accordingly, we have supported a full suspension of arms sales to Israel; indeed, I believe that my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) was the first leader of a major UK party to do so. I say again that these are complex issues with no easy answers, but I hark back to the guiding principle that I stated at the outset: it can never be right to punish human beings for the time and place of their birth.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I will come to that point shortly. The conflict has expanded beyond Gaza’s borders. I am sure that we all welcomed the recent ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, which faced a humanitarian crisis of its own. But it is not just in Lebanon; across the whole middle east, from Iran to Yemen, and of course most recently in Syria, we have seen the ramifications of this conflict. The first petition calls for the immediate recognition of Palestine as a state. It received 283,669 signatures and was started by Sandra Downs, who is in the Public Gallery. I thank Sandra for her time last week, when she met me to discuss her petition.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I shall come to that shortly. The UK bears a unique historical responsibility in this matter, stemming from the Balfour declaration of 1917. The declaration spoke of creating a national homeland for Jews in Palestine, but it was silent on Palestinian political rights, setting the stage for decades of conflict. It paved the way for the Nakba, or catastrophe, in 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes. The UK Government’s position on Palestinian statehood, as stated by the Foreign Secretary on 30 July this year, is: “We want a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution: a safe, secure Israel alongside a viable, sovereign Palestinian state. We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to a peace process, at a time that is most conducive to that process.” —[ Official Report , 30 July 2024; Vol. 752, c. 1150.]

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. In September 2024, the new Foreign Secretary announced the suspension of around 30 export licences to Israel, including components for military aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items that facilitate ground targeting. A constituent wrote to me to say that although this is a national and international issue, it feels profoundly local to them, because there are factories producing military components for export to Israel in Cheltenham, Bishop’s Cleeve, Ashchurch, Tewkesbury and Swindon, which are all close to my constituency of South Cotswolds. My constituent went on to say that they do not believe it is right for the south-west to be so heavily complicit in crimes for which the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for violations of international law, and that Amnesty International has concluded to be tantamount to genocidal in intent and impact.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I thank the petitioners, especially Sandra, for their courage in bringing the petitions forward and for their commitment to peace. It was an honour to bring the petitions to Westminster Hall. I hope that we have done justice to the gravity of the issue and the seriousness of the dire situation facing all who are caught up in the appalling conflict in the middle east. I thank colleagues for their thoughtful and knowledgeable contributions, and their compassion for the people of Israel and Palestine. I especially thank those colleagues who have shown over many years their commitment to the cause of peace in the middle east. The stories we have heard this afternoon are harrowing, and the Government must take them seriously. I urge the Minister to engage directly with the proposals that have been made today, with the ultimate goal of securing an immediate bilateral ceasefire and a two-state solution, and to prioritise the resolution of the desperate humanitarian crisis over supply chains. I hope that this debate marks not the end of the conversation, but the beginning of meaningful change. Let us not let this moment pass without action. Question put and agreed to. Resolved , That this House has considered e-petitions 653509 and 652949 relating to Israel and Palestine.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  Indeed. I am conscious that I have less than four minutes left, so I will keep it moving. The second petition, which received 107,316 signatures, demands the revocation of arms export licences to Israel. Under international and domestic law, the UK is required to prevent the transfer of military equipment and technology where there is a clear risk of it being used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law or human rights law. Between 7 October 2023 and 31 May this year, 42 export licences were issued for military goods to Israel. The Campaign Against Arms Trade has stated that the UK has granted arms export licences worth £576 million in total since 2008. Fifteen per cent. of the components that make up each F-35 aircraft used to bomb the Gaza strip were produced in Britain. In December last year, the then Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron decided not to suspend any export licences, stating that he was “satisfied that there was good evidence to support a judgment that Israel is committed to comply with IHL.”

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for her intervention, and I agree. Given that the Prime Minister and his Foreign Secretary have both committed in principle to Palestinian statehood, and given that the majority of the international community has already recognised the statehood of Palestine, we might validly ask what the Government’s criteria are for the time that is “most conducive” to peace, and why we are lagging behind the rest of the world and dragging our feet on this issue.

• 3 Dec 2024 · National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill · Hansard source

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  I know that difficult decisions have had to be made, but I have been talking to small business owners. I am particularly thinking of the owner of a chain of convenience stores in Lechlade, and the difficult decision he is having to make of which of his part-time workers he is going to lay off in the run-up to Christmas. Should not the difficult decisions be those of the big tech companies about whether they actually pay their fair share of corporation tax? Should they not be the really tough—

• 26 Nov 2024 · COP29 · Hansard source

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  My apologies—I thought I had five minutes.

• 26 Nov 2024 · COP29 · Hansard source

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  May I finish with a question? Will the Secretary of State commit to including natural flood defences as a central part of the £5.2 billion flood defence spending to ensure that communities like those in the South Cotswolds are better protected from the worsening impacts of climate change while addressing biodiversity loss?

• 26 Nov 2024 · COP29 · Hansard source

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  COP29 concluded with a deal that, while welcome, leaves much to be desired. I must stress that we need bolder, more decisive action if we are to face the greatest challenge of our time: the climate crisis. I know that the right hon. Gentleman’s heart is in the right place and has been for many years. We first met in the run-up to COP15 in 2009, and I express my thanks to him for his staunch leadership in the intervening years. I express Lib Dem support for a brave programme of action going forward and our willingness to work with his Department to help the UK step up and seize this opportunity for climate leadership. While we welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to ambitious emissions targets for 2035, commitments alone are not enough. Immediate action is needed to insulate homes, reduce energy costs and ensure that no one has to choose between heating and eating. The delay to Labour’s warm homes plan until spring 2025 is unacceptable when millions of people, including 1.2 million pensioners, face a cold and unaffordable winter due to the cut in the winter fuel allowance. In my South Cotswolds constituency and all across the UK, we have seen at first hand the devastating effects of climate change, and never more so than over the last few days, with floods and storms becoming more frequent and severe. Towns and villages in my constituency, such as Purton, Great Somerford and Cirencester, have been severely affected by flooding, and we need urgent action now to mitigate climate change and help our communities adapt to the likely impacts now and in the future. I associate myself with the thanks already expressed to the brave men and women of our emergency services in the aftermath of Storm Bert. Climate leadership must prioritise solutions that protect communities and restore nature. Natural flood defences, such as wetlands—

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rural Affairs · Hansard source

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  The gravity of this situation was brought home to me by a letter that I received recently from a South Cotswolds constituent, a farmer near Sherston whose experience vividly illustrates the challenge our agricultural sector faces. He manages a 200-acre farm, a combination of owned and rented primarily arable land, with a small field of Brussels sprouts, where I spent a day helping with the harvest last Christmas. I am no farmer, but that day spent in the mud and drizzle gave me some inkling of just how hard our farmers work and how dedicated they are. Despite their best efforts, their financial reality is stark. Last year, with an above-average harvest and a favourable crop price, they made just £34,000 before even paying themselves anything. This year, with falling crop prices, they anticipate a loss. The recent Budget proposals have cast a long shadow over our farming communities, adding to an already vulnerable situation. The changes to agricultural property relief threaten to force the sale of farms that have been in the same family for generations. That Brussels sprouts farmer faces a potential inheritance tax bill of nearly £239,000, a sum that could be paid only by selling off part of the farm that has been in his family for three generations. The Liberal Democrats have long recognised that food security is national security. We understand that environmental stewardship and food production are not mutually exclusive, but mutually reinforcing goals. It is in line with this that I have introduced my private Member’s Bill, the Climate and Nature Bill, which would help to support farmers, to support nature and to support us. Our farmers are not just food producers: they are the guardians of our land, regenerating soil, restoring wildlife and enhancing biodiversity. Many people think that the climate crisis is the cause of the nature crisis, but many believe—rightly, I think—that it is the loss of nature that is contributing to the climate crisis. The Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, in the South Cotswolds, is now starting to pioneer the idea of zero dig, knowing that when we regenerate soil it sinks more carbon, mitigating climate change; it holds more water, mitigating flooding; and it yields more nutritious food, improving human health. I call on the Secretary of State to heed the voices of our farmers. We need to work together to create a future in which British agriculture is strong, resilient and sustainable—a future where our farmers can produce the food we need while nurturing the land we love.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Income tax (charge) · Hansard source

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  The Budget is subtitled “Fixing the foundations” but I was saddened that it contained no mention of the most important foundation of everything in Britain: our natural world. Does she agree that more resources need to be dedicated to the restoration of nature and to supporting our farmers, both of which are crucial to food security?

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

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. Clean water is a fundamental human right, so the exploitation by our water companies at the expense of the British taxpayer is deeply offensive to me and to my South Cotswolds constituents. It adds insult to injury that the same companies now expect taxpayers to foot the bill for improvements they should have prioritised over CEO bonuses and shareholder dividends. Since privatisation, shareholders have extracted a staggering £85 billion from the water and sewerage system in England and Wales. In my constituency, where the River Thames rises, Thames Water pumped sewage into the River Coln in Fairford for 3,391 hours—the equivalent of four and a half months—in 2022. Incidents that are meant to be exceptional happen on average more than three times a week. Dog walkers no longer feel comfortable walking their dogs along the riverbanks after one dog jumped into the water, got sick and died two days later. Across the constituency, sewage is flooding into houses and gardens and schools. That is simply unacceptable. We need an ambitious, long-term, financially and environmentally responsible vision for our water industry as an essential—literally vital—public good, and that vision must be orientated towards good, clean water. Back in 2013, I was campaigning for the London super-sewer, paddling around under Putney bridge and looking appalled at the tampons and other solid waste coming out of an overflow under the bridge. It has taken more than 11 years to open even the first section of the London super-sewer. The best time to fix this crisis would have been 30 years ago, but the second-best time is now. I am not letting water companies off the hook for a moment, but I would like to say that the vision must embody a holistic approach to water management. Housing developers can capture rainwater to reduce run-off. Farmers have a key role to play in keeping agricultural contaminants out of our rivers. We need action to stop forever chemicals from plastics and pharmaceuticals getting into our rivers and streams. In short, we need to stop the incessant pollution of our natural world. Water connects everything. Clean water nourishes all life, while dirty water pollutes everything it touches—from otters, kingfishers and crayfish to our pets and ourselves. We need to put nature back at the heart of our decision making, as called for in my Climate and Nature Bill. The Liberal Democrats propose transforming water companies into public benefit companies—no more excessive bonuses and no more prioritising shareholders over customers. We would also like to see local environmental groups given a voice on water company boards. Some countries have even granted legal personhood to rivers, including the Whanganui river in New Zealand, the Atrato river in Colombia and the Magpie river in Canada. Potentially, we could have a person representing the river itself sitting on a corporate board. The time is now to take bold steps to improve water company governance, invest in our infrastructure and protect our precious water resources for generations to come.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Renewable Energy Projects: Community Benefits · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) for bringing this debate to Westminster Hall, and hon. Members for their fascinating contributions. I rise to speak on an issue that is very dear to my heart, as an environmental campaigner rowing alone across three oceans to raise awareness of the ecological crisis and now as the Member for South Cotswolds about to present the climate and nature Bill—my private Member’s Bill—in the House tomorrow. There is both promise and peril in renewable energy. The Liberal Democrats wholeheartedly welcome the steps being taken to revitalise British investment in renewables, which will start to rectify the missed opportunities of the previous Conservative Government, who never seemed to grasp the scale, scope and speed required to avoid environmental disaster. These new initiatives hold the promise of lower energy bills, high-quality jobs, greater energy security and the chance of actually meeting our net zero targets, but we must proceed with caution and wisdom. The proposal for an excessively large solar farm in my constituency serves as a stark reminder of how renewable energy projects can backfire when poorly conceived. The solar development has provoked a visceral negative response from local communities, because it is the wrong size, in the wrong place and has the wrong ownership—foreign ownership. By allowing unsympathetic developments to mar our beautiful countryside, we risk alienating the very public whose support we need. We need only look to the cautionary tale of our water companies to understand the perils of allowing foreign profit-driven entities to monopolise our essential utilities. The owners of companies such as Thames Water have prioritised profits over the needs of customers and the health of our natural environment, resulting in higher bills for customers, a lack of investment in infrastructure, and toxic pollution that is killing our precious waterways. We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes in our renewable energy sector; the transition to clean energy must prioritise the needs of our communities and the protection of our environments over the profits of distant shareholders. Communities have to be involved, and it is clear that there is a significant gap in the GB Energy Bill around community energy. The Liberal Democrats firmly believe that communities living near large-scale energy infrastructure should receive tangible benefits. We are ready and willing to work collaboratively with the Minister and his Government to ensure that those benefits are guaranteed in the Bill. Our vision includes large energy suppliers working with community schemes to sell locally generated power to local customers at discounted rates; guaranteeing that community benefit funds receive a fair share of the wealth generated by local renewables infrastructure; empowering local authorities to develop renewable electricity generation and storage strategies; and giving small, low-carbon generators the right to export their electricity to existing suppliers on fair terms. The success of our clean-energy economy, our ability to tackle the cost of living crisis, and the realisation of our climate targets all hinge on community buy-in. We need to win hearts and minds and persuade people that net zero projects are good for their communities, their pockets and our future national economy and security. To that end, we urge the Government to enact the necessary regulatory changes to truly support community energy. Community benefits for energy schemes should be guaranteed and community energy schemes should receive discounted rates for the clean electricity they contribute. I will end on a personal note. As someone who has witnessed at first hand the beauty and fragility of our natural world during my ocean rowing expeditions, I am deeply committed to ensuring that our transition to renewable energy does not, in the process, destroy the beauty of the natural countryside we are working so hard to preserve for future generations. We need to get the balance right, and people have to be part of that equation.

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

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to speak to the House. I also thank my hon. Friends for their contributions to this important debate on food and farming. It is an absolute honour to address the Chamber as the newly elected Member of Parliament for South Cotswolds. It is a new constituency, formed from parts of the former Cotswolds and North Wiltshire seats. The hon. Member for North Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) continues his service in his constituency, while James Gray served North Wiltshire for 27 years. Although Mr Gray’s and my political views may differ substantially, he was a dedicated constituency MP, and I hope to follow in his footsteps in that regard at least. The Cotswolds has a well-deserved reputation for natural and architectural beauty. It always gladdens my heart to see the soaring, slender spire of St Mary’s church in Tetbury, the elegant honeystone buildings around the marketplace in Cirencester, or the awe-inspiring arches of Malmesbury abbey. We have beautiful villages, including three category winners of the Wiltshire Best Kept Villages competition: Ashton Keynes, Seagry and Hankerton. We have vibrant communities, thriving businesses, and visionary innovators and inventors. King Charles had the good taste to choose Highgrove, near Tetbury, as his country home, and his gardens are well worth a visit; I am still waiting for my invitation to join His Majesty there for an organic cream tea. South Cotswolds is a rural constituency, characterised by a rich agricultural landscape, with a proud farming heritage and a plethora of fabulous farmers’ markets full of tempting goodies. Eighty-seven per cent of the land within the Cotswolds area of outstanding natural beauty is dedicated to agriculture, and we have more than 750 farm holdings in South Cotswolds, employing over 2,000 people. Our beautiful landscape is a diverse mix of crops and grassland, and livestock farming constitutes a significant sector, with cattle, sheep and pigs. I can recommend Cirencester livestock market as probably the best place in the constituency, if not the country, to get a gargantuan farmer’s breakfast that really sets you up for the day—if not for the entire week. The Cotswolds is known for our traditional farming practices—most of the farms are family run, and often have been for many, many generations—but there is plenty of innovation too. Earlier this year, I hosted an event at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, where we heard that many farms in the region are embracing sustainable and regenerative approaches, focusing on soil health, wildlife conservation and local food production. The “Royal Ag” itself is leading the field, so to speak, with zero dig farming methods. However, not all is rosy in the Cotswolds garden. Our farmers are frustrated by the absence of a long-term strategy. They need to plan 20 or 30 years ahead, beyond the next electoral cycle. They need a clear vision of the future, a vision that can survive changes of Government. We need to attract more young people into farming. Last year, I “helped” a couple of farmers to bring in the brussels sprout harvest. As I stood in a muddy field on a grey December day, they told me about the problems they had had in recruiting young people into farming. Thirty-eight per cent of farmers are 65 or older, and only 15% are under 45. Astonishingly, it seems that not many young people enjoy being out in the middle of a field in all weathers, doing hard physical work for very little money! A significant number of them do, but the main obstacle is gaining access to land. I was pleased to hear the Secretary of State imply that he would be working to encourage more younger people into farming, making it easier and more rewarding for them to help to feed our country high-quality food that has not travelled halfway around the world. On the south-eastern edge of my constituency, a really exciting initiative is under way at the marvellously named Crapper’s landfill site, which is leading on sustain circles. This concept aims to meet 80% of a community’s food, housing, jobs and energy needs within a defined radius around the community, increasing self-reliance and resilience. The idea is being pioneered with a plan to position pressurised plastic greenhouses on old landfill zones, using the methane emissions from the decomposing rubbish to heat the greenhouses. It aims to grow enough fruit and vegetables to feed Royal Wootton Bassett, Brinkworth and Malmesbury. We need more creative projects like this. Elsewhere in Wiltshire, a proposal for a massive solar farm on 2,000 acres of mostly agricultural land has sparked debate about how we choose to use our land. We need to stop thinking, “Housing here, renewables here and food production here,” and to look at more creative ways to make our land multi-layered and multi-purpose. It is becoming clearer than ever that we need an integrated strategy, not least because building more houses will increase rainwater run-off and increase the burden on an already overloaded sewage system. In my constituency in the last year alone, the Fairford sewage treatment works pumped untreated sewage into the River Coln for 3,391 hours, which equates to over four and a half months. Incidents that are meant to be exceptional are happening on average over three times a week. Across the constituency, sewage is flooding into houses, gardens and schools. It is flooding out across fields, where cattle consume it, get sick and die. I urge Thames Water to upgrade the Fairford sewage works as a matter of the utmost urgency, and Ofwat to make sure that it does. For me, the cleanliness or otherwise of our rivers is personal, and I would like to share a little background. I am not from anywhere in particular. My father was a Methodist minister, and my parents moved house for the first time when I was two years old. They continued to move house with annoying frequency thereafter. My father’s excuse was that he ran out of sermons after a certain number of years, so we had to move house so that he could recycle them. I am all in favour of recycling, but I think he presumed a higher degree of attention, and a longer span of memory, than the typical church member has. Sadly, my parents are no longer around to see me take my seat in this House, but I know they would have been proud. Above all else, they believed that their job was to serve the community as exemplars of God’s love, and I am honoured to follow in their footsteps—but I digress. Since I have been old enough to choose where I live, I seem to keep coming back to the River Thames. I took my first oar strokes on the Thames in Oxford, and rowed out of Thames rowing club in Putney for several years. I lived in Fulham, Putney, Brentford, Kew, Richmond and Windsor before moving to the Cotswolds. The River Thames rises in my constituency as little more than a trickle just outside Cricklade, gradually gathering tributaries, including the highly polluted Coln, to become the magnificent Father Thames that flows past these Houses of Parliament. The Thames has been a constant thread throughout much of my adult life, so I care passionately about water issues, and about climate and nature more generally. This is a passion that led me, in my 30s, to spend an inordinate amount of time alone in a tiny rowboat in the middle of various oceans as I rowed solo across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian, using my voyages to raise awareness of environmental issues and our growing ecological crisis. Along the way, I gained some really impressive callouses, four Guinness world records and, hopefully, some highly transferable skills in navigating shark-infested waters, which may possibly stand me in good stead in my new career. Like many who care about our environment, I sometimes despair, but in closing I would like to say that what gives me hope for the future is the public spirit, the energy and the goodness that I see in action in the South Cotswolds. When the Government are telling us that there is no money and councils are struggling, I see our communities coming together, using their creativity and resourcefulness to work out how to make a little go a long way, sharing resources, looking to their neighbours, donating time and skills and looking out for each other. We have fabulous organisations, including the Cirencester Pantry, Heals of Malmesbury, and Community Fridges in Purton, Malmesbury and Tetbury. It is so inspiring to see people coming together in mutual support. People of the South Cotswolds, you inspire me and you humble me. I am so grateful to my constituents for trusting me to represent their interests and those of this country. I commit to doing my absolute best to rise to this challenge with unwavering determination, integrity and dedication.