Tim Farron MP: speeches

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Speeches

23 Apr 2025 · Sewage · Hansard source
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I am sure my hon. Friend is outraged.
23 Apr 2025 · Sewage · Hansard source
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Until now, I always thought “The House at Pooh Corner” was a good thing; obviously that would not be so in this case. I have seen the same thing in my own patch. In the village of Burneside we are finally, after 20 years of campaigning, getting some additional new sewage infrastructure, which will hopefully prevent poop literally coming up on to the pavements in light rainfall where the local kids catch the bus to go into Kendal to school, which is an absolute outrage. My hon. Friend is right to campaign, as he does very well, for his communities on this issue. We should already know not to take water companies at their word, I am afraid, given their shoddy record on data transparency. For example, the chief executive of United Utilities, Louise Beardmore, among others admitted at the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee not very long ago that they had refused to release spill data until WASP appealed to the Information Commissioner. Furthermore, in 2022 United Utilities was listed as the best performing water company in England, for which it was allowed to raise its bills as a reward. However, the BBC reported whistleblowers at the Environment Agency claiming that United Utilities had been wrongly downgrading dozens of pollution incidents. So we can surely be forgiven for being a little cynical when those water companies propose huge sums for projects like the one I have just mentioned. That is why our key criticism of the Government’s new water Act is not of anything that is in that legislation, but of what is missing from it. The situation whereby water companies can be responsible for record levels of sewage pollution and be shown to make bad use of bill payers’ money, with inflated capital costs and inflated dividends, could not happen if they were regulated properly, but they are not.
23 Apr 2025 · Sewage · Hansard source
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I completely agree—and the feeling is mutual. I appreciate that I am going on a bit and that a few Members wish to intervene. We will have to go by hands up. [ Interruption. ]
23 Apr 2025 · Sewage · Hansard source
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I beg to move, That this House regrets the persistent scandal of raw sewage being dumped by water companies into rivers, lakes and coastal areas; notes with deep concern that just 14% of rivers and lakes in England are in good ecological health; condemns the previous Government for letting water company bosses get away with the scandal while paying themselves millions of pounds in bonuses; further notes the potential benefits of Blue Flag status in improving responsibility and accountability from water companies, through compliance checks and stringent environmental standards; and calls on the Government to take urgent action to end the sewage scandal, including the introduction of a new Blue Flag status for rivers and chalk streams, to give them greater protection against sewage dumping and ensure the public knows when rivers are clean and safe. It is an honour to open this debate. For me, serving the people of Westmoreland also means defending its natural beauty and purity, which are important to our national heritage, farming industry and tourism and hospitality economy. Our proposal aims to highlight the scandal of the pollution of our waterways and calls for practical solutions that will make a difference. The Government’s recent Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 was a step in the right direction after the failure of the last Conservative Government to take meaningful action, yet it was surely also a missed opportunity to bring in the radical transformation of regulation and ownership that is essential if we are to clean up our waterways and clean up the water industry as a whole. Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review gives us hope that a second, more ambitious water Bill might be coming, but there is no guarantee of that, so our job as the constructive Opposition in this place is to hold the Government to account and urge them to make the big changes that Britain voted for last July. The need for radical action was made all the more clear recently when the figures for sewage spills in 2024 were released. Those figures were horrific: a 106% increase in the duration of spills in our lakes, rivers and seas in just two short years.
23 Apr 2025 · Sewage · Hansard source
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I absolutely welcome the Act, as I said at the beginning of the debate. It is a step in the right direction; I just do not think that it is enough, and the hon. Lady makes the case as to why it is not enough. Her water company, Yorkshire Water, is one of four water companies that between them owe Ofwat £164 million in fines because of their failure, and Ofwat has so far claimed zero—none of that. There seems to be an awareness among water companies that Ofwat is not a regulator to be feared and therefore not one to be responded to. That is among the reasons why we need a new, much more powerful regulator that has the power, and uses it, to refuse to sign off on spending plans that prioritise the investor over the consumer and the environment.
23 Apr 2025 · Hospitals · Hansard source
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In rural communities like mine, our issues are very often about the distances that we have to travel in order to get any kind of healthcare, but particularly to reach hospitals. In Morecambe bay, which covers three quarters of my constituency population-wise, we are funded as if we have one hospital, but have to have three. One way that we have got around that is to have funding for GP surgeries to provide minor injury care in places like Grange, Ambleside, Hawkshead and beyond—yet, as of 1 April, our local integrated care board has cancelled that funding. There was a total of 1,221 minor injury assessments last year; they are now pushed on to the urgent treatment centre at Kendal, potentially overloading that excellent centre, but also causing huge harm to people who live in those rural and dispersed places, and undermining the funding model for those GP surgeries and putting them at risk. I would love it if the Minister had words with the ICB to challenge it on this. Tomorrow, the ICB for Lancashire and South Cumbria will meet. On its agenda may or may not be, but jolly well should be, the decision to approve and to seek a new provider of GP services in the community of Coniston. We have known for three months that the excellent Dr Frey and Dr Abbas were retiring and leaving their posts in July, and the ICB has dragged its feet for three months, despite the community clamouring for action. We presented a petition of over 1,000 signatures in this place just a few weeks ago for there to be a replacement of the GP surgery to serve the community in Coniston. When it comes to the new hospital programme, I acknowledge the fantasy figures behind the previous Government’s non-existent programme, but I point out that land is available in the larger district general hospital site serving Lancaster in the southern part of my constituency. It is right next to the new medical school at Lancaster University and it is absolutely shovel-ready. There is no logical reason for it to be in the last division of the third phase of the programme, which means that it will not be built until the 2030s. I urge the Minister to think again on that point. The Minister will be unsurprised to hear me use my last minute and a bit to talk about radiotherapy. In the northern part of my constituency, in places like Appleby, people who have cancer are able to get good quality radiotherapy treatment at Carlisle, but in the southern three quarters of my constituency, people have to make return journeys, sometimes of four hours a day for weeks on end, to get radiotherapy treatment at our nearest centre in Preston. That is outrageous. That is why we are asking for there to be a satellite radiotherapy unit at the Westmorland general hospital in Kendal. This is not just about convenience. According to an OECD recommendation, radiotherapy should be the primary treatment for cancer in 53% of cases; shamefully, in the UK, it is in only 36% of cases. Lancashire and South Cumbria ranks 42nd of 42 ICBs, with only 29% of people with cancer receiving radiotherapy. That is in no small part down to the failure to provide that treatment within our communities. It is absolutely the case that the longer the journeys to treatment, the shorter the life expectancy of the people suffering with cancer. I urge the Minister finally to make the decision, which we have been demanding for years, to add to the chemotherapy service, to the diagnostics and to the cancer surgery that we now have at Kendal. It was wonderful to win those campaigns, but the one thing that we are missing is radiotherapy. It is time that we brought it to the people of Westmorland, so that they can have shorter journeys and longer lives.
22 Apr 2025 · Draft Fair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to serve under your guidance this afternoon, Ms Vaz. Likewise, I am very supportive of the draft regulations. The UK pig industry is something that we should all be proud of. It is instrumental to our rural communities right across the country and an important exporter, but it also maintains the highest quality of produce and animal welfare standards. That is important in an era in which we are seeking potential deals with countries whose animal welfare standards may not be quite so high. The industry is vital to our rural economy and our food security. John Maynard Keynes said, among many other wise things: “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” The reality is that the market is ambivalent, at best, on whether we have a strong pig sector. Without safety, security and fairness in the sector, we stand the chance of losing it all together. It is right that the intervention happened, as other Members have talked about. Post Brexit, we saw a terrible crisis, particularly in staffing of the sector, which saw the culling of tens of thousands of healthy animals, as we have heard. That was appalling for those animals, and appalling and heartbreaking for the families involved. A devastation lingers, which has driven us in no small part to this stage. It is right to give credit to the previous Government. The consultation began in 2022, following that crisis. I have also paid tribute to all who were involved in that consultation, providing the feedback that was instrumental in leading us to where we are now. The spokesperson for the official Opposition, the hon. Member for Epping Forest, talked about the other threats that farming faces, and that is absolutely true. People talk about the impact of the inheritance tax changes on family farms, which will be a massive blow for hundreds in my constituency. We will wait and see. I have tabled plenty of parliamentary questions to try and find that out, but the University of Cumbria’s research tends to conclude that the underspend on the current departmental budget for the environmental land management scheme will be in the region of £400 million. That money is not in farmers’ pockets, and that undermines our ability to have a food security. As I mentioned, a fair market is crucial to food security. If we lose pig producers and pig farmers, we simply offshore the industry and end up in a situation where our ability to secure pig products becomes more difficult, more expensive and, importantly, less secure. These regulations will build in transparency, security, clarity and fairness in the pig sector, in particular for the producers themselves. Let me say a word about the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator. In no small part, the draft regulations are necessary because we do not allow the Groceries Code Adjudicator to intervene in arrangements where there is not a direct link between the producer, the farmer and the retailer. Yet, a massive majority of deals are with pig farmers, or indeed other farmers, and a processor of some kind or another. I am proud that one of the things that came from the Liberal Democrats manifesto and went into the coalition agreement was the establishment of the Groceries Code Adjudicator. I was frustrated, though, that we ended that Government with it not having the powers that we wanted it to have. To protect farmers of all kinds, I would love the Minister and the Government in general to consider very seriously ensuring that the Groceries Code Adjudicator can accept referrals on the fairness or otherwise of deals between farmers and processors, not just farmers and supermarkets. Anonymity should be kept within the system. We can see why a farmer would not want to refer their deal, because it might be the only one they have, even though it is not a fair one. Third parties such as those present, the National Farmers’ Union and other organisations should be permitted to make referrals anonymously on behalf of those farmers who are being ripped off. On top of that, the referee—the Groceries Code Adjudicator—should simply be given yellow and red cards to mean something, to hold those more powerful parts of the industry to account. There are thousands of producers, but only a handful of processors and supermarkets, so of course it is an imbalanced and unfair market. A referee has to have cards—otherwise, what is the point? My final point about the Groceries Code Adjudicator is that, last time I checked, it had five staff—what is that up against an industry that is massively better supported? Let us support our farmers by ensuring that the market is fair and that it is refereed fairly and strongly. The draft regulations go a small way to achieve that in the pig sector.
8 Apr 2025 · Horizon Redress and Post Office Update · Hansard source
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Does the Minister acknowledge that among the horrific impacts of the Horizon scandal is the massive brand damage to Post Office Ltd and its management among not only the sub-postmasters who are currently employed, but the potential workforce of the future? Our communities in the lakes in Hawkshead, Staveley and Grasmere are currently without an operating post office and have lost those services. Will the Minister give attention to and push Post Office Ltd to provide a package that not just encourages people to remain within the Post Office, but attracts new people, acknowledging that it will take more effort than normal to attract people into the sector? On the issue of franchise services, our post office in Kendal shares space with the Royal Mail, and any change of site for our post office could threaten both. Is he cognisant of that, and will he do something about it?
8 Apr 2025 · Persecution of Christians · Hansard source
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It is an absolute honour, Ms Butler, to serve under your guidance this morning. I pay particular tribute to the hon. Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) for starting the debate so very well. I think that to be a Liberal is to stand up for the rights of people that we do not like and do not agree with. It is easy to stand up for the minorities that we agree with. But on this occasion, I speak as somebody who I guess belongs to the minority on planet Earth and indeed, if we believe the last United Kingdom census, in this country: I am a Christian. As other people have said, I will try to race through my remarks, so that others can get their fair share of the time available. I pay tribute to Open Doors for its world watchlist and for the work it has done in exposing persecution around the world. I will just focus on one or two instances, in particular the state of Libya. Libya is very important for so many reasons. It is the fourth most persecuted place on planet Earth for Christians. Only 0.5%—35,000—of the people in Libya are Christians. If a woman in Libya is even suspected of being interested in Christianity, they will face horrific abuse, sexual violence, house arrest, forced marriage and even, so to speak, “honour killing”. Neither men nor women are spared. They are subjected to losing their jobs, their homes and their livelihoods. Such incidents are not isolated in Libya; there are widespread attacks upon Christians and suspected Christians right across the country, and the total instability there makes things even worse. I highlight Libya because it is the country through which so many refugees who may end up in this country go through. When we talk about the channel crossings, let us put things in perspective. Whatever dangers people put themselves through to cross the channel—and they are huge dangers—they are absolutely nothing compared to the hideous dangers that people go through to cross Libya, in order to get themselves to the Mediterranean in the first place. Eritrea is a country where 44% of the population is Christian, and where young men and women find themselves forcibly conscripted indefinitely, very often to kill their own people. We need to be aware of that when we are talking about the refugee crisis. It is not just failing states where there is a threat to Christians. We see Christian nationalism around the world, where Christianity is appropriated for political purposes—either to shore up the regime, country or state, or one’s own political party. I counsel all Christians to be deeply suspicious of those who seek to appropriate the gospel for political purposes. China has been mentioned as well—a country where, on the face of it, Christianity is tolerated. However, branches of the Church, house churches and those faithful to Christ alone who will not bow the knee to the state, find themselves increasingly under serious threat. It is worth touching on for a moment why Christians are the most persecuted group on planet Earth, though they are not the only persecuted group—we should stand with all others as well, as I said in my opening remarks. Christians believe we have ultimate allegiance somewhere else. Famously in Matthew 22:20, Jesus is approached by someone who is trying to catch him out by asking, “Are you going to pay taxes to the temple? Are you going to pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus picks up a coin and says, “Whose image is on this coin?” The image is of Caesar’s. Jesus famously says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” That may or may not be an instruction to pay taxes, but it is definitely about giving the image-bearer—or the image-provider—all of what the image entails. That coin had Caesar’s image on it, but God’s image is on us—so yes, give the coin to Caesar, but give all of oneself to God. One can see why that is deeply counter-cultural and offensive. I heard Justin Welby being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg the other weekend, as many hon. Members will have. The most irritating part of the interview, from my perspective, is when Justin Welby did not push back when Laura Kuenssberg said, “Why isn’t the Church more in tune with the culture?” That is because we are not meant to be. We are counter-cultural in every place and generation, which will wind up dictators and so-called democrats. That is why I pay tribute to the Prime Minister for appointing the hon. Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), and for recognising that freedom of religion and belief is something we must always fight for because especially for Christians, as we live our counter-cultural lives, we will always be offensive following one who caused the greatest of all offences and died on a cross for all of our sins.
8 Apr 2025 · Economic Growth · Hansard source
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Is now not the right time to start trying to make our own luck? In that light, would it not also be the right time for the Chancellor to give the green light to the upgrade of the A66 between Penrith and Scotch Corner? Some 25% of traffic on that A road is freight, which is twice the average for A roads across the country, and it is outrageous that so much of the road is single carriageway. Would it not be great for the economy, as well as save lives, if the Chancellor gave the upgrade the green light today?
2 Apr 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Q3. The Prime Minister has spoken very movingly, and with genuine sincerity and affection, about his time as a young man in the Langdale valley in the Lake district in my constituency and how that helped to shape him. I wonder whether he is aware that the hill farmers who maintain those stunning landscapes in the lakes and elsewhere will be earning on average significantly less than or barely half of the national minimum wage due to cuts in their income, despite the fact that they provide the backdrop to the remarkably important tourism economy. Will he agree to meet me and upland farmers in the lakes and the dales so that we can design a scheme together to end this poverty and equip our hill farmers to produce food and protect our epic landscapes for generations to come?
26 Mar 2025 · Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source
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It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your guidance, Mr Twigg. For what it is worth, had we gone for a closure motion I would have voted with my Opposition colleagues. There should have been an impact assessment. However, it is worth bearing in mind that many times during the last Parliament—I could comb through Hansard to check the exact number, but it is in double figures— I asked the previous Farming Minister for an impact assessment of, for example, the reduction of the basic payment scheme and the failure to introduce the transitional changes in a timely fashion, and answer came there none. I can inform the Committee that livestock farmers were 44% worse off in terms of income at the end of 2024 compared with 2019. The Conservative spokesman, the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley, can visit as many farmers as he likes, and I hope the Minister also visits many farmers, but every last one of them will be poorer because of the actions of the last Conservative Government. It is important to have that on the record. The reality is that all parties in this place, certainly the ones represented on the Committee today, signed up to ELMS and the principle of public money for public goods. That is a good principle, but the transition has been marked by two clear things: imprecise timing of the reduction of the old scheme and the old money, and the failure to get people into the new schemes. Of course that is also the case under this Government, but we had the same conversations with the former Farming Minister, Mark Spencer, and he said the exact opposite of what the Conservative spokesman has said today. The failure of the transition between 2019 and 2024 led to a £200 million underspend. The Government are always talking about £5 billion over two years. My maths is not brilliant, but I reckon that is £2.5 billion a year, which is £100 million more than before. That is a good thing, because we worried ahead of the Budget last autumn that the new Labour Government would bake in the consequences of the underspend and the Tories’ incompetence, but they did not do that. However, it is right that Opposition Members have mentioned on more than one occasion that freezing the budget at £2.4 billion, which is what it was at the point we left the EU in early 2020, is hardly a great achievement. Of course, there was inflation through all the years of the Conservative Government. If they were serious about the transition being funded properly, the budget would have been more than £2.4 billion when the Labour Government came into power. Inflation has been huge over those five years, especially in the farming industry when it comes to feed costs, fertiliser, fuel, energy and so many other things. The industry barely washes its face, so we are left in this situation. I do not buy the Conservative party’s references, either before or since, to today's financial statement being an emergency Budget. If it had been an emergency Budget, it would have said something. The Chancellor could have had the day off, bless her, because it contained very little. One of the few things in the statement of any potential impact was the day-to-day budget savings for various departments, including DEFRA. I reckon it is about £200 million from a budget of which ELM makes up 40% or 45%. A pro-rata cut in day-to-day spending means we would potentially see the £2.5 billion shaved. It would be good to hear from the Minister whether that will be the case. One of the real problems with the transition, and the reason I am angry about the situation in which we find ourselves—on behalf of the farmers I represent in Westmorland and Lonsdale, and across the United Kingdom, and especially the farmers in England who are specifically affected—is that entry to the new schemes has been crudely marked by larger landowners, corporates and those with the wherewithal either to have land agents or to allow farmers time off to negotiate with Natural England, the Rural Payments Agency and DEFRA. Those people are inside the schemes; the typical farmer outside the scheme is, for example, a hill farmer in Westmorland, working 90 hours a week, either on their own or with no family members working on the farm. They cannot afford a land agent and are utterly isolated, feeling beleaguered. They are the ones outside the various environmental schemes, particularly SFI. When the drawbridge was pulled up, for the time being, on SFI, we worked out that there were 6,100 entrants to the scheme. Of those, a grand total of 40 were from severely disadvantaged areas, particularly the uplands. That gives a snapshot of who is in and who is not. When the Minister defended the Government’s decision on the SFI closure a few weeks ago, he made some points that were right, but with the wrong conclusions. He said, of course, that SFI was “first come, first served”. The big landowners were therefore typically on the inside and the smaller businesses were on the outside, but that is not a good reason to pull up the drawbridge, just at the point that these smaller farmers were about to cross the moat and enter the castle, so to speak. According to DEFRA’s own figures, the consequence of all this is that, as things stand, by the end of the transition in two years’ time, the average farmer in a severely disadvantaged area will be on 55% of the minimum wage. That is an absolute outrage. By the way, owner-occupiers in my neck of the woods could also be sitting on an asset that is technically worth £2 million or £3 million, so they will be clobbered by the family farm tax as well. Those people on half the minimum wage, earning £12,000 or £13,000, will have to pay 20 grand a year in inheritance tax. Come off it! That is not fair. The consequence is that those people will have to sell up. Where will that farm go? Will the neighbouring family buy it? No, of course not, because they are in the same pickle. Instead, it will be sold to a corporate that probably does not produce any food whatsoever. That ought to make Labour Members feel deeply uncomfortable. What a lack of social justice that implies. My concern is that we are now being asked to vote for the hastening of something that is already doing huge damage to the sector. A 76% cut to the basic payment in one fell swoop will be crippling for many farmers, particularly those who are not yet inside the other agri-environment schemes, particularly SFI. I worry about tenant farmers in my constituency and around the country. That money was probably paying the rent this year. Both this Government and the previous Government accepted the recommendations of Baroness Rock’s excellent review, yet neither implemented them. To do all of this and put tenants, in particular, in a moment of extreme fragility and vulnerability before the Rock review could protect them was doing it the wrong way around. That is why the reduction to the BPS should have been parked until the Rock review’s recommendations were in practice, so that tenant farmers could be protected. In parts of my community, I am seeing something akin to a lakeland clearance. People who have farmed the valleys, the lakes and the dales for generations are being forced off because of both Governments’ failure to plan ahead. I agree with the NFU, which clearly has the same sources as me, that there will be a £400 million shortfall and underspend based on what we know about the 76% cut to the BPS and the failure to roll out the agri-environmental schemes more comprehensively. All that builds a deeply troubling picture. A few weeks ago DEFRA officials appeared before the EFRA Committee, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael). On behalf of the Department, they proudly said that they reckon 92% to 93% of farms will survive this process—I beg your pardon? That means DEFRA appears to be counting on 7% to 8% of farms not surviving. I know the kinds of places where they will not survive: places like the lakes and the dales, which is outrageous. This all boils down to a deep injustice, but it is foolish as well. At a time when the UK is in a very dicey situation internationally, for us to do anything that undermines our food security is incredibly stupid, as well as unjust. The consequences of this move will cause, and are causing, huge hardship. It is worth saying that people who will suffer the most are the people of the uplands and SDAs. It seems to me that Britain’s poorest farmers, in Britain’s prettiest places, are the ones who will take the hit. That will have consequences for our ability to feed ourselves. We produce only 55% of the food we eat in this country, which is nowhere near enough, and it needs to be at least 20 percentage points higher. Farmers care for our environment and our landscape. The Lake district’s world heritage site status could be at risk if we do not care for it properly. I am also seeing the consequences of a lack of trust in the Government’s transition—both this Government and the previous Government—which is leading farmers to take the exact opposite decision to the one the Government want. Just a week and a half ago, when I spoke to a group of farmers from Penrith and elsewhere in Cumbria, the overwhelming sense was of anger and, more than that, disillusionment with the whole system. What will those farmers do? They will opt out of environmental schemes altogether. They will think, “Do you know what? Perhaps I will pay the rent more easily if I quadruple my livestock, even if I undo all the good work that my mum and dad, and their parents before them, did on environmental issues for decades.” That is all because they have lost trust in the system. As other Members have rightly mentioned, all of this has a huge impact on the wellbeing and mental health of these folks. Typically, and certainly in my area, farmers are one-person bands farming in isolated scenarios, and they are the fifth, sixth or seventh generation to have farmed that valley and that community. They find themselves staring down the barrel of being the one who loses the family farm. It is not their fault, but they will believe it is. Do you know what that will do to people in those extreme circumstances? I will also vote against the motion for all the reasons that have been set out. There is a way forward for farmers, if this Government take food security seriously and seek to deliver public money for public goods, as was promised at the beginning of this process.
26 Mar 2025 · Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source
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The Minister can write to me later if he cannot answer now, but what is the saving to DEFRA of the 76% cut in basic payment? The idea that this is financially literate would add up only if he had not created a saving, but he clearly has. By closing SFI when he did, he is clearly not spending that saving—so how much is it? Is the NFU right to say that it is £400 million?
25 Mar 2025 · Dualling the A66 · Hansard source
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I rise to present a petition on behalf of 2,247 of my constituents who call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to urgently give the go-ahead to plans to dual the A66 from Penrith to Scotch Corner. They declare that this would bring “huge benefits to the north West region, reducing congestion and providing a big boost to the North economy; further note that it will limit the number of serious and fatal accidents which tragically are a regular occurrence on this road. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to give the green light to plans to dual the A66 between Penrith and Scotch Corner, which would reduce congestion, boost the economy, and save lives.” Following is the full text of the petition: [The petition of residents of the constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale, Declares that giving the go-ahead to plans to dual the A66 from Penrith to Scotch Corner would bring huge benefits to the north West region, reducing congestion and providing a big boost to the North economy; further notes that it will limit the number of serious and fatal accidents which tragically are a regular occurrence on this road. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to give the green light to plans to dual the A66 between Penrith and Scotch Corner, which would reduce congestion, boost the economy, and save lives. And the petitioners remain, etc.] [P003054]
25 Mar 2025 · Asylum Hotels and Illegal Channel Crossings · Hansard source
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I hope I am not the only person here who is utterly depressed by the complete lack of compassion shown by the shadow Home Secretary and the lack of recognition that the people we are talking about have stories of their own and have experienced horrors that we can barely even imagine. Is it not right that we look at this in a more thoughtful way? To reduce cost to the taxpayer and help those who will be successful asylum seekers to integrate, would it not be wise to allow people who are asylum seekers to work after being here for three months?
20 Mar 2025 · Agricultural and Business Property Reliefs · Hansard source
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Is the Minister aware that some of the farmers who will be worst hit by the APR changes are those who farm in severely disadvantaged areas in the uplands around our country, where typically property values are high and incomes are extremely low? When the change was made just last week with people being excluded from the sustainable farming incentive, 6,100 people had entered the SFI in this session, and only 40 of them were hill farmers. Is he also aware that his own Department’s figures show that at the end of the transition, the average hill farm income will be 55% of the national minimum wage? Does he not understand that his changes are bringing harm to the poorest farmers in the prettiest places, such as mine? Will he undertake to look at the Liberal Democrat proposal to bring in an uplands reward so that we do not plunge into poverty those people who care for our precious landscapes?
19 Mar 2025 · Transport Connectivity: North-west England · Hansard source
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May I point out that there were many more railway lines then, and therefore more trains to be slow? It was also mostly pre-electricity—so there we go. I am grateful for the hon. Member’s point. The industrial capability of the west coast of Cumbria—not in my constituency—is significant to the economy of the whole country, and includes BAE at Barrow and Sellafield on the west coast. The railway line that serves them—the Furness line—saw a derailment a year ago and a flooding-related near disaster just a few weeks ago. We need to pay special attention to keeping the Furness line open, upgrading it and electrifying it if possible. I also want to make a case, on behalf of all my Cumbrian colleagues, for the Cumbria coastal line, which needs significant investment. It is great to hear colleagues from metropolitan parts of the north-west talk about keeping the £2 bus fare cap, but for many of us in areas that are far less well funded, and where devolution has not really happened, such as Cumbria, we are stuck with the £3 cap, and we are worried about that being got rid of altogether. Before the cap came in, the most expensive bus journey in the United Kingdom was Kendal to Ambleside, which cost more than an hour’s wage for somebody working in the hospitality sector. Will the Minister confirm that the £3 cap will not be raised or got rid of any time soon? It is my great privilege to represent a very rural area, but that means that even when the £3 cap exists, it is of no good whatsoever. It does a fat lot of good if we do not have any buses. Giving our local authority, Westmorland and Furness council, the ability to run its own buses is key to meeting the needs of many rural communities. I am honoured to chair an outfit called Cumbria Better Connected, to which all these issues are regularly fed in. One of the most important issues is connectivity and integration between bus and rail, but it is no—
19 Mar 2025 · Transport Connectivity: North-west England · Hansard source
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Will the Minister give way?
19 Mar 2025 · Transport Connectivity: North-west England · Hansard source
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It is an honour to serve under your guidance this morning, Dr Murrison. It is also an honour to follow the hon. Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt), who admirably led this debate, as well as many other colleagues from across the north-west who have made excellent contributions on behalf of both their constituencies and the north-west as a whole, which is of course the greatest region on planet Earth. It is home to the greatest towns and cities, and indeed the greatest and most beautiful landscape that we have to offer. The north-west is the birthplace of the industrial revolution, yet it is appalling that our region performs 6.8% below the national average on productivity. Indeed, the only regions with productivity above the national average are London and the south-east. Over the last 60 or 70 years, we have become a steadily unipolar country, and the north-west, like lots of other parts of the UK, has become undermined. We saw levelling up from the last Government, which had some admirable aspects, but essentially—dare I say—it felt like a whole load of pork barrel with no strategy. Let us hope that we can have some strategy. The cancellation of HS2 summed up that lack of strategy. I completely agree with the hon. Members for Blackley and Middleton South (Graham Stringer) and for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge), who is my neighbour; they talked about HS2 being about capacity and not speed. If we had a proper HS2 line to the north-west that mirrored and upgraded the west coast main line, which is the most congested rail line in western Europe, that would give us the opportunity to reopen many stations along the existing main line— I will throw out Tebay, Shap and Milnthorpe, just to name three. We must also think about how important it is for the north-west to relate to not just London but other parts of the north of England. East-west connectivity is crucial. What we used to call High Speed 3, or Northern Powerhouse Rail, is hugely significant, and we want to see and hear more about it. As an MP in Cumbria, I am bound to say that often, when we talk about the north-west, we seem to stop thinking about anything that exists north of junction 32 —I can confirm that it does exist. In particular, I would love the Minister to focus on the A66, which is a hugely important road for connectivity that links the A1(M) and the M6, so it connects the ports in the east and the west of this country. In a parallel universe, it would have been a motorway. However, for 12 miles it is a single carriageway, where there are hideous numbers of deaths that are always concentrated in that small section. I urge the Minister and his colleagues to say yes to the A66 upgrade as soon as possible. Everybody in my neck of the woods is on tenterhooks waiting to hear. Likewise, there is work that has to be done on the M6 near junction 38. While it is massively important to the whole motorway network in the north, the people of Tebay must not be isolated during that work, and I ask the Minister to pay special attention to the so far inadequate levels of mitigation from National Highways, as those eight bridges have to be replaced in the coming years. It is also important to talk about trains, and to think about what train services are like across the whole of the north-west. I want to highlight the situation with Avanti, and its failure to serve the northern half of the north-west adequately. It is worth bearing in mind that rail services on the west coast managed to meet their timetable obligations only 43.5% of the time, and last year, more than one in 20 services were cancelled. Any of us who live north of Preston know that any problem in the borders of Scotland or Glasgow means a train cancelled at Preston. Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle and Lockerbie are often completely overlooked, and that must stop. I also want the Minister to think very carefully about what can be done to expand existing railway lines to make better use of them. The most visited destination in the United Kingdom outside London is the Lake district, yet we have a single railway line that goes from the main line to Windermere. It is possible, quite cheaply, to double capacity by having a passing loop at Burneside, and I would love the Minister to look at that possibility and see whether he agrees to it.
18 Mar 2025 · Warm Homes Plan · Hansard source
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I strongly support all efforts to increase energy efficiency and bring down bills. Is the Secretary of State concerned about the potential unforeseen consequences of raising the minimum level of energy performance certificates to C for long-term rented accommodation but not doing so for short-term lets and owned properties? Will that not create an incentive in communities such as ours for people to go to Airbnb or second home ownership, rather than providing affordable homes for local people?
18 Mar 2025 · Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill · Hansard source
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In that spirit, will the Minister look at my new clause 30, which calls on the Government to review the effectiveness and value of outdoor education and learning for young people in both primary and secondary schools? We have a mental ill health pandemic in this country and are trying to put that right. Will she acknowledge that building young people’s resilience through outdoor education is good not just for dealing with that, but for building young people’s ability to rely on others and themselves? That helps them in situations in which they are not comfortable, and when they go back to the classroom, they are more willing to learn. Does she see this as a moment in which to invest in outdoor education, in every part of the country?
17 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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T4. The Secretary of State co-chairs the child poverty taskforce. Will she confirm that its brief will be very wide-ranging, including looking at children in poverty in dispersed rural communities such as mine, but also taking practical steps to tackle poverty among migrant children whose parents have no recourse to public funds?
12 Mar 2025 · Housing Development Planning: Water Companies · Hansard source
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I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. She mentions the amendment we pushed in the Bill Committee, which was not accepted by the Government. It is indeed vital that water companies are statutory consultees throughout the process, but we should bear in mind that there is an incentive for water companies to say that there is no problem: the additional buildings mean more water bills and more income for the water company. If the company concedes that there is a problem, it may have to respond by making improvements to the infrastructure, costing it money. Do we not need better regulation? Ofwat and the Environment Agency need to be put together into a single, new clean water authority, so that we enforce clean water standards on the water companies that are currently running rings around our regulators.
12 Mar 2025 · Sustainable Farming Incentive · Hansard source
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I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. The closure of the SFI from 6 o’clock last night came without warning or consultation, and it constitutes the breaking of the Government’s word to farmers. Farmers are already losing their basic payment this year, but they are now excluded from the very scheme designed to replace that. Has the Minister not broken his word to farmers and to all who care about nature? Will he clarify how much money he will save from the BPS cuts this year and say that it is not true that SFI is overspent? Is it not true that when the BPS cut is taken into account, more than £400 million of the £2.5 billion farming budget will remain unspent? A bigger budget is pointless if we do not spend it. This money was supposed to reward farmers for nature restoration and sustainable food production. Does this not damage both? There are 6,100 new entrants to SFI this year, yet only a mere 40 of them are hill farms. Because of the failure of the Conservatives in the previous Administration, the big landowners and the corporates are already comfortably inside the tent, but the farmers who are outside and now locked out without warning are Britain’s poorest farmers in beautiful places, such as mine in the lakes and the dales. As the Tories oversaw a 41% drop in hill farm incomes in just five years, is this not a bitter and unbearable blow for our upland farmers? This betrayal will outrage everyone who cares for our environment, our upland nature and landscapes and it will outrage everyone who cares about food security and it will outrage everyone who cares about our tourism economy. It will also outrage everyone who clings to that old-fashioned expectation that Governments should keep their word. On Monday, the Secretary of State came to my beautiful constituency to pose for pictures by Windermere. I wonder whether he might come back tomorrow and face up to the farmers who steward the stunning landscapes around our beautiful lakes, and who he has abandoned so shamefully. Will he reopen SFI and honour his promises, or turn his back on the very people who feed us?
10 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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What formal assessment have Ministers made, or will they make, of the benefits to children’s mental health and physical health, resilience and ability to learn of investing in more opportunities for residential outdoor education experiences?

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