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are no further points of order, if members have been satisfied at least | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
without I suggest that the club will now proceed to read the orders of | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
the day. I called the Minister of State to | :00:00. | :00:20. | |
move the second reading of this bill and I warn new members and large | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
members of new members are seeking to make their maiden speeches, that | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
of course they must remain for the opening speeches and remaining for | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
the speech of the Minister of State means that they will be about to | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
learn a lot about air travel organisation and licensing, but | :00:39. | :00:46. | |
probably will benefit from a fair number of philosophical references | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
in the course of the oration of the Minister of State. I speak with some | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
experience for the Minister of State John Hayes. I'm very grateful to | :00:55. | :01:01. | |
you. I beg to move that the bill be read a second time. It is, as you | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
will gladly acknowledge, both fitting and humbling that I should | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
have been chosen to introduce the first piece of legislation of this | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
new parliament. Fitting because of my status of popularity and humbling | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
because it doesn't pay to draw attention to it either. Honourable | :01:24. | :01:33. | |
members will recognise in taking a look at this bill, that it reflects | :01:34. | :01:41. | |
that this government like others before it, recognise the value of | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
providing UK businesses with the best possible opportunities to grow | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
but also making sure that consumers are protected when and how they need | :01:51. | :01:58. | |
to be in respect, in this case, of how and when they purchase their | :01:59. | :02:08. | |
holiday. So, I introduce this bill on air, travel, licensing bill, so | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
that we can make sure that protection of consumers can keep | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
pace with changes in the travel market. This bill has a long genesis | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
in two ways, firstly it builds on long established good practice. This | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
arrangement of course is born of the arrangements that began in the | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
1970s, that of a similar kind to protect the interests of travellers, | :02:38. | :02:44. | |
and secondly agenesis because we have debated these issues already at | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
some length. We had an earlier bill which I will refer to later, in | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
which these measures were included. We were able to read that the second | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
time and go to committee and debate it in some detail. And I have to say | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
that was done with a convivial and consensual way. And I will refer to | :03:02. | :03:10. | |
that later. There was a recommendation that the consumer | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
protection measures in terms of holidays and holiday-makers need to | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
keep pace with changing circumstances and conditions in the | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
travel market. Now there may be in this chamber as I speak, there may | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
be those who affected by the pernicious appeal of liberalism, | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
because it doesn't appeal -- does appeal to some people who may | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
believe that the free market can sort these things out for itself. | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
That is not a view that I hold and I know there will be Wise heads across | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
this chamber who recognise the role of government in intervening where | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
the market files. It doesn't happen regularly in respect of holiday | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
company stash market fails. Anyone who has looked at the area of this | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
history of the government's work, it has been rare that the fund has been | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
called upon, but nevertheless it is an important fund and an important | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
protection and it provides assurance and confidence to holiday-makers as | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
they go about their lawful and regular business. I'm sorry that I'm | :04:17. | :04:25. | |
not able to continue to enjoy the retreat of the right honourable | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
gentleman, but that particular pleasure is now to be enjoy it by | :04:30. | :04:40. | |
the first-ever chairman of ways and Means -- to enjoy the oratory. New | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
members are probably somewhat but for blood by this state of affairs | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
-- somewhat confused by this state of affairs, but I think we can call | :04:52. | :05:00. | |
him a one-off. Minister of State. I was about to move to John Ruskin, | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
actually. As the speaker leaves the chamber. John Ruskin said that the | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
first test of a truly great man is his humility and we move this | :05:12. | :05:19. | |
legislation in the humble spirit, recognising that this is a changing | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
market, that government must act to reflect that change but also | :05:24. | :05:25. | |
recognising it will continue to change. And any government that | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
believes this is the end of the story, I think would be disregarding | :05:31. | :05:39. | |
the likely further changes that are likely to arise on technology, the | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
way the internet operates and the way that technology will change the | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
way we go about our business and there will be need for further | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
provision at some point. But this is an important step at this stage to | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
bring that up to date and up to speed. I happily give way. To a man | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
who played a useful role in the committee which I referred to. | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
I thank the Minister for giving way. The minister is aware that this | :06:07. | :06:14. | |
legislation was part of the aviation technology bill. Can he explain what | :06:15. | :06:16. | |
is going to happen with the other measures that were in the aviation | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
technology Bill, particularly regarding fences and the use of | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
lasers that affect pylons? I would not want to test your patience or | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
indeed your largess in ranges widely across the provisions of those other | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
aspects of that deal, but the honourable gentleman is right to | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
point out these particular measures, as I said earlier, he had the | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
Genesis in that bill and we will be bringing further measures to the | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
house. The Queen 's speech makes it clear for example that we will | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
address the issues of autonomous and electric vehicles which he debated | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
alongside the honourable gentleman who speaks funny opposition and | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
others on the committee that I mentioned. Further measures will be | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
brought forward, I think not wishing to test your generosity any further | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
I will leave it at that. In this new parliament many of the measures that | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
I described as essential will be brought forward, as the ATOL measure | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
is one of them. I hope the debate we have today will match that convivial | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
spirit of the discussions on the bill committee to which the | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
honourable gentleman referred, we did make progress there I think | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
across the house and I hope that continues. I think it is courtesy | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
those discussions demonstrated there is no difference in principle | :07:48. | :07:49. | |
between the government and opposition on this matter. I use the | :07:50. | :07:57. | |
words of the member from Northfield who also served and played a useful | :07:58. | :07:59. | |
rule on that committee. I will give way. Thank you. And I say aye very | :08:00. | :08:08. | |
much agree with his earlier philosophical point about the | :08:09. | :08:10. | |
appropriateness of government regulation in such matters. There | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
are many holiday-makers who will feel more secure, I am sure, when | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
this bill is passed. Can I ask the Minister if he has consulted closely | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
with the airlines? Particularly those airlines that fly from London | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
Luton Airport with holiday packages. I will come to that in my remarks, | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
actually, because the honourable gentleman is right to draw attention | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
to the role of the airlines in all of this. He will know they are | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
covered by other licensing arrangements, but I will address the | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
specific point he has made had as ever he makes the case for his Luton | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
constituents and particularly Luton airport which a noise in his in his | :08:56. | :09:02. | |
constituency. -- which I know is in his constituency. The Cardiff | :09:03. | :09:10. | |
International Airport is owed by the Welsh people through the government, | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
what discussions has the honourable member had about this airport and | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
operators working in Cardiff? We had discussions with devolved | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
governments about its character and content, and I think there is wide | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
agreement across the kingdom of the necessity of these measures. I | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
always enjoy my discussions with the devolved governments, and will | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
continue to do so in my role as Minister of State. He is right to | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
say that this affects all the part of our kingdom not least because of | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
the trouble -- the travelling that takes place to and from part of the | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
kingdom by air and we will certainly want to continue to receive the | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
representations as these matters roll out. Let me just before I go | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
any further say something I should have said at the outset, there has | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
been some debate in recent days in this chamber about sartorial | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
standards as you go more. I ought to see as a matter of courtesy I will | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
not be taking interventions by anyone who is not wearing at high. | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
-- who is not wearing a high. No matter what side of the house they | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
sit. As well as courtesy I believe in generosity and anyone that is | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
sartorially challenged or inadequate, I will provide a tie | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
for. I do have a tie here, which I have prepared to... And of course I | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
excluded from that lady members of the house. I would hardly expect to | :10:43. | :10:50. | |
dress in either my time, one of their own or anyone else's. Let's | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
move to the origins of the UK holiday market. This week will see | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
one of the UK and Wales leading travel brand celebrate hundreds and | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
five years of leading travel. It was on the 5th of July 1841 that Thomas | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
Cook arranged his first excursion. This was a one-day train journey | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
from Leicester to a temperance meeting in Loughborough. The train | :11:21. | :11:23. | |
carried out 500 passengers a distance of 12 miles and back for | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
one shilling. Contrary to popular belief, I was not a transport | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
minister at that time, and I certainly was not one of the | :11:33. | :11:34. | |
passengers but these early excursions were significant. They | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
help form the foundations of the travel to this sector in the UK, and | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
it meant for the first time affordable travel could be combined | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
with leisure activities and accommodation and offered to a | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
growing population of consumers. Of course today's holidays, today's | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
excursions, are quite different to those first once. Society has | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
changed with the promise of Sun and sea and sand and holidays are more | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
likely to be driven by temperature and temperance. I personally choose | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
to have my holidays on the east coast of England, very largely going | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
from Broadstairs Northumberland and those places in between. Not | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
everyone does and those who want to travel further afield and those who | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
wish to use technology to make those choices will want to know that they | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
are protected in doing so. The advancement of technology as | :12:29. | :12:37. | |
challenges continue to face the travel and hospitality sector. | :12:38. | :12:39. | |
Aeroplanes or people to travel further and from longer. The growth | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
of Internet and mobile phone technologies have revolutionised the | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
way people can book holidays, breaking greater opportunities for | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
consumers and businesses. In this respect as we discussed when we | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
debated the issues on the committee to which the honourable gentleman | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
referred a moment tackle it was clear to us then and I think clear | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
to the whole house that the UK has continued to lead the way. We have | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
one of the most innovative and advanced leisure travel sectors in | :13:10. | :13:11. | |
the world and one of the biggest markets in Europe. Tourism | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
contributes close to 121 billion to our economy annually, with outbound | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
tourism contributing around 30 billion. The need for strong | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
consumer protection is vital to underpin confidence in this | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
important sector. By its very nature of number of risks in the holiday | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
market which have existed ever since those first excursions. It is common | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
for consumers to pay up front on the promise of a holiday, which may be | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
many weeks or even months away. There can be a lack of awareness and | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
financial stability in holiday providers, particularly as the | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
services are often provided by third parties. In the rare event of a | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
company failure, as I mentioned at the outset that it is a rare thing, | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
consumers may experience financial loss from a cancelled holiday or | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
significant difficulties from being stranded abroad. It was against that | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
backdrop that the air travel organisers licence scheme, the ATOL | :14:11. | :14:18. | |
scheme was first introduced in the 1970s for UK holiday-makers flying | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
overseas. I will not target -- tire the house with a long and exhaustive | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
history of the ATOL scheme but I see that is disappointing you Madam | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
Deputy Speaker and is disappointing others but I will give all matters | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
-- all members as much opportunity is possible to contribute to this | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
debate but suffice to say the ATOL scheme has protected consumers of | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
the travel company fails and it does so in two ways. Firstly, travel | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
firms sell five packages in the UK, they must hold a ATOL licence issued | :14:52. | :14:58. | |
by the Civil Aviation Authority. This helps regulate entry into the | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
market and filter out companies that are not financially robust. The | :15:04. | :15:11. | |
scheme also acts as a front -- at a fund to compensate consumers who may | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
be caught up in a failure. The ATOL licence company must pay a small | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
levy of ?2 50 per person protected by ATOL, this money is then held in | :15:21. | :15:28. | |
the air travel trust fund and used by the CAA to ensure consumers are | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
returned home refunded when a company fails. I will give way. The | :15:32. | :15:39. | |
minister was delighted to be able to give me on that point I'm sure. | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
First a correction, Luton airport is in the constituency of Luton South, | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
and the member from the member for Luton North and I have many a | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
competitive conversation about it. What the point of the ?2.5 charge, | :15:52. | :16:00. | |
there is a significant surplus and that funds now, is the confident | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
where in the new regions where a light meal and European member | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
states the best regime in which to pay into that the 2.50 pounds figure | :16:09. | :16:18. | |
is the right thing to charge? I first apologise for a scraping Luton | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
airport to his constituency neighbour but not them, as you will | :16:24. | :16:26. | |
know in my previous ministerial job I was able to visit Luton South and | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
enjoy his hospitality alongside the local authority. Luton is playing a | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
bigger part in this debate that we may have expected, given that both | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
members have contributed to it. The fund as he will now is administered | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
by the CAA with trustees appointed by the Secretary of State. It builds | :16:45. | :16:51. | |
up over time and is invested accordingly, there are around | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
hash-mac There is about 140 million in the fund as we speak and clearly | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
if a major holiday company did collapse it would be essential with | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
sufficient monies in that fund to cover any such collapse because it | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
is not conceivable that could happen more than once in a short period of | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
time. So the critical thing is that the fund is never short of money. | :17:14. | :17:21. | |
The guarantee if you like is that we will protect consumers and get | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
people home safely from perhaps far-flung destinations and that they | :17:25. | :17:31. | |
will not lose out as a result of things that they could not have | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
anticipated or have affected. So that is how the fund sets. But if it | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
is helpful Madam Deputy Speaker I am more than happy to provide the whole | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
house with a further note on how the fund has changed and grown over | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
time. I mention how it is comprised, and it would be helpful for me to | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
make available to the library and therefore to the house more details | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
of the kind the honourable Dutchman has asked for as he moved from the | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
second reading onwards. More than happy to do that of course. I will | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
give way. I thank the Minister, and he is right to say that this | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
cross-party support for greater protection of consumers but he also | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
mentioned safety and I wonder if he would take this opportunity to tell | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
us whether the transport ministers intend to bring forward legislation | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
not just to deal with the dangers posed by laser pens but also as we | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
have had again today, the dangers posed by drones. The honourable lady | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
will know that that too has been raised in the course of discussions | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
about what was originally known as the transport Bill or apocryphal | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
lake known as such but then became the technology and aviation | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
hash-mac Technology and aviation Bill. She will also know due to a | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
keen interest in transport matters and enthusiasm to take those matters | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
further with an election that I will not mention more than just to refer | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
to it obliquely in the way I just have. We are currently consulting on | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
just those matters, the consultation is finished and we will be bringing | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
our conclusions to the house and elsewhere very shortly. She is right | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
however to say and they have is on record, this is a matter of some | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
concern, there is a system legislation which provide some | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
protection, so for example from drones interfering with military | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
aircraft and secure sites and so on and so forth, it is covered to some | :19:41. | :19:43. | |
degree in that legislation but there is a case to do more which is widely | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
consulted on the matter and I know that she will give the results of | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
the consultation and her response to it are very close attention in the | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
way she always does. Let me move on if I might, Madam Deputy Speaker, as | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
I said I do not want to prolong this exciting speech too much. The scheme | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
as I said also acts to save consumers who may be caught up in a | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
failure, I have talked about the fund which is administered by the | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
CAA to ensure consumers are returned home and since the 1990s the ATOL | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
scheme has been the primary method by which the UK travel sector | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
provided protection under the UK and Europe travel regimes. Today the | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
scheme,... I will in a second I will finish this sentence. Today the | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
scheme protects 20 million people per year, giving peace of mind to | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
holiday-makers in Luton and elsewhere. I will give way. I thank | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
him in his generosity. It is reported in the notes that between | :20:45. | :20:52. | |
1998 and 2009 those covered by ATOL fell from 90% of leisure flights to | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
50%. This is a substantial drop in 11 years. Could he see whether | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
passengers, some passengers were affected by the not covered in that | :21:05. | :21:06. | |
period? The purpose of this legislation as I | :21:07. | :21:17. | |
said is to make sure that ATOL remains fit for purpose and he is | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
right in saying that the way people travel and the means by which they | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
book their holidays and the organisations they use, are | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
changing, and that it is wide it is necessary to look again at ATOL, not | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
because it hasn't worked and the principles are right, but it needs | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
to reflect those changes. And so will we have before us is the first | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
step in doing so and anticipating if I'm at, and I don't wish to do so | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
impertinently, what the shadow Secretary of State may ask me, it is | :21:54. | :21:56. | |
also true to say that this is just that, a first step, creating a | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
framework which will allow us to update ATOL and there will be | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
further steps required which might come through regulation and might | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
come through further review. Of the appropriate aspects. That is | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
something he raised when we debated these matters briefly before and | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
I've no doubt he will want to press beyond this again but there is an | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
Adonis note -- acknowledgement that this is a rapidly moving marketplace | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
which will require rapidity in our response. Yes, of course. I'm very | :22:33. | :22:42. | |
grateful. There's a sense of deja vu after also serving on the vehicle | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
technology and aviation Bill committee. I agree with the general | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
nature of the measures he wishes to introduce and he's right in saying a | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
fast moving market. There's also some concern in industry which plans | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
typically 12-18 months ahead that they will need the detailed the | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
secondary legislation as soon as possible to allow them to prepare | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
effectively for it. Yes, that's a point which you may have raised in | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
that committee. My memory is good but not encyclopaedic. I do seems a | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
call that this is a point that he has made previously and he is both | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
authoritative when it comes to matter regarding transport having | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
served on the select committee but also consistent. In his line of | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
argument. That is a perfectly fair question. That is what the | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
opposition would expect and what the house would expect, the more | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
information we can provide about what further steps we might take in | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
terms of regulation we will provide. There's nothing to be hidden. There | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
is no unnecessary contention are associated with this and no desire | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
to not get this right and the best way of getting it right is to listen | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
and learn as is so often the case in politics, in government and in life. | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
I've spoken about the diversification of the market and | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
the growth of the internet smart technologies, that is not a bad | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
thing, consumers have many options at their fingertips to buy holidays. | :24:17. | :24:24. | |
Indeed a survey estimated 75% of UK consumers now booked their holidays | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
over the internet. And as methods for selling holidays modernise, we | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
must adapt the schemes and regulations that protect them. | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
Quality is never an accident and is always the result of intelligent | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
effort as John Ruskin also said. That is why we took steps in 2012 to | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
update the ATOL scheme which introduced the certificate | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
confirming the protection offered and broadening the scope of | :24:54. | :24:55. | |
protection to include flight plus holidays. These interventions have | :24:56. | :25:03. | |
had a positive impact, extending consumer protection and improving | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
clarity for everyone. I think the key is that consumers know when and | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
how they are protected, so making sure the system is comprehensible as | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
well as comprehensive as possible, that seems to me the most important | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
aim and we now need to build on the changes we made and make sure that | :25:25. | :25:30. | |
ATOL keeps pace. In particular the new EU package travel directive was | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
agreed in 2015 to bring similar but further reaching improvements to | :25:38. | :25:40. | |
consumer protection across the whole of Europe, and I said earlier that | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
the UK has led the way in this field. It is not unreasonable to say | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
that Europe is now saying they want similar provisions across other | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
countries to the ones we have had here for some time. So that travel | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
directive I think is both reflective of and perhaps even inspired by the | :26:05. | :26:13. | |
success of our arrangements. This will need to be implemented into the | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
UK package travel regulations by the 1st of January, 2018. The government | :26:18. | :26:28. | |
has supported this. It will help to harmonise across Europe and this | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
will mean that protection across Europe is closer to the protection | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
we have enjoyed from the beginning but most especially since the | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
changes we put into place in 2012. To make sure the consistent approach | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
to protection... I will give way. Thank you. This is a very | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
interesting and full exploration. Can he clarify, at the moment it | :26:52. | :27:01. | |
applies to the first leg if that is from the UK, but in the future the | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
intention will be that if the UK team-1-macro regulated -- ATOL | :27:08. | :27:15. | |
regulator sold a holiday anywhere, that would be covered by the | :27:16. | :27:19. | |
potential levy? That is part of what we aim to do cover the aim is to | :27:20. | :27:22. | |
make sure that if a holiday is bought here, where ever you go, you | :27:23. | :27:29. | |
are protected inexact either way you describe -- in exactly the way. Part | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
of the changes to the way people book and make their holiday plans, | :27:36. | :27:38. | |
part of that is how you travel. The package holidays that people first | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
enjoyed in the 1960s and 70s are less routine now and they are not | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
the routine kind of way that people travel to the continent and further | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
afield. ATOL was born of that period when things were simpler. Thus my | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
point about the need for it to be keeping pace with those changes. | :28:01. | :28:07. | |
That consistent protection for holidays across Europe will make | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
sure that informal package holidays booked online will get the same | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
protection as traditional package for those booked on the high street | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
of the kind that have their beginnings very largely the most | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
people at least in the 60s and 70s -- that had. There will also be | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
protection to a new concept of linked travel arrangements. This is | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
maybe what the gentleman meant. This concept is designed to bring | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
protection to business models which are not packages which often compete | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
closely with packages, and overall the directive can provide a greater | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
level of protection to the UK consumer when they purchase from a | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
company established in the UK or overseas and will also help to level | :28:57. | :28:59. | |
the playing field for companies who are in the UK or overseas and | :29:00. | :29:03. | |
whether they operate in the high street or online. That point | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
matters, this is about protecting consumers and the clarity and | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
comprehensibility that I described, and it's also important for those in | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
the travel sector in the industry to know where they stand, we are | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
creating a greater degree of consistency which matters for them, | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
too, especially for the smaller businesses which need to know as | :29:27. | :29:29. | |
well as to feel that the regulations apply across the board in a | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
consistent and fair and reasonable and implementable way. In order to | :29:35. | :29:40. | |
bring the new directive into force by July next year, the clauses allow | :29:41. | :29:47. | |
for the ATOL scheme to be aligned will stop the clauses with | :29:48. | :29:53. | |
established companies and they will enable to protect these are the days | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
through ATOL and they don't need to apply for different schemes in each | :29:58. | :30:00. | |
country, that is the essence of what we are trying to achieve today. The | :30:01. | :30:10. | |
wood will also extend the aviation powers -- bill. Finally the bill | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
will allow the scheme or able to adapt more effectively to changes in | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
the travel market and I said I anticipated further change as time | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
goes on, and the bill paves the way for that further change. Overall the | :30:27. | :30:36. | |
updates will make to ATOL extended regulations and this will bring | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
protection is provided traditional and online package holidays and it | :30:41. | :30:47. | |
will also look at the way of travel which has been out of scope. We need | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
to be mindful that the landscape needs to be able to adapt to future | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
changes with our relationship with the European Union, and the changes | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
are in keeping with this principle and they will help consumers is, | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
businesses and regulators with minimal impact. They will also | :31:05. | :31:11. | |
retain flexibility in the regulations of ATOL to adapt to | :31:12. | :31:14. | |
future changes in our relationship with the European Union, make sure | :31:15. | :31:17. | |
we have strong protections in place as we leave the EU. I hope that that | :31:18. | :31:31. | |
has given a clear but reasonably concise picture of the bill we are | :31:32. | :31:39. | |
introducing and why. As I said, UK has also been a lead in this field, | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
and as we led in so many ways and in so many other areas. When it comes | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
to providing protection for holiday-makers, this bill will make | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
sure that the UK continues to lead whether we are inside or outside the | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
EU, providing UK businesses with the opportunity to expand and grow and a | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
framework for which ATOL is able to cope with future trends. This bill | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
is indicative of a government willing to act to protect and | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
preserve the interest of the people and I stand here as a minister ready | :32:15. | :32:23. | |
to do so. A bill for the people and for the people. -- and a covenant | :32:24. | :32:32. | |
for the people. -- government. Mr Andy McDonald. It was all going so | :32:33. | :32:40. | |
well until that last comment, but I think the minister has it right, | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
that this is a bill to be welcomed. The events are fairly rare but it is | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
imperative that this market develop and the response to it developed so | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
that those people who have those rare failures have recourse and he | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
will find a great deal of support on this side of the house for what he | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
says and for this bill. So I want to thank him for his summary and his | :33:06. | :33:12. | |
account. He's quite right, the matters to date in the related bill | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
were conducted with a great deal of conviviality and courtesy and indeed | :33:17. | :33:22. | |
humility. And he is to be credited with making sure that that was so. | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
But as has been said, it is with a certain sense of deja vu that we are | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
here again debating the issue of changes to the air travel organisers | :33:34. | :33:38. | |
licensing system. It is only four months since these very selfsame | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
clauses received their second reading when they were made of part | :33:44. | :33:52. | |
of the technology and aviation Bill, -- made a part of the technology and | :33:53. | :34:00. | |
aviation Bill. The decision of the Prime Minister to call the early | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
election meant that Bill and other legislation had to be dropped, and | :34:07. | :34:09. | |
having wasted a great dinner Parliamentary time and effort it was | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
then a surprise to see that there was no reference to it in the | :34:17. | :34:19. | |
Queen's Speech, and instead the government has decided to fragment | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
the legislation spitting it between this bill we are debating here | :34:26. | :34:32. | |
today, and the automated and electric vehicles bill which will be | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
debated later in the Parliament. 50% of the legislative programme | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
relating to transport for the next two years of this parliament will | :34:43. | :34:44. | |
merely be clauses that have been copied and pasted from the bill | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
which should already have been passed into law. And this surely | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
highlights how this minority government is out of ideas and has | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
very little new to offer the country as it focuses its attention on a | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
desperate attempt to cling on to power. | :35:03. | :35:11. | |
I think with the greatest respect the honourable gentleman is | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
underselling himself, the progress we made on that committee in that | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
consideration meant that when the government came to look at the model | :35:23. | :35:29. | |
of what good legislation looks like they look no further than the work | :35:30. | :35:33. | |
that he and I did. I take most of the credit but he should take some, | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
too. As ever the Minister is extremely generous in his praise but | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
he is right, we did make a lot of progress. I just hope we don't have | :35:45. | :35:47. | |
to do it all over again and that is the point, the government does not | :35:48. | :35:53. | |
have a plan to bring forward the tab in its entirety and it should have | :35:54. | :35:56. | |
been taken through but Madam Deputy Speaker you could be forgiven for | :35:57. | :36:02. | |
asking why this government does not dare to pass legislation that has | :36:03. | :36:05. | |
already passed through this place already and received support from | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
both sides of the house. It is of some considerable concern that a | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
number of very important clauses from the tab appear to have been | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
left out of the forthcoming programme, namely clauses in part | :36:21. | :36:22. | |
four of the bill that related to vehicle testing, the shining of | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
lasers that the honourable member raised earlier and diversely driving | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
courses but also those clauses in part three relating to air traffic | :36:35. | :36:41. | |
services appear to have been axed. Perhaps the Minister can offer some | :36:42. | :36:44. | |
explanation as to why they were deemed necessary to be the subject | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
of legislation but they have not been brought forward now and | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
moreover during the progression of that bill we on this side of the | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
house raised concerns over the absence of legislation that would | :36:58. | :36:59. | |
create a regular Tory framework to deal with drones with the | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
proliferation of drones in recent years we have also seen a sharp | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
increase in the number of near misses with planes, the latest | :37:10. | :37:13. | |
figures showing there were 33 such incidents confirmed in the first | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
five months of this year and 70 last year, whereas there are only 29 in | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
2015 and just ten in the five years before. Those in the aviation | :37:26. | :37:28. | |
industry have expressed their concern over the government's | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
failure to bring in legislation to tackle this worrying trend and... I | :37:33. | :37:40. | |
will. I am grateful to him for giving way and I enjoy the exchanges | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
in committee. I may be wrong but given the intervention I made | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
earlier, it is important to get this legislation on the statute book as | :37:51. | :37:53. | |
early as possible so the subsequent row -- subsequent legislation can | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
come into effect for an industry that has to plan 12-18 months ahead. | :37:59. | :38:05. | |
The answer measures an important but they can be put into a different | :38:06. | :38:08. | |
bill. Perhaps that is the reason. It is a reasonable point the honourable | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
gentleman raises but I think this was raised last time as being an | :38:13. | :38:20. | |
important part, as with this bill, the atoll bill was as well and tries | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
to come this far and not deal with such an important matter I think is | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
a gross omission and certainly had the roles been reversed we would be | :38:29. | :38:35. | |
wanting to bring in legislation before one of these near misses | :38:36. | :38:37. | |
turns into a catastrophic incident that could be avoided. We had in the | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
last 24 hours did we not about the incident at Catterick airport and | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
this should concern everyone in this house and I do make the offer to the | :38:48. | :38:54. | |
Minister quite genuinely, that we on this side of the house will be | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
nothing other than of the government wishes to bring forward legislation | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
and regulations so that we can better protect our airports and | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
other places of great sensitivity. This is a huge issue and the drone | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
industry and others who are supportive think that the freedom | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
for people to engage and indulge in this activity comes ahead of safety | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
and I was just gently put it to colleagues that we should really be | :39:26. | :39:33. | |
looking at this very closely. The honourable member does the house a | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
service in raising this for, the honourable lady from Gosford both | :39:38. | :39:40. | |
challenged merely and I made it clear that we have consulted and he | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
will be familiar with the consultation exercise, because we | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
agree that this is a matter that requires further consideration. I am | :39:51. | :39:53. | |
very happy to engage directly in discussions with him so that we can | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
find a way forward on drones, he is right that this is a changing and | :40:01. | :40:06. | |
potentially difficult and challenging matter. We need to work | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
as a government but also as a parliament to address it. Very happy | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
to take up his offer of those discussions on the back of the | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
consultation. I am very grateful again to the Minister. Again for his | :40:21. | :40:28. | |
consistent collegiate attitude and cooperation in this area. And to | :40:29. | :40:35. | |
this particular bill itself, he has approached it in exactly the same | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
approach and that should be acknowledged. We certainly share his | :40:39. | :40:46. | |
objective of making this bill and the forthcoming transport bills | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
relating to automated and electric vehicles and also the space industry | :40:52. | :40:54. | |
the best possible pieces of legislation as they passed the | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
house. We only wish that the government was prepared to respond | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
to the rapid technological advancements we have seen in recent | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
years and bring forward legislation in those areas that have been | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
previously outlined and touched upon, which are in urgent and | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
vitally very regular Tory framework that has become quite clear in | :41:15. | :41:17. | |
recent weeks. In action can risk lives. -- regular Tory framework. | :41:18. | :41:29. | |
The broad substance of these changes to ATOL are necessary and are for | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
the most part welcomed, the changes will harmonise UK law with the | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
latest EU package travel directive, they will have many benefits for UK | :41:41. | :41:47. | |
consumers and UK travel operators and a wide range of operators | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
including more dynamic package providers will be likely covered | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
under these changes. This will bring protection to many more UK | :41:57. | :42:00. | |
holiday-makers not covered under existing ATOL provisions. The | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
requirement for travel companies to be in line with standards at | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
establishments instead of place at sale will now mean that UK companies | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
can sell far more seamlessly across Europe by the -- by simply adhering | :42:18. | :42:25. | |
to the widely respected ATOL flag. However, these changes at EU level | :42:26. | :42:32. | |
to bring about one issue that could have adverse effects is in UK | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
consumers purchasing from EU -based travel companies. The changes made | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
to the directive will now mean that those EU -based company selling in | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
the UK only have two at here to a ATOL equivalent insolvency | :42:48. | :42:50. | |
protection laid out in the member state where that business is based. | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
In practice, this could have unintended consequences and more | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
significantly, costs for the UK consumers. Processes and timescales | :43:01. | :43:08. | |
for recompense maybe this thing with different to what many travellers | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
would expect under the gold standard of ATOL. The impact assessment | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
warrants that if consumers purchase a trip from a business established | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
elsewhere in the EU and the company becomes insolvent, there may be some | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
cost to the consumer of processing a claim with a known the UK insolvency | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
protector. Based on the latest civil aviation figures, this is not just a | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
matter that will impact on a relatively small moment of | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
holiday-makers but would currently compromise over 500,000 passengers. | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
It is therefore important that the government takes appropriate steps | :43:50. | :43:52. | |
to anticipate and prepare for any negative impacts this change could | :43:53. | :43:58. | |
make. As was suggested by the side of the house and the committee stage | :43:59. | :44:01. | |
of the vehicle technology and aviation Bill making it a | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
requirement that the government monitor the impact for UK consumers | :44:07. | :44:12. | |
using EU -based companies would help inform the UK Government whether it | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
would further bash back as to whether it should consider further | :44:18. | :44:20. | |
guidance or cooperation with consumers and EU member states to | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
ensure that the protections in place adequate. Moving to the second | :44:25. | :44:34. | |
clause of the Bill... Happily. The honourable member will know that | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
under existing legislation there is an obligation to review this | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
legislation after five years. But I know the argument that he makes is | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
one that he has made previously, and it seems to me to have some weight. | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
I am open-minded about the way in which we consider these things and I | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
will certainly reflect on the point he has made about our need to | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
consider the impact of the changes he has inscribed. I would be more | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
than happy to include that in the discussions about drones. I am | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
grateful to the Minister for clarification. Moving on, to the | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
second clause of the Bill, which is not directly relevant to harmonising | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
the UK with EU regulation, the cause is a dormant power that the | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
government will retain, enabling it to make considerable changes to ATOL | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
with regard to the travel trust. During the winter session at the | :45:33. | :45:38. | |
committee stage of VTAB we heard from Richard Moriarty of the Civil | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
Aviation Authority and a trustee of the current air travel trust, who | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
recognised the possible merits of separating the trust to reflect the | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
variation of products in the market. However, he explained that we are | :45:51. | :45:56. | |
simply not there yet and it would be wrong for the government to use the | :45:57. | :45:59. | |
Bill as a means of making wholesale changes without due consultation. | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
The Minister of State has previously made it clear in a letter to me that | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
changes would only be made through affirmative resolution if the bill | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
does not account for any further consultation as part of this | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
measure. So Labour will therefore be again seeking a commitment from the | :46:20. | :46:26. | |
Right Honourable member from the south that he the committee stage of | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
VTAB that the government will conduct a thorough impact assessment | :46:32. | :46:34. | |
and consultation before in promoting the power. To quote Mr Moriarty at | :46:35. | :46:40. | |
the CAA the evidence session, I hope that the government will follow the | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
practice that the forward through the VTAB and consult with | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
regulators, consult with industry, do the impact assessment and so on. | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
Accordingly if the government would undertake a full impact assessment | :46:54. | :46:59. | |
and consultation before bringing forward regulations to create any | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
new air travel trust through an affirmative resolution, this would | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
be fair, reasonable and guarantee scrutiny of any further changes to | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
ATOL. To conclude, Madam Deputy Speaker, while we are frustrated | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
that the general election meant that the VTAB was dropped and moreover we | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
are concerned with the government decision to omit a large proportion | :47:26. | :47:32. | |
of that legislation as it has been reintroduced in this Parliament, | :47:33. | :47:34. | |
Labour is nonetheless broadly supportive of this bill. We welcome | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
the changes that will harmonise UK law with the latest EU package | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
travel directive, which will have many benefits for UK consumers and | :47:44. | :47:50. | |
UK travel operators. But we have concerns about the levels of | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
protection given by EU -based companies selling in the UK and | :47:54. | :47:59. | |
whether UK consumers could lose out by this change. We will be pressing | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
ministers for reassurances on this during the passage of the bill. As | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
we did with the vehicle technology and aviation Bill, this side of the | :48:10. | :48:11. | |
house will seek further details on the ministers on the assimilation of | :48:12. | :48:18. | |
the directive, the impact of Brexit and government accountability as | :48:19. | :48:20. | |
this bill progresses through this house. Thank you. Robert courts. | :48:21. | :48:29. | |
Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker and may I say at the outset what or it | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
is be called in this first piece of the patent legislation in this | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
Parliament and indeed as the first backbencher to be able to speak in | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
that debate. This bill in fact brings back some traces of memory | :48:42. | :48:47. | |
lane for me, too, I declare that interest at the outset in the fact | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
that the former election to Parliament I practised at the | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
independent bar at one of the areas I practised in was that of consumer | :48:56. | :49:02. | |
protection. And indeed I did do some lecturing, in some cases around this | :49:03. | :49:05. | |
very area. Mother Debbie Speaker recall that rather I call that | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
somewhat optimistically holiday law which makes it sound like rather | :49:11. | :49:16. | |
good fun as I can hear one of my colleagues are saying. And I think | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
really Madam Deputy Speaker that is what my thinking was, that having | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
spent years prosecuting trading standards legislation and defending | :49:26. | :49:28. | |
criminal law as well as working within the personal injury sphere, I | :49:29. | :49:35. | |
must be in my way back from holiday and was looking for a new area to | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
branch into and an opportunity came up and I decided that if I could not | :49:40. | :49:43. | |
be on holiday then I may as well at least talk about being on holiday. | :49:44. | :49:50. | |
And so I produced a lecture which I covered with lots of rather | :49:51. | :49:53. | |
attractive pictures of happy people on holiday, of sun-dappled beaches, | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
palm trees, but of course that rather missed the point because when | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
one goes to see a lawyer one does not go to see a lawyer because they | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
want to tell them how the holiday has been but rather because | :50:09. | :50:10. | |
something has gone wrong and that is the important point that I was | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
addressing within my career and of course that the government is | :50:16. | :50:17. | |
seeking to address in the course of this bill. Of course Madam Deputy | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
Speaker on many occasions some things do go terribly wrong while | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
PayPal on holiday and it can certainly from the experience I have | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
seen at the bar be anything from simply put quality through to | :50:31. | :50:37. | |
catastrophic failure of holiday, or injury and in some cases even death | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
and it is this of course that we are seeking to address in the course of | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
this bill and hacked. I started off that lecture at the bar with the | :50:46. | :50:52. | |
same study the Minister used, of the Templars campaign which was one of | :50:53. | :50:55. | |
those anecdotes you throw away at the beginning of what can sometimes | :50:56. | :50:58. | |
be quite detailed lectures and I thought for one moment that I was | :50:59. | :51:01. | |
about you might my own lecture repeated back at me from the | :51:02. | :51:04. | |
minister but I am very glad of course that he went on to the more | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
substantive matters. I have in my constituency not only a great many | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
places that people come to visit, and I will refer to some of those in | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
a moment if I may, but of course many people as we all do look for | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
places that they can go on tours abroad and of course it is for the | :51:25. | :51:27. | |
constituents of Whitney and West Oxfordshire attire most strongly | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
desire to see this legislation in due course brought into law. | :51:32. | :51:41. | |
I would like to express my support for this bill at the outset. | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
Protection is a critical part of the protection we can rely upon when we | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
book a tour. It is only right we seek to extend this to a broader | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
range of holidays. This is welcome and necessary. As members will | :51:57. | :52:11. | |
realise, Atol protection started in 1973, a different world than we have | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
now. There were very few airlines. There was British Caledonian and | :52:17. | :52:21. | |
nationalised airlines. British European Airways and British | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
overseas Airways Corporation. One would say it was an Iraq before the | :52:26. | :52:33. | |
benefits -- and error -- and error before modern avionics. But back in | :52:34. | :52:47. | |
1973, that was the days before the Internet. A day where going abroad | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
was full of uncertainty. And sometimes even danger. It was into | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
that world that the package tour regulations came into being and | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
rightly so. I thank him for giving way. At that time it would have been | :53:04. | :53:11. | |
unimaginable you could sit on your phone and book your holiday with an | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
operator in other parts of Europe rather than walking into a travel | :53:16. | :53:21. | |
agent on the high street? I am grateful indeed, he makes an | :53:22. | :53:24. | |
absolutely outstanding point. We could sit here now in the chamber, | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
if we weren't paying attention to the vote and the car sells -- book | :53:31. | :53:40. | |
ourselves a holiday, that was something not envisaged. What we did | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
have them, the advent of the package tour, British Airtours was a | :53:46. | :53:48. | |
subsidiary of British airways, one of the leaders of this. This was a | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
major innovation. The ability to have your package holiday protected | :53:55. | :54:00. | |
via did you had a flight was a major innovation. That is something we | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
have now lost. I can say that from personal looks periods. Having | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
worked within this industry, I can give the House first-hand knowledge | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
of how the package industry now works. We not only have dynamic | :54:14. | :54:21. | |
packaging, members of the public with a vast choice available to them | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
in terms of providers and destinations and activities. They | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
can look and Taylor this book packages to themselves. We not only | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
have that but we have the fact that those selling holidays can seek to | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
step round some of the legislation. You might visit a website which | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
purports to be offering a package but when one actually looks, it | :54:47. | :54:51. | |
turns out the flight is offered by a subsidiary and the accommodation is | :54:52. | :54:57. | |
offered by another company and other packages and excursions are dealt | :54:58. | :55:00. | |
with by someone else. It is quite easy in this day and age to step | :55:01. | :55:07. | |
around the regulations. It is for that reason that this bill is | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
necessary. What we have seen in recent years is the travel market is | :55:13. | :55:16. | |
significantly changing. Those days, the Romantic error -- romantic | :55:17. | :55:28. | |
the honourable gentleman talked about the changing character of the | :55:29. | :55:37. | |
regulations and reflecting on the remarks for the member who speaks | :55:38. | :55:42. | |
for the opposition, let me reaffirm my commitment to consult further | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
before any regulations are brought before us and draw his attention to | :55:49. | :55:55. | |
section 71 B of the civil aviation 's act which already contains | :55:56. | :56:03. | |
provision for the likes of the CAA. I am grateful to the Minister for | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
making that point clear. The prospect of that amendment has been | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
ongoing for some time and I am done lighted we are addressing it in the | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
House today. That image we have all the high Street and flicking through | :56:18. | :56:23. | |
a brochure and speaking to someone behind a tale, which still takes | :56:24. | :56:31. | |
place and many people do avail themselves of the excellent services | :56:32. | :56:35. | |
that exist in that regard. There are excellent travel agencies in my | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
constituency but many people don't do that because it is so easy now to | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
get on the Internet and choose a package here and to put together a | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
perspective package for yourself. It is one of those areas where we have | :56:49. | :56:55. | |
become our own travel agencies in a sense. But this brings some | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
challenges as well as opportunities. We deal with a new generation of | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
travellers. Those in the House embrace the opportunities that | :57:08. | :57:11. | |
brought along with those challenges. I would go as far as to say that | :57:12. | :57:20. | |
what we have seen in travel agencies and the expansion of providers and | :57:21. | :57:24. | |
destinations and activities, we have seen the free market in action. We | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
have seen so many advantages that a free market can bring in the | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
interest of consumers. The online travel market has led to reduced | :57:35. | :57:42. | |
costs and to increased choice for other day makers. We have to | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
reinforce the protection at the same time as we reassess and benefit from | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
those changes. The mix and match of lower prices and wider opportunities | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
has to be put alongside the protection. Many holidays now fall | :57:57. | :58:05. | |
outside the scope of Atol, the scope of 1973. If we look at 1998, 90% of | :58:06. | :58:11. | |
all leisure flights were covered by the Atol and I understand today that | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
the number has fallen to under 50% in recent years. I welcome the | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
Minister's comment at the start of his speech that there are times, | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
where as much as I have praised the free market and the benefits it can | :58:28. | :58:34. | |
bring in terms of opportunities and choice and cost. We also have to | :58:35. | :58:37. | |
understand there is a role for government. This is a case where | :58:38. | :58:44. | |
consumer regulation, there is an appropriate role for government to | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
step in and ensure the protection of consumers in this field. That is why | :58:49. | :58:52. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker I welcome the measures in this bill that address | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
these changes. This bill is one that will ensure the Atol scheme keeps | :58:58. | :59:04. | |
pace with the innovations of the online travel market. Ensuring had | :59:05. | :59:08. | |
the same time that your protections are in place regardless of whether | :59:09. | :59:12. | |
you book online or on the high Street. We would ensure therefore | :59:13. | :59:17. | |
that the over 20 million holiday-makers each year are | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
protected and continue to be protected. I thank him for giving | :59:22. | :59:30. | |
way, given the comments he has made, would he like to expand his thoughts | :59:31. | :59:34. | |
on clause one that extends the provisions of Atol to sales made in | :59:35. | :59:41. | |
the EEA, is that a worthwhile provision? And grateful for that | :59:42. | :59:45. | |
intervention has I had turned from one page of my notes to the next | :59:46. | :59:49. | |
page that dealt with that same clause one. Clause one at present, | :59:50. | :59:59. | |
the Atol legislation deals only where the relevant flight bookings, | :00:00. | :00:04. | |
the first leg departs from a UK airport. What the new directive | :00:05. | :00:11. | |
looks to deal with is to introduce a single market approach to | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
insolvency. Whereby EU established companies will be required solely | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
with the insolvency protection rules of the state in which they are | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
established as opposed to the place of sale which is the position at the | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
moment. It is much wider and the company only now has to be | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
established, assuming this bill is passed. Will he agree with me and | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
several consumer groups that ?2 50 is a very low price to pay in the | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
four Atol protection. Compared to standard travel insurance and in the | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
longer term, we may see a decline in the cost of travel insurance as more | :00:56. | :01:02. | |
holidays are covered by this enhanced Atol protection? I am | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
grateful to him from a king that excellent point. He is quite right | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
that the Atol scheme is funded by a levy which costs approximately ?2 50 | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
as a contribution per protected passenger. He is absolutely right it | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
would be unwise of any holiday-maker to go abroad without adequate travel | :01:23. | :01:30. | |
insurance. I would encourage everyone to do so. That can | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
sometimes be pricey. Particular when one is protecting oneself against | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
one than the more routine failures that are easily covered within the | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
Atol scheme. There are other more serious misfortunes that can occur | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
when one is on holiday for which travel insurance is still advisable. | :01:49. | :01:56. | |
The cost may indeed, come down over the course of time with this | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
enhanced package. Returning to clause one, it would allow travel | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
companies that are established in the UK and selling flight inclusive | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
packages to use their Atol membership and protection to cover | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
all EU wide sales without needing to comply with the insolvency | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
protection and rules of any other member state. I will turn to clause | :02:21. | :02:28. | |
to briefly if I may before I look through the rest of the regulations | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
and make some concluding remarks if I may Madam Deputy Speaker. Clause | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
two deals with funding. Qualifying trusts within the Atol trust | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
management structure. The Department for Transport is a mind, because we | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
have seen significant changes in the travel industry since 1973 but even | :02:51. | :02:58. | |
since 2004 and more recent years, it may be necessary to enter into | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
separate trust arrangements for the greater business model. Such is | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
linked travel arrangements giving greater transparency to businesses | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
and consumers. It may be necessary to introduce a new form of | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
qualifying trust to ensure the Atol trust will still protect consumers | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
in the all-important areas of flight accommodation. That it allows | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
flexibility under trust arrangements for us to increase the funding | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
arrangements and ensure that Atol is adequately funded as time goes on. | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
Clause three addresses a slightly different point. This is where the | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
Civil Aviation Authority, as the House will realise they are | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
responsible for running the Atol scheme. It is able to require and | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
request information from airlines selling Atol registered products | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
within the UK and wider. Under this new bill, an important change would | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
apply to European airlines that have an air service operation license | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
from another EU member state and would therefore not need any of the | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
licences that are granted by the civil aviation act. The House will | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
be delighted that this is a short bill. It only has four clauses and I | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
think I only need to deal with three in the way that I have so I don't | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
need to go through any others, I am sure everyone will be delighted. | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
Short in terms of clauses as the House realises. I thank him for | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
giving way. He has referred to clause three but the fact those who | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
have the license from other countries when the CAA license is | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
something that will give consumers for protection? I am satisfied this | :04:52. | :04:59. | |
will give full consumer protection. I say so because the government has | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
consulted widely. And the honourable member has with extra impressions on | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
his part has managed again to prompt me to move onto the next age of my | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
speech which may have been the intention in fact. The government | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
has consulted widely and the industry's response has been | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
favourable. We have received broad support from the majority of | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
respondents to the proposals to harmonise Atol, the scope of the EU | :05:30. | :05:31. | |
package regulations. During the VTAB build the evidence | :05:32. | :05:42. | |
given by the directors of consumers and markets of the CAA noted there | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
were a number of important and welcome development from this bill | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
that would be good for UK consumers. Firstly, it makes it much clearer | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
what the definition of package is, and I hope the house will forget by | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
mentioning that in detail but I do see it simply because I urge my | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
experience of having argued the concept of what a package is in the | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
course of this country throughout the course of my career at the bar. | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
This is a case where the bill has something that has wide support in | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
the industry. I will make one more point Madam Deputy Speaker if I may | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
before I wind up in that assembly to note the effect if I may to this in | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
the educating effect that to his hands. We are of course and I will | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
not enter into more detailed comments, leaving the European Union | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
but we're not turning our back on Europe, we are not ceasing to be a | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
huge appeal country. Of course as all members I am sure will | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
appreciate, travelling to a new country and appreciating a new | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
culture is one of the most educating and enlightening things that can, | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
that an individual can undertake and we will wish people from this | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
country to be able to expand the rise and is throughout the European | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
Union as indeed well we want European Union people, for Europeans | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
to be able to come here. And I of course within West Oxfordshire have | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
a plethora of tourist attractions such as Blenheim Palace, the great | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
stately house, Cotswold wildlife Park, crocodiles of the world, which | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
is an excellent attraction that I invite all honourable members to | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
come to. I have been and it is excellent and many picturesque | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
villages throughout West Oxfordshire including Bampton, which is very | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
famous, of Denton happy fame. I have gone on at some length in the house | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
will probably realise by now that this bill has my full support and I | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
acknowledged to the house to vote and have its second reading at this | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
stage. Patricia Gibson. I wish to take this opportunity to welcome you | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
to your place my Deputy Speaker. And I want to thank the Minister for the | :08:00. | :08:07. | |
summit of the provisions of the bill. The decision to update the air | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
travel organising licensing scheme to provide more protection and align | :08:12. | :08:21. | |
it with enhancements to EU package legislations do give them protection | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
booking holidays in Internet is to be welcomed. We must ensure the | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
public are protected by updating the UK's financial protection scheme for | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
holiday-makers and it is important to keep pace with the innovation and | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
online travel market, and that appropriate protection is in place | :08:37. | :08:38. | |
regardless of whether producers choose to book online or on the high | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
Street when choosing a holiday. And of course we want to make it easier | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
for UK companies when selling holidays across Europe as it will be | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
able to trade under the UK's air travel organising licensing scheme. | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
As opposed to regimes in the countries they sell dear. The | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
measures of this bill unimportant as we need the air travel organising | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
licensing Bill to cover new digital business models and modern consuming | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
purchasing models. We know that more than three quarters of consumers | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
book the holidays last year online, the EU package travel directive of | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
2015 applicable from the 1st of January 2018 extends the protections | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
beyond traditional package holidays organist -- organised by tour | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
operators and offers clear protections to 120 million consumers | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
across the EU who broke other forms of combined travel. This directive | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
is expected to reduce debt is to consumers by about 430 million euros | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
per year, across the EU, and registered ministries of costs and | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
burdens on business. Passengers rights have been enshrined in EU law | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
and consumers and businesses deserve to know, they need to know in fact, | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
the keen to know how Brexit will affect them. What is sought are | :10:02. | :10:08. | |
cast-iron assurances that the rights and protections of travellers will | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
not be diminished after the UK leave the EU and I know that he Minister | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
understands that. Current EU directives mean that current UK | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
passengers are entitled to a number of benefits is a journey is | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
cancelled or delayed, which gives protections and it has to be said | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
some peace of mind to consumers when the booking travel. And since the EU | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
legislated to provide a comrade subsystem of the passenger rights in | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
2004, increased awareness of these rights and the ability to complain | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
and appeal has led to a significant increase in the number of people | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
doing so. And that is a good thing, because it democratises the market | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
and gives consumers proper writs of redress. As the Minister has already | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
said today, the importance of intervening when the market has | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
failed, it should also be noted that there has been examples of court | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
cases which have ruled on the circumstances in which airlines must | :11:07. | :11:08. | |
pay compensation and appeals against some of those judgments have | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
demonstrated that some airlines have shown him a lot and to pay out | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
compensation unless the legal position is made absolutely clear. | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
The rights of passengers must be clear and upheld, otherwise this | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
will have a detrimental impact on passenger numbers and ultimately put | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
jobs at risk. Clearly, Brexit poses challenges with regards to passenger | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
rights, and it is essential that the UK develops its own system of | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
passenger rights and compensation in the aviation sector and there must | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
be clarity around how this will impact upon non-UK airlines and | :11:45. | :11:51. | |
passengers. We have such a system in the UK post Brexit? -- will we have | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
such a system in the UK post Brexit? This'll be required but passengers | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
need to know how similar the system will be to current arrangements. | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
What is to becoming the post Brexit world of all the EU protections in | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
place? Will they continue as protections under the UK Government? | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
And what we assurances can be give to UK passengers? The minister today | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
has spoken of minimal impact on consumers and business post Brexit, | :12:22. | :12:24. | |
but obviously more detail is needed and more detail is keenly awaited. | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
The collapse of low-cost holidays is a stark reminder that more than ever | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
the importance of the EU package travel directive which offers | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
consumers protection in case of insolvency must be remembered. And I | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
ask the Minister to give due consideration to these points and | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
update the house is on as it is practical to do so. He spoke of the | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
need to revisit consumer protection in this area as technology advances, | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
but of course the question at the forefront of everybody's mind is | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
what will happen post Brexit? What we need... The honourable lady | :13:04. | :13:11. | |
invited me, and I welcome -- madden equity bigger can I welcome you to | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
the chair? The honourable lady invited me to respond as quickly as | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
possible so I will respond now. The reform we making of ATOL at the | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
package directive will bring the arrangements across Europe more into | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
line that has ever been before. It is imperative that we protect to | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
regulation consumers in the way that I have described. It is | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
inconceivable therefore post Brexit that we will not want to reflect | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
protections that exist already here and increasingly abroad. I thank the | :13:44. | :13:52. | |
Minister for that response. The clear guarantees that business and | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
consumers are looking for must not be eroded after Brexit. As long as | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
we have guarantees and as long as the ministers can give us further | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
detail of these guarantees then this will reassure both passengers and | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
businesses. Close to in the Bill gives the Secretary of State the | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
power to reform the air travel organisers licensing and air travel | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
trust fund was only an affirmative resolution in each house of | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
parliament. However we believe that any changes the Secretary of State | :14:27. | :14:29. | |
wishes to introduce to the scheme is be preceded by a full consultation | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
and an impact assessment that allows for proper scrutiny of these | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
proposals. While we absolutely welcomed the move to update the | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
travel organisers licenses to ensure that a maximum number of travellers | :14:44. | :14:45. | |
are protected when they go on holiday and to align it to the EU | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
travel directive 2015, passenger rights have been enshrined in EU law | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
and consumers and businesses deserve to have that reassurance and clarity | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
about how the exit will affect them. And the government needs to give us | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
more flesh on the bones of absolutely how this will be written | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
into law. The updating of the scheme is to be welcomed, but post Brexit | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
poses a whole range of challenges which consumers an airline | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
businesses require clarity upon and I look forward to more detail from | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
the Secretary of State in due course. Maiden speech, Rachel | :15:24. | :15:32. | |
Maclean. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. And it is a great pleasure | :15:33. | :15:39. | |
to follow the honourable lady. It is a great privilege to make my maiden | :15:40. | :15:42. | |
speech representing the constituency of Redditch County in this debate. | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
Improving the rights of consumers is a priority for this government, as | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
this bill is needed in response to the change in the way that people | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
broke the holidays as one more people are using the flexibility of | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
the Internet to book the brakes. And in hard-working people in Redditch | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
will welcome the protections as they book the well aerosol holidays. -- | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
there are well errant summer holidays. The constituency I | :16:11. | :16:17. | |
represent with a proud history of returning willing MPs to this place. | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
Is there is one woman I was the greatest debt to it is my own | :16:21. | :16:28. | |
daughter, Ruth. At the age of 40 she said to me why aren't there more | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
women MPs? You ought to stand. I replied I will try to find a few | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
moments between running my own business, taking three brothers to | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
football and Scouts, washing your school uniform and supervising a | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
hallmark. Nine years later, I am honoured to have been elected by the | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
people of Redditch. Read it is a new town, originally built to | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
accommodate people from a rapidly expanding Birmingham. So as another | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
Brummie newcomer to read it I am following in the footsteps. Other | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
honourable members have extolled the virtues of the wonderful | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
constituencies, the natural wonders up and down the country, and I only | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
wish I had time to visit them all. However, most people in our nation | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
within towns, and we must remember that people need beauty analyse, | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
whether they live in the countryside or in towns. So I am proud that in | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
Redditch any student of town planning would find the best example | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
in the country of a well laid out modern urban landscape, developments | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
such as Churchill, much better, when Yates, Lodge Park and Woodrow are | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
all designed to allow maximum amounts of green space, quiet | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
streets and traffic free highways and at the heart of the town, you | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
will find a lovely natural always this, the Arrow Valley Lake and | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
country park comprising 900 acres of green space, packed with wildlife | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
and unfortunately no crocodiles. Well a fluid -- rarely seen in an | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
urban setting as well as providing a focal point for community events. To | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
the West a modern shopping centre and the historical centre exist | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
harmoniously and so you will understand why so any people wanted | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
to move to Redditch to live work and bring up their families. And despite | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
our excellence in town planning we are not without their own natural | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
beauty, too. The constituency also include some beautiful areas of | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
Brora Worcestershire, such as the villages of second, a barrel, and we | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
and villages. Andrew Church as I visited this weekend with a local | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
group and my dog is set to beware the bells of the archers radio show | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
are wrong. So I am therefore mindful of the diverse challenges that face | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
me in representing the issues across this whole constituency. Including a | :18:57. | :18:59. | |
brown field first policy for new development, broadband provision and | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
farming. Redditch is also a great centre of enterprise and business, | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
with a wealth of manufacturing companies. The particularly famous | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
for its needles. At one point Redditch made 90% of the world | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
needles. The deal-making still occurs in Redditch today. Indeed in | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
preparing for this speech I read the play this house that members may | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
have seen in which my predecessor how Miller features. In one scene he | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
complains that despite envisaging his seat to be one of medals, | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
steeples, farmyards and haystacks, upon election he found a somewhat | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
different reality. Angrily declaring to the whips that you can't find a | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
haystack in Redditch because of all the needles. In fact, Redditch has | :19:48. | :19:55. | |
been fortunate to have had a number of formidable MPs as its previous | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
champion, first I pay tribute to my bread etc Karen Lumley. She sadly | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
retired due to ill-health after several years of dedicated service. | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
She fought on behalf of constituents for the Alex Hospital, for | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
apprenticeships offer mental health and fairer funding in schools. And | :20:18. | :20:20. | |
people will remember her not only for this but also with great | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
affection for her ability to bring additional colour to these benches | :20:27. | :20:28. | |
with her varied energy choices of hair colour. And one promise I make | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
to members is that the next time you see me I will still at the same | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
colour hair. And we could not say that about Karen. I would also like | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
to recognise Jacqui Smith of the other side of the house, the member | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
for Redditch before Karen, for her great service to this country. She | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
was in a country's first female Home Secretary. One issue dominated my | :20:52. | :20:59. | |
general election campaign. That of a local hospital, the Alexandra | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
Hospital known as the Alex. I want to reassure my constituents that the | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
Alex and its service to patients and their families is my number one | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
priority as your member of Parliament. | :21:13. | :21:23. | |
I will continue again and again to fight to protect and to strengthen | :21:24. | :21:34. | |
local health services. So when I reflect on the challenges facing the | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
Alex, it reminds me of why I tried to enter parliament for some years | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
now. The Alex Hospital, like other public services, depends on a strong | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
economy. It relies on the taxes ordinary people pay. We should never | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
forget that. Or where those taxes come from. Because they come, Madam | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
Deputy Speaker, from the wages earned by people in jobs created by | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
their employers. The small business owners who have created 2.5 million | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
jobs since 2010. And for the very first time in my life, my wages are | :22:13. | :22:20. | |
paid for by the taxpayer. I do not take this lightly. I know the | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
sacrifice that goes into creating this money. Before I entered | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
Parliament, I spent my career in teams starting up and growing small | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
businesses in the digital technology sector as a owner and employer. One | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
of these businesses started small and is now medium-sized and is in | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
fact Britain's leading publisher of technology content. Over the years I | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
have created many jobs for people which enabled them to fulfil their | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
potential and build a secure future for them and their families. And it | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
has not been easy. I have been through the devastating failures | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
that many entrepreneurs face. Losing my home and livelihood before | :23:04. | :23:05. | |
picking myself up and starting again. And anyone who builds a | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
business will recognise this journey. My four children learned at | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
an early age not to ask their mum for pocket money. They learned we | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
were not able to go on holiday and that their clothes came from charity | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
shops and they couldn't have new toys, phones or trainers. And that | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
mum and dad didn't sleep at night because they were worried how to pay | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
the wages of their staff. Because businesses are not some abstract | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
concept. Businesses are built by people. People from all walks of | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
life up and down this great nation of ours. People who differ in many | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
ways but have one thing in common. And that is the desire to work hard, | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
take a risk and create a better life for their children than the one they | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
had. And I want everyone in Redditch to have that opportunity. There are | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
people who feel overlooked and left behind. Where deprivation and | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
poverty exist and where communities struggle with issues of physical and | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
mental health. I therefore welcome the commitment in the gracious | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
speech to mental health to investment in our NHS and affordable | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
housing. I look forward to working across our local community in | :24:28. | :24:30. | |
Redditch to tackle mental health proactively and make sure the health | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
on the ground is there where it is aided. I will work with | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
organisations like the Sandy Cross centre who offer a wide range of | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
services to help vulnerable families and many others in the town. Our | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
Prime Minister said in this place that not every problem in society | :24:49. | :24:51. | |
can be solved by an act of Parliament. Madam Deputy Speaker I | :24:52. | :24:59. | |
agree. Many problems are solved by the diligent and commitment and | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
sacrifice of ordinary citizens like the people behind the 275 new | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
businesses that started in Redditch since 2010. It is our job in this | :25:09. | :25:15. | |
place to provide a solid economic foundation so those people can do | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
what they do best. Building businesses and creating jobs and | :25:20. | :25:26. | |
changing our country. Thank you so much for the opportunity to make my | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
maiden speech in this debate, I look forward greatly to supporting the | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
second reading of this bill and other important pieces of | :25:37. | :25:39. | |
legislation in the coming months. I will never forget the privilege of | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
speaking up for the wonderful people of Redditch in this place. I am | :25:44. | :25:52. | |
truly grateful and may I begin by commending the new honourable member | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
for Redditch on what was an erudite and very passionate speech about the | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
place which she now represents. I feel certain that if she finds her | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
way to bring that passion to every issue we debate in this House, | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
keeping in mind her constituents that she clearly cares about a great | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
deal, that she will make a really quite impressive impact on this | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
Parliament. I also noted the news about her predecessor Karen Lumley. | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
Having known Karen from when she first came to Parliament at the same | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
time I did, I am certain the Best wishes of the whole House will be | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
with her at this time. And if she carries on in the vein of her | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
immediate predecessor and her predecessor before, Jacqui Smith, | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
she will achieve great success in this House as well. I served in the | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
last Parliament as a member of the women and equality is select | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
committee, a fantastic institution that I note we are going to put on a | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
statutory basis tomorrow. She may want to turn her attention to our | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
most recent report, women in the Houses of Parliament after the 2020 | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
general election. Which I hope was not entirely redundant given the | :27:12. | :27:20. | |
actions in 2017. Madam Deputy Speaker, if it is in order and I | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
look forward to your guidance, I might also welcome you to your | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
position in the chair. Those of us on these benches have benefited | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
greatly from your wisdom, a friendly arm around the shoulder and | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
occasional quite straightforward direction in your previous role as | :27:38. | :27:43. | |
Chief Whip. And I note from those discussions that your leather whip | :27:44. | :27:46. | |
has not made it into the chamber today as it did in the whip's | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
office. I will be checking the chair to see if a new place has been | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
installed for that but I wish you all of the success as well that I | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
know you will bring to your new role. Madam Deputy Speaker, we are | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
here to debate the regulations brought forward by the minister | :28:07. | :28:12. | |
today. These changes are of course welcome. Even the rioting of | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
different models for selling flights and other package holidays, the | :28:17. | :28:23. | |
divergence the Internet has brought along and the new innovations in the | :28:24. | :28:26. | |
market, it is right we should seek to comply with those changes and to | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
bring about better consumer protections. The irony which we | :28:31. | :28:38. | |
debated in the last Parliament is not something I would want to | :28:39. | :28:41. | |
reflect on at length but there is a further great irony, as a member of | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
Parliament who represents to FTSE 100 companies in direct relation to | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
be travel and tourism industry, easyJet and also Luton airport in my | :28:54. | :29:00. | |
constituency. It could easily be misunderstood as the legislation | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
related to the future relationship under Brexit but it is giving | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
ministers greater flexibility to handle that. But its genesis is a | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
piece of legislation that seeks to comply with the EU directive. Namely | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
that on the package travel objective, to give great consumer | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
protections to the 5 million people who are brought up within the single | :29:27. | :29:33. | |
market. This compliance is a welcome measure and I think it is right to | :29:34. | :29:40. | |
make parliamentary time for. It must be complied by the 1st of January 20 | :29:41. | :29:47. | |
18. It will apply by the 1st of July 2018, the one the date not spoken | :29:48. | :29:50. | |
about in this chamber which is the most important is the 31st of March | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
2019. Just 15 months later because that is the date we will be leaving | :29:57. | :30:02. | |
the European Union. And the minister, the Department and the | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
government, at this date, despite their best intentions, cannot tell | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
us the framework for this. From that date. Everything we debate today is | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
essentially on a temporary footing. I have raised my concerns about this | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
directly in the last Parliament. I was fortunate to be granted the | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
adjournment debate put on record in Hansard the concerns of the whole | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
industry in regards to aviation and leaving the European Union within | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
the last year. The need to get a conference of air services agreement | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
which allows for consumer protections and the most basic | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
starting point for the industry in the first place which is an | :30:44. | :30:45. | |
agreement which allows us to take off in one place and land in | :30:46. | :30:51. | |
another. Not just within the EU but in our relationships with the United | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
States is governed through the European Union. This is a | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
significant piece of work. Written is leaving the EU and it is | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
incumbent to bring forward a Brexit deal for approval in this House, I | :31:05. | :31:10. | |
did believe -- I don't believe people voted to add complexity or to | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
find themselves in a situation where they cannot get the flights they | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
wished for. There are significant advantages to aviation and UK | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
consumers from this directive and acted today. I very much hope we | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
will take that spirit forward in seeking a conference of air services | :31:30. | :31:31. | |
agreement that includes the messages in the package travel directive. | :31:32. | :31:38. | |
There are other advantages that have been seen through this through our | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
member ship in the European Union, including the most recent changes in | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
the ability to roam with the mobile phone which will make a significant | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
difference to many travellers over this summer period. The alternative | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
of course is laid out for airlines and travel agents inside the single | :31:58. | :32:04. | |
market. Businesses outside the EU, under this directive being enacted, | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
will be required to comply with different rules of each member state | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
in regard to which they sell. Our current situation recognises the | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
jurisdiction of the others issued in this directive which reduces risk, | :32:21. | :32:27. | |
complexity and costs. I ask the Minister to lay out the government's | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
intentions in regard to the things the union enacted today. It would be | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
a great disservice to UK operators if they were bound by all of these | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
different regimes across 27 member states having only just bent 15 | :32:44. | :32:46. | |
months covered by the protections within the provisions of this bill. | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
The Minister, in answer to the member for North Ayrshire, said it | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
was inconceivable we would not want to uphold these consumer guarantees. | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
But with respect, the reciprocal is not within our gift, any | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
negotiations which go forward must try and seek this newly enacted | :33:05. | :33:11. | |
settlement in what they do. Allow me to raise one further issue in this | :33:12. | :33:20. | |
bill. Will we transpose the promises of EU 261 as they currently stand? | :33:21. | :33:30. | |
Which provides compensation when flights are significantly delayed or | :33:31. | :33:33. | |
cancelled. On the issue I started with on the conference of air | :33:34. | :33:36. | |
services agreement, does he agree that as little change as possible is | :33:37. | :33:42. | |
the most important thing to try and achieve given there are flights | :33:43. | :33:45. | |
being planned and blocked at this stage by UK airlines that will take | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
off or not take off dependent on this deal, to other European member | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
states after the 31st of March 2000 19. We should be seeking to try and | :33:55. | :34:01. | |
get as much stability into this industry as possible. I am grateful | :34:02. | :34:07. | |
to him for giving way, he is making an extra from a powerful point about | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
aviation and the importance to the economy. I represent Manchester | :34:12. | :34:19. | |
Airport, does he agree with me that aviation is unique in that it does | :34:20. | :34:22. | |
not have World Trade Organisation rules to fall back on and it is | :34:23. | :34:28. | |
imperative government reaches a conclusion quickly. He pre-empts my | :34:29. | :34:31. | |
point because I think we are working from the same page here. Because it | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
is not covered by WTO rules, we would have a separate stand-alone | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
air services agreement with the European Union and it is my view we | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
should seek to bring that about now before the meat of the major deal to | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
come. Not least because it is governed in a different way but it | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
is viewed as a prerequisite to any future trade deal that you have | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
those links established in the first place. In conclusion, let me say | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
this, this is a very welcome bill that brings forward provisions we | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
want for all of our constituents and consumers. But there must be more | :35:09. | :35:11. | |
done and more said on this issue in this coming Parliament. The Minister | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
will be acutely aware that he would be judged by the passage of this | :35:17. | :35:19. | |
bill at the content of any future deal that covers these issues in the | :35:20. | :35:27. | |
future. Thank you very much, it is a great pleasure to follow the member | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
for Luton, who cares very passionately about Luton airport in | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
his constituency but also what a great pleasure to follow the member | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
for Redditch who has given an outstanding maiden speech. Thank you | :35:41. | :35:48. | |
so much. In a modern outward looking Britain, it is very significant that | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
the first piece of legislation this new House is going to look at is a | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
piece of legislation making it easier for our consumers, our | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
constituents, to travel overseas and for people from other countries to | :36:04. | :36:05. | |
come and travel to Britain. It is also very significant that the | :36:06. | :36:17. | |
first debate is about consumer protection because this is a | :36:18. | :36:19. | |
government that believes we should put people first. The ATOL system | :36:20. | :36:25. | |
offers protection to holiday-makers if the tour operator goes bust, and | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
the UK is very proud having had the system in place since the 1970s. | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
It's robust consumer protection gives confidence to people looking | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
the holidays and therefore contributes to the very vibrant | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
travel markets that we have. This supports the economy not just on the | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
destinations to which people go but also our local tourist industry, and | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
in particular I am thinking right now about the 800 residents of | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
Chelmsford, who will go to work at Stansted Airport. It is important | :37:00. | :37:02. | |
for the jobs that we continue to have a vibrant holiday market. But | :37:03. | :37:08. | |
while holidays are always meant to be the happiest time of year if | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
there is a problem with future operator that happiness so quickly | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
turns into a nightmare. And last summer 27,000 British tour | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
operators, British travellers, found themselves overseas when the company | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
known as low-cost holidays collapsed. Another hundred and | :37:32. | :37:38. | |
10,000 British consumers had booked the holidays through that operator | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
did not know what the future would be. Low-cost holidays had of course | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
moved its location from Britain to Spain and so was no longer ATOL | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
protected. This reminds us just exactly how important it is that we | :37:54. | :37:57. | |
look at the consumer protection that we offer for people buying from | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
British-based companies but also for British consumers when they are | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
buying from companies based in other countries. This is why in 2015 EU | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
countries agreed new changes to the package travel directive. So that | :38:13. | :38:19. | |
all European countries would require ATOL type of protection and the bit | :38:20. | :38:22. | |
of all we are doing today is implemented in that decision. In the | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
European Parliament the committee that looks at these issues is the | :38:29. | :38:31. | |
committee of internal market and consumer protection. Because we | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
believe that consumers are at the heart of the market, and as the | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
person who chaired the committee I actually chaired the negotiations on | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
the package travel directive. So it is important that when this is | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
unfermented we make sure that it is permitted equally across all of | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
Europe, otherwise we could find that some countries do go in -- to bring | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
in a different system and there is an important difference that now the | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
ATOL members will be based on whether or not you have your company | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
based in Britain as opposed to if you were just selling into Britain. | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
So we need to look at how this is a permitted in other countries as | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
well. But a more important part of this legislation was as colleagues | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
have said updating the guarantee system to be fit for purpose in the | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
digital age because if today you go to buy your flight from the | :39:30. | :39:32. | |
wonderful Stansted Airport you probably click on the airline | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
operator and then you click through from the airline operator's sale and | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
then to buy the hotel and then to buy your conscience. That would feel | :39:42. | :39:49. | |
like buying a package but it was not covered under the old rules on | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
package holidays directive, so the modernisation which I welcome the | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
would-be ministers are doing on this, the modernisation ministers | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
will make sure the clicks as are covered by the ATOL protection. | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
There are many other discussions we had in the detailed negotiations, | :40:08. | :40:10. | |
for example, should business travellers also get the same | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
protection as consumer travellers? And this is where we tended to have | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
a bit of a difference between those of us on the side of the house as | :40:21. | :40:23. | |
opposed to those on the other side of the house. The excellent member | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
from Redditch has just explained about challenges for small | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
businesses when they put in place their own businesses and adding an | :40:34. | :40:36. | |
extra cost burden onto this small type of business made at the | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
unaffordable, so we were very concerned that they should not | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
automatically have to pay the extra cost of the ATOL protection. This is | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
the sort of discussion that I hope we will be able to look at in more | :40:53. | :40:54. | |
detail. There were also discussions about whether or not the package | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
should cover add-ons, so for example if you get to your holiday | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
destination and decide to buy excursions or if you had bought | :41:05. | :41:07. | |
those excursions before you go, should they be included in the | :41:08. | :41:10. | |
package? We had a lot of representations from small | :41:11. | :41:13. | |
businesses to say, please don't put these in the package, because if we | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
do that it will add additional bureaucracy and it will reduce | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
consumer choice. So while I am absolutely passionate about the need | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
to provide consumer protection, we also need to from time to time take | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
a step back and say on the side as well of consumer choice and not | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
adding additional unnecessary cost to businesses. In a post-Brexit | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
Britain I believe that consumers will still want to publish -- | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
purchase goods and services from those in other countries and it will | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
be very important to continue to engage with other countries | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
especially those across Europe who are our nearest neighbours, on | :41:57. | :41:59. | |
issues such as consumer protection. It is important in the Brexit | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
negotiations that we focus on getting a deal which works for | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
consumers as well as businesses. Because a vast range of consumer | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
rights are embedded in EU law. Not only on issues to do with | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
holiday-makers, but issues like misleading advertising, unfair | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
contract terms, right to seek redress and crucially important | :42:26. | :42:28. | |
legislation about safety and quality for standards for food etc. The | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
tragic fire at Grenfell Tower appears may have started from an | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
electrical fault from a domestic good. It is a very brutal reminder | :42:42. | :42:51. | |
of how important it is that we maintain high standards for consumer | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
products. Today's consumer is however are changing, they embrace | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
innovation, markets are evolving, we are constantly getting new products | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
and standards and we need to constantly be working on making sure | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
that the consumer protection and consumer laws and consumer standards | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
are set for purpose. The excellent consumer organisation which has sent | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
us all a briefing on what they would like for the Brexit negotiations, | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
and they make a strong case that the UK should continue to work with our | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
European neighbours on cooperating on consumer standards and other | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
measures to counter fraud and to work to develop and share best | :43:36. | :43:38. | |
practice. In particular they recommend that we should act in | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
hilly stage reach agreement on continued cooperation with such | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
agencies as the European food safety agency, European chemicals agency | :43:50. | :43:51. | |
and the European aviation safety authority. I do think we should | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
listen very carefully to what our consumer organisations are saying. | :43:58. | :44:03. | |
There are as the member for Luton just mentioned, other issues which | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
also affect holiday-makers such as the need to negotiate landing | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
rights, there is an issue on making sure that any deals on how we use | :44:13. | :44:19. | |
our mobile phones overseas will be covered. The UK was a great champion | :44:20. | :44:26. | |
of removing that very, very expensive mobile phone roaming | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
charge which outputs -- which put such a huge burden on consumers in | :44:32. | :44:34. | |
the past but there are other issues like the motivations directive which | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
have not been perfect for the UK and indeed the current situation with | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
the motivations directive regarding how it affects watersports is | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
causing great, great uncertainty in the motorsport industry in the UK, | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
so we will need to continue to engage on that. I was very pleased | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
to hear the Prime Minister and she was talking about our offer an EU | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
citizens offering that we should keep the EP card, the card which | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
makes it easier for people to go and get medical care when they travel | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
across Europe. It seems to me that this is a very, very generous offer | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
from the UK to the rest of Europe and we should welcome it. Just to | :45:18. | :45:24. | |
wrap up, maintaining consumer confidence is key to a modern | :45:25. | :45:31. | |
dynamic economy. As we seek to leave the EU and create a new deep | :45:32. | :45:33. | |
economic partnership with those across the Channel it is important | :45:34. | :45:42. | |
that we continue to stand on the side of consumers and find new ways | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
to cooperate with our neighbours and those across the world who seek to | :45:48. | :45:57. | |
make sure consumers are protected. Maiden speech Laura Smith. Thank you | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
Matt and Deputy speaker, and may I offer my congratulations to you in | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
your new role. I would like to acknowledge my immediate | :46:07. | :46:10. | |
predecessor, Edward Timpson, it serves the previous government as | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
Minister of State for Children and Families Bill. Edward was known for | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
his desire to improve the care system for vulnerable children. I | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
would also like to pay tribute to the late MP Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody who | :46:22. | :46:29. | |
was and is to this day regarded as one of the greatest Palminteri and | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
still sat in this house. I intend to serve the direct communities in my | :46:37. | :46:39. | |
constituency with the same level of unwavering tenacity as Gwyneth did | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
during her 25 year service. It is a source of great pride for me to have | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
been elected to represent the constituency where I was born and | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
raised and continue to live with my family today. As the granddaughter | :46:53. | :46:58. | |
of the Scottish miner I was brought up on a diet of working-class | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
values. During my childhood our family had real signs of struggle, | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
but that have resilience and determination ingrained in my roots | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
have always given us forward. I know what it is like to grow up within | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
with loved ones who were plagued by mental illness. And I also know what | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
it is like to be a single mother with a modest income struggling to | :47:21. | :47:27. | |
make ends meet. I can promise today that I will never, ever forget when | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
I have come from. As a teacher and updated my love for education will | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
not come as a surprise. Before my journey into politics I was known | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
for leading the fairer funding campaign in Nantwich which I'm still | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
committed to, and I stand here today for the children are my constituency | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
and I will continue to prioritise them and their education, my | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
children's education, the future of this country's education for as long | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
as I am in the house. Nantwich is a picturesque market town, home to the | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
world's biggest cheese awards, and we will in fact be celebrating the | :48:08. | :48:10. | |
best of cheese later this month. We are proud of annual jazz and blues | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
Festival which attracts more than 40,000 revellers to the town. The | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
little introduction, crew is anonymous with railways. At its | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
height, crew works employs 20,000 workers but that number has now | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
fallen to fewer than 1000. Crew deserves investment and I welcome | :48:33. | :48:35. | |
the commitment and Queen's Speech to bring forward legislation to deliver | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
the next phase of HS2. This will undoubtedly benefit crew. The | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
surrounding areas of Crewe and Nantwich are scattered with | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
villagers steeped in local tradition and it is important that the people | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
of Sherrington, Williston, Westerton, Wembley and Haslingden | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
now that I will work hard to support their communities. These places are | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
all united by the hard-working community spirited salt of the earth | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
proud of our fault that live and work there. It is the nature of my | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
hard-working constituency that I want to focus on in this my first | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
speech. I want to pay tribute to the British workforce. Every single one | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
of Britain's's 31 million workers ought to be recognised and | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
celebrated as the real wealth creators in this country. Without | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
them this country would grind to a halt. Unemployment levels in Crewe | :49:33. | :49:40. | |
and Nantwich are lower than average for the Northwest more than the UK | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
average and yet food bags in my constituency provided more than | :49:46. | :49:50. | |
50,000 meals last year and almost 4000 children are living in poverty. | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
These are not mere statistics to me for me to be concerned about, but | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
each and everyone is nothing less a travesty. This reflects the changing | :50:01. | :50:07. | |
nature of poverty in the UK, there are no more people in working | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
poverty than in out of poverty. It would seem that in 21st-century | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
Britain works simply does not pay in many cases. Just a few more facts | :50:18. | :50:23. | |
for you, more than one in five workers earn less than a living wage | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
and more than half of working households have seen no improvement | :50:29. | :50:31. | |
in their disposable income in more than a decade. Under 25 so not even | :50:32. | :50:38. | |
entitled to the government's national living wage which is in | :50:39. | :50:41. | |
itself inadequate and falls short of a real living wage. Full-time | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
working lone parents are often the worst affected, having been a single | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
mother myself I know how tough and isolating it can be. | :50:53. | :51:03. | |
47 years after the equality pay act, the gender pay gap is still a huge | :51:04. | :51:18. | |
problem. Instead of addressing this, the previous Chancellor prioritised | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
changes to the state pension that have shattered the retirement plans | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
of women born in the 1950s with devastating consequences. I stand | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
with those women, fighting against this injustice. We should also | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
celebrate the fact there are now a record number of female MPs in | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
Parliament by acting to finally eradicate gender inequality in the | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
workplace. We have a duty to address all forms of poverty as a priority. | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
The fact that we have in work poverty in the fifth richest country | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
in the world is shameful. It is a sad indictment of our economic | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
policy. Work should be an escape route from poverty and it is wrong | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
to claim we are all this -- in this together. CEOs can turn into and a | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
half days what it takes the average worker and entire year to earn. I | :52:14. | :52:21. | |
also can't help but wonder whether action on poverty pay might be | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
addressed more urgently if we in this House had to do our jobs on a | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
workers wage. Is it any wonder that so many people are infuriated by the | :52:33. | :52:38. | |
hypocrisy of MPs receiving inflation busting pay rises themselves while | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
voting to cap the pay of dedicated professionals who work in our public | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
services. If this government wants to show the UK workforce that it | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
values them, it can. It can start by giving them the pay rise and | :52:54. | :52:59. | |
financial security they deserve. Actions speak louder than words and | :53:00. | :53:02. | |
I will continue to hold the government to account on this issue. | :53:03. | :53:09. | |
In the words of Nelson Mandela "As long as poverty, injustice and gross | :53:10. | :53:12. | |
inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest. " And | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
fellow members, I have no intention of resting. Maiden speech, Paul | :53:19. | :53:28. | |
Masterton. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker for giving me the | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
opportunity to speak in this debate. It is a pleasure to follow the | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
member for Crewe and Nantwich after her powerful speech. A plane ride | :53:37. | :53:44. | |
with a family trip is terrifying so it maybe a little while before I am | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
in a position to benefit from the protections this bill will bring | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
into force. Madam Deputy Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege to be | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
standing here as the member for East Renfrewshire. I committed the | :54:00. | :54:02. | |
ultimate sin as a successful candidate at the cab, I forgot to | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
thank my wife who was standing a mere six feet away. If I may endorse | :54:08. | :54:11. | |
myself, I would like to but on record for evermore, my thanks and | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
love to my wife Heather. I would also pay tribute to my predecessor, | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
Kerstin Oswalt, a diligent and conscientious MP who did superb work | :54:24. | :54:29. | |
as parties representative for veterans. I wish her and her | :54:30. | :54:33. | |
beautiful family well for the future. I would also like to give | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
special mention to the last Conservative member for the steed, | :54:38. | :54:41. | |
balanced do it, who passed away in December. I know how much it would | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
have meant that -- Medway and for his seat to turn blue again. Despite | :54:47. | :54:53. | |
what other members may have led you to believe, it is East Renfrewshire | :54:54. | :54:57. | |
that is the most beautiful constituency. Not only with its | :54:58. | :55:03. | |
famous green spaces but its people. It is home to Scotland's largest | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
Jewish community, a large Muslim community, a strong Christian | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
committee and seek community and people of all faiths and none. The | :55:12. | :55:14. | |
key thing is that none of that matters. The constituency is a fine | :55:15. | :55:21. | |
example of everything that a modern, multicultural and tolerant Britain | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
should see. A testament to that diversity is that the constituent | :55:26. | :55:28. | |
will soon be home to the world's first-ever joint Catholic and Jewish | :55:29. | :55:36. | |
school. There is an entrepreneurial spirit, from Busby to Clarkson, home | :55:37. | :55:40. | |
businesses are thriving. Family businesses like an ice cream parlour | :55:41. | :55:44. | |
and a plumpness in a street sit at the heart of the local community. | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
From small enterprises like optimal physio and the enchanted Forest | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
children's nursery and household names like Barrhead travel and | :55:54. | :56:01. | |
aspiration, innovation and a desire to build a better future for those | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
who follow the brand values that underpin that the people I | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
represent. Today's entrepreneurs are following in a grand tradition. In | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
1868, John Shanks opened a foundry, in the decades that followed, he | :56:16. | :56:21. | |
developed the Bath and lavatory fittings for which he is famous. | :56:22. | :56:34. | |
Nearby Milton was famous for cotton, textile mills dominated the area, | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
powered by water, the mill reach the summit of Everest, used in the | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
climbers of the boot of the expedition in 1975. We had one of | :56:46. | :56:52. | |
the first smoke-free factories in the world, since replaced by a | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
business park including a unit inhabited by two members of the | :56:57. | :56:59. | |
Scottish parliament and now myself. I suspect there is far more hot air | :57:00. | :57:05. | |
emanating from the site now than in previous years. East Renfrewshire's | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
natural history is just a prevalent. We have a stunning landscape | :57:10. | :57:15. | |
punctuated with hills amours and the community are rightly protective of | :57:16. | :57:18. | |
this. It is little wonder the constituency boosted youth -- posted | :57:19. | :57:27. | |
UK parts of the year. And the most desirable spots in the UK to live. | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
It brings me back to this place, Gordon Brown was born in a maternity | :57:32. | :57:36. | |
home near the site of the Orchard Park hotel and the former member for | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
the constituency, Betty Harvey Anderson, the first Lady to sit on | :57:41. | :57:46. | |
the Speaker 's chair as a deputy speaker was elected in 1959 along | :57:47. | :57:54. | |
with another, Margaret Thatcher. For those who believe history repeated | :57:55. | :58:00. | |
self, I am open to offers. Madam Deputy Speaker, while the result may | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
not have been what these benches hoped, north of the board of the | :58:07. | :58:07. | |
picture was brighter. Much I am proud to stand alongside | :58:08. | :58:18. | |
Scottish Conservative faces, we will fight against the destructive | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
politics of socialism and the divisive politics of nationalism. We | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
will do so with an outstretched hand, not a clenched fist. When the | :58:27. | :58:29. | |
UK Government and Scottish Government come together in common | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
cause, that partnership is capable of truly transformational change. | :58:35. | :58:36. | |
East Renfrewshire will receive 40 former limp ounce of investment in | :58:37. | :58:45. | |
the Glasgow city deal. -- 40 ?4 million. I am not sure if wake | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
boarding is high on your agenda but I will extend an invitation | :58:51. | :58:57. | |
nonetheless. Turnout is a whiz amongst the highest in the UK in | :58:58. | :59:00. | |
East Renfrewshire but after seven trip to the polls in just over three | :59:01. | :59:04. | |
years, my constituents need stability and for their politicians | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
to get on and do their jobs. It is the Scottish Government's inability | :59:11. | :59:13. | |
to do that which is one of the reasons I stand here today. For my | :59:14. | :59:19. | |
part, I will first and foremost dedicated myself to improve the | :59:20. | :59:23. | |
lives of my constituents, when life gives them a difficult and when | :59:24. | :59:28. | |
someone needs them to listen, the Leaf erectus and hides real pockets | :59:29. | :59:31. | |
of deprivation and daily struggle. Those who feel left behind and | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
forgotten. It is those people who do the -- who look to this place for | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
the work we can do and we must not let them down. The Conservative | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
Party must remember what it is for, extending the ladder of social | :59:45. | :59:48. | |
mobility while providing a robust safety net for those struggling to | :59:49. | :59:52. | |
make the climb. Just as we on these benches believe anyone from any | :59:53. | :59:56. | |
background can reach as high and far as their talents would hurt them, we | :59:57. | :00:00. | |
must acknowledge that anyone can fall on hard times. -- where it will | :00:01. | :00:07. | |
take them. Teddy Taylor coined the phrase tenement Tories, it meant be | :00:08. | :00:12. | |
at that conservatism must offer an aspirational vision to all and I am | :00:13. | :00:17. | |
here to represent people who do not all live in big houses. The 2015 | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
general election was a point at which the Scottish National Party | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
were at their peak, dominant and arrogant. They claimed ownership of | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
my flag and my voice but they did not speak for me and they did not | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
speak for Scotland. And so the day after that election, I joined the | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. In doing so, I made a promise | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
to myself I would do everything in my power to ensure my children would | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
grow up in Scotland where their opportunities are unrestrained and | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
the ambition never frowned upon where their talents and Brent Edgell | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
-- and potential would not go unnoticed. And where they would | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
remain part of our wonderful United Kingdom. Standing here today may | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
only be the first step to keeping that promise to myself and my | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
children and families and individuals across East Renfrewshire | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
and Scotland but I assure the House that it is a promise I have no | :01:12. | :01:20. | |
intention of breaking. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
to welcome you to the chair, it is a pleasure to follow the honourable | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
member from East Renfrewshire, it was great to hear other maiden | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
speeches. It has brought a diversity to a one-sided debate. I would say | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
to the members for East Renfrewshire, he talks about the | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
vices of nationalism, the irony has not been missed, intends of the | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
government getting on with the day job, the reason we are here debating | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
this is because the government in question did not get on with their | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
day job and chose to call an early general election which was not | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
needed. Anyway, Madam Deputy Speaker, speaking, one frustrating | :02:03. | :02:11. | |
thing is that we often have to apply time limits to cut short speeches, | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
tonight, I think we have found with some speakers that time limits would | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
be useful because it is amazing how long some honourable members have | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
been able to speak about the bill that is only for clauses long. I | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
will try to be brief. This is a small piece of legislation but a | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
welcome piece. I would also suggest it is indicative of the strength of | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
this government, this was part of the wider vehicle and technology and | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
aviation Bill and now this four clause bill is one of the big bills | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
hailed in the Queen's speech. A Queen's speech that we all know | :02:50. | :02:58. | |
lacked ambition. Atol is a scheme that has provided protection for | :02:59. | :03:00. | |
many over the years and it has rescued people financially and got | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
them to come home in times of need so it is a fantastic scheme. As | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
other members have said, it has changed over the years, so it is | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
appropriate that the protections move likewise. The government | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
minister was keen to say the UK has led the way in Europe with Atol am I | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
would not dispute that. The EU has also extended passenger rights and | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
it is imperative these rights are not weakened after Brexit. We need | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
to provide assurances that the rights and protections of travellers | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
will not be diminished after Britain leaves the EU. We note that the | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
troubled eye rake to applicable from 1st of January 2018, is the first | :03:49. | :04:02. | |
legislation change. It is welcome, the protections will now extend | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
beyond the traditional path and will apply to three different sorts of | :04:09. | :04:18. | |
travel combination. I also welcome the clear protection provided to 120 | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
million consumers across the EU who booked other forms of combined | :04:23. | :04:23. | |
travel. Among the advantages, there compliance costs are inspected to | :04:24. | :04:45. | |
reduce from 8 euros per package -- 28 euros per package from 11 euros. | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
So once again we are grateful to the EU for taking on big businesses and | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
extending consumer rights to meet modern travel needs. Since the EU | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
legislated to provide a conference of system of air passenger rights in | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
2004 and increased awareness in these rights and the ability to | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
complain and appeal has led to a significant increase in the number | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
of people doing so. These have been supplemented by a number of court | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
cases where airlines must have paid compensation. Appeals against the | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
judgments have meant some airlines have been reluctant to pay out | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
compensation until the legal position is clear. Therefore we know | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
that there is still industry resistance to some of the | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
compensation schemes. That is why it is vital the UK does not weaken any | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
legislation in the future. I thank him for giving way, I welcome you | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker and congratulate the member for East | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
Renfrewshire for a fluent maiden speech which I am sure will not be | :05:48. | :05:49. | |
the last in this House. Does my honourable friend agree that | :05:50. | :05:59. | |
this is why we need assurances from this government about the impact of | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
Brexit? So many aspects of consumer protection for dear life on | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
individuals and we would have those assurances and clarity this time | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
last year, perhaps he would not be in the situation we currently find | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
ourselves. I thank the honourable member for his intervention. I | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
agree. There seems to be a great reticence from the UK Government to | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
give the guarantees needed. One year down the line since the vote and | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
we're no further forward in many cases, and too often we keep hearing | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
how everything will be OK going forward, but we need to start seeing | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
some fresh voices as it were. On that theme we still do not know when | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
the UK is going to develop its own system of passenger rights and | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
conversations in the aviation sector both Brexit, a similar will this be | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
for the current arrangements and more importantly how will that | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
affect non-E -- non-UK later passengers? It comes to the point | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
that we need a fair guarantee from the UK Government. Madam Deputy | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
Speaker a slightly different theme, Scotland has a large number of | :07:05. | :07:06. | |
regional airports and many of these regional airports are completely | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
reliant on low-cost airlines and to listen to survive and be an economic | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
success. In a neighbouring constituency of mine we have pressed | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
the airport and recent reports have stated by the airport is vulnerable | :07:21. | :07:22. | |
to Brexit given the number of low-cost airlines and passenger | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
traffic which is mainly outbound. In actual fact Ryanair has confirmed | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
that despite the fact the Scottish Government has voted to reduce air | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
passenger duty by 50% which they were hoping to use as a mechanism to | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
grow the number of routes operating from Prestwick, the cost of | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
uncertainty of Brexit and the open skies agreement, Ryanair will not | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
expand further at Prestwick airport. That is a real concern for local | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
jobs in my area. The international air transport Association predicts | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
that a 12% reduction in sterling would result in a 5% decline in | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
outbound travel and outbound travel from airports. And yet since the EU | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
referendum sterling has dropped 25% so it is more vital for Prestwick | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
airport that we do continue with the open skies agreement to maintain | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
outbound passengers and it is incumbent upon the UK Government to | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
give a guarantee that the UK will stay in the civil aviation market | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
after we are taken out of the EU. Remaining in the open skies | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
agreement, the single aviation market is vital to insure our | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
airports remain economically viable and that the low-cost airlines are | :08:33. | :08:34. | |
vital for these regional airports for commercial success. And yet easy | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
Jet setting up a separate operation outwith the UK to ensure it can | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
continue to fly without restriction after the UK leads the EU, which is | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
in no small part due to lack of clarity over what aviation agreement | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
the UK will eventually come up with. It is clear that the matter that | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
everything will be OK or even better in the current arrangements I | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
relieve the EU that risks are materialise in front of us, airlines | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
finding other EU member states are more attractive proposition is | :09:07. | :09:08. | |
clearly a worrying prospect. The UK Government needs to find out how it | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
will counteract this issue for regional airports. The UK Government | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
really must provide clarity sooner rather than later. Madam Deputy | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
Speaker just to finish, close to in this bill gives the secretary of | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
state power to form an air travel trust fund with only an affirmative | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
resolution by each house of parliament, I suggest the UK | :09:33. | :09:35. | |
Government also needs to provide assurances that any changes the | :09:36. | :09:38. | |
Secretary of State for Transport makes to the ATOL scheme through | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
secondary legislation must be preceded by a proper consultation of | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
members within the industry and celebrates to perform an impact | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
assessment associated with that, so these comments apart, we do welcome | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
the legislation and as I noted at the start in a intervention with the | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
Minister we are concerned with what is going to happen with the proposed | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
legislation and the honourable member the Transport Secretary said | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
as well and it is imperative that the government was quickly and | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
provide you assurances in these matters as well. Thank you very much | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker and it is a pleasure to be called by you to | :10:19. | :10:21. | |
speak in this debate in your first session in the chair and | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
congratulate you on your new role. That is a pleasure to follow the | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
honourable member from the SNP from, and to congratulate the many members | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
have made the maiden speeches today, there have been some excellent | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
maiden speeches. One of Cornwall 's earliest tourists was the spirited | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
and adventurous Mary Kelly, a Cornish is wife who in 1851 travel | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
to London to visit the great exhibition. It took longer than some | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
sage should have done, but then again she didn't walk the 600 miles | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
there and back as she was 84 years old. At the time there were not many | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
other options for Cornish travellers, and there are some who | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
would seek to give the impression that much has not changed in | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
Cornwall today. For those seeking to travel and leave Cornwall. But that | :11:14. | :11:15. | |
would be to give a very wrong impression. A wrong impression of | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
what is currently taking place in Coral because we are seeing thanks | :11:21. | :11:22. | |
to the support of this government record levels of investment in our | :11:23. | :11:29. | |
transport infrastructure. If Mary had been around today she could have | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
taken another alternative ways of travelling. She can travel by road | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
and she would have travelled up the a circuit had seen recently | :11:40. | :11:49. | |
completed upgrade of the a 30 which will be completed in a few weeks' | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
time. And with the good minister in his place I would like to | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
acknowledge and welcome the government's commitment for their | :12:00. | :12:01. | |
support for the next phase of the upgrade for the vital if the team in | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
road through Cornwall. All Mary could have travelled on one of the | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
new great Western Railways billet style Hitachi trains, the first of | :12:11. | :12:18. | |
which we saw in Cornwall just over a week ago, a ?146 million investment | :12:19. | :12:20. | |
in our Railways which will be fully rolled out next year. All of course | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
she could have taken one of the three times daily aeroplane | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
travelling from Newquay to London today. I will give a will stop the | :12:33. | :12:39. | |
Mac riveting though this is, it is not anything to do with the bill. We | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
have lots of people wanting to speak and I wonder if you might get to the | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
relevancy of the statement. I am not sure I thank the honourable death | :12:51. | :12:52. | |
and for that intervention but I am about to come onto the point because | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
the airport is booming, we're seeing passenger numbers increase | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
year-on-year and by some measures it is now regarded as the | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
fastest-growing regional airport in the country. Only recently the | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
independent -- the Independence declared Newquay to be the best | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
regional airport in the country. And not only can you get regular flights | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
to UK destinations but there is sewing an increasing number of | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
holiday destinations such as places in Portugal and Spain. And that is | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
why I welcome the bill that is before the house today. The way in | :13:30. | :13:36. | |
which two lists book the holidays is changing with fewer and fewer | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
picking the traditional package holiday by popping down into the | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
town centre to visit the cartilage and office. In 2016, of the 20 | :13:45. | :13:52. | |
million UK holiday-makers, 76% of them but the holidays or travel | :13:53. | :14:01. | |
online, a staggering increase even when compared to changes in recent | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
years. There was the partial reform of the regulation in 2012 but I'm | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
pleased that the Department for Transport firmly believes that more | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
needs to be done to protect consumers and that is why I welcome | :14:16. | :14:24. | |
this bill before the house today. As holiday providers market options and | :14:25. | :14:26. | |
even more varied flighty packages change, so comes confusion of not | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
knowing if there is ATOL cover according to where the holiday or | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
travel provider is based at what terms and conditions apply in the | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
event of a business failure. This bill seeks to rectify that. The | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
government has said that it will harmonise ATOL with the scope and | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
definition of the EU package travel directive. It was widely agreed that | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
this will bring greater clarity and protection for consumers and help | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
level the playing field for businesses selling similar holidays. | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
I welcome this key development and note that the bill will also seek to | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
build in future proofing so to the packages on offer and where and how | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
they are sold will come under the new legislation. The travel industry | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
is one that has seen enormous change in just a few years, and this bill | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
seeks to reflect that and serve travellers and the industry more | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
effectively. Many if not all of the changes that have taken place in the | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
travel industry have been for the better of consumers. Providing | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
greater connotation, more choice and greater flexibility, but it is | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
important that legislation and protection keeps pace with those | :15:48. | :15:55. | |
changes. It is essential that flexes packages of all types are covered | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
with ATOL protection and that travellers are clear and confident | :16:00. | :16:01. | |
that at the time of purchase which may be many months prior to the | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
departure date, but the cover is in place. This bill serves to ensure | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
that very purpose. Future proofing the legislation around ATOL | :16:12. | :16:18. | |
protection is as I have said a needed and broadly welcomed moves by | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
all parties across the industry. But I feel I would like to push the | :16:23. | :16:25. | |
Minister a bit on this Ujah proofing point. I'm sure the ministers in the | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
department would be disappointed if I did not take the opportunity to | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
refer to the potential of the spaceport coming to Cornwall Newquay | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
airport. I was delighted to see the legislation to enable that was in | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
the gracious speech just shortly delivered. While this will | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
essentially be focused on commercial satellite launches, there is also no | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
doubt of the future potential for space tourism. I know some will | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
scoff, but do not underestimate the Cornish. We give the world up in the | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
esteem and steely transformed mining safety. The Cornish have it in the | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
psyche, in the history, in the blood, to be pioneers. Surely the | :17:15. | :17:23. | |
day will come when Newquay welcomes her first space travellers, with | :17:24. | :17:25. | |
correlation there to visit her being, beam me up Denzel is surely | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
only just around the corner. So the question must be asked of the | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
Minister, with tongue only slightly in cheek, is whether the ATOL | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
protection covered in this bill will be able to be extended to space | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
tourism when the time comes. I believe the additional protection | :17:45. | :17:47. | |
this bill offers to the Cornish travellers and I believe that it | :17:48. | :17:55. | |
will only enhance further the opportunities for smaller regional | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
airports like Newquay to continue to grow and expand it tourist flights. | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
Thank you very much. It is a privilege to follow my comrade from | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
coral. Thank you for calling this debate. I find myself in an | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
opposition, having worked for Thomas Cook in a previous role to be sat on | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
the other side of the fence now looking at the ATOL regulations that | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
I was myself arguing for another reviewable. It is great to see that | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
we are back in again. I was hoping that the first bill that we would be | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
addressing would be about food banks in Ukraine mine to the far | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
south-west but is ATOL reform is as good a place to start as any. First | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
of all can I say that I welcome this bill, it is long overdue in terms of | :18:41. | :18:42. | |
updating our consumer protection for holiday-makers and it comes on the | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
back of a number of improvements in recent years in the way that | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
holidays have been sold unprotected. -- sold and protected. I spent many | :18:53. | :18:59. | |
years in Brussels working with another of colleagues looking at how | :19:00. | :19:01. | |
we can strengthen protection for people buying holidays because that | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
has been discussed widely, and we holidays have been soul has changed | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
considerably in recent years. The travel industry operates under | :19:10. | :19:12. | |
legislation that has not kept pace both in the UK and throughout the EU | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
with the way that travel has been sold, partly because of the | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
inventiveness and ingenuity of the innovators and entrepreneurs in the | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
travel industry. We are really fortunate that the UK sector is | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
second to none in how entrepreneurial we actually are | :19:29. | :19:30. | |
clear. But my starting point for looking at the Bill in particular is | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
to ask whether this gives certainty and confidence to consumers. The | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
ATOL certificates are prejudiced another of years ago by the | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
Coalition government made a step forward, but that is more that can | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
be done. In particular there is often a confusion between the | :19:48. | :19:49. | |
protection given when someone buys a package and the protection given | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
when someone buys a flight plus arrangement and the protection given | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
when people buy separate arrangements all at the same time | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
ready data is transferred or travel arrangements. This bill does not say | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
much about what second any legislation will accompany this | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
piece of work in the detail of that is essential that we get that right, | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
because this bill is something that the industry and consumers have been | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
waiting quite some time for. It is important that there is no further | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
delay in doing this. I think having sat through the debate and having | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
worked on travel for a number of years I think it is a portent that | :20:24. | :20:26. | |
the list is as clear distinction in -- that there is a clear distinction | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
that is understood in this house between the protection afforded by | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
ATOL and package sales and those afforded by buying a decent holiday | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
insurance that included particular the scheduled airline failure | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
insurance as well. But as the honourable member from Milton Keynes | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
South Mark and his intervention earlier, time is running out here. | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
We are now six months away from legislation needing to be in place, | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
12 months from compliance and foreign industry already selling | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
holidays 12-18 months ahead, that creates a difficulty in terms of | :20:59. | :21:00. | |
understanding what protections will be in place for those holidays after | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
being sold now. And for consumers to be understanding what protection | :21:07. | :21:07. | |
goes along with that. The package travel system, which I | :21:08. | :21:19. | |
have learnt a love and hate at the same time, it gets even more | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
complicated when you start looking through it. For travel businesses to | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
have sufficient time to prepare for the effective date of the 1st of | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
July and then planning sales beyond 2018, that is already at an advanced | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
age, we need the public to publish those quickly so they can be | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
properly consulted on and industry can take the necessary steps to | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
adapt to it by thinking in particular about small businesses | :21:45. | :21:46. | |
that may be captured for the first time in the scope of this. Because | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
travel is a complex fast paced industry full of fantastic people, | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
these technical updates need to be fully understood and implemented | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
over time for a variety of great many different booking systems both | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
in UK companies and those that operate internationally. That is why | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
these draft regulations can't come a moment soon. This bill will help | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
clear up confusion about what holidays are protected and what are | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
not. There was an interim stage when flight plusses, when you buy a | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
flight plus another element, like holiday accommodation or car hire, | :22:21. | :22:22. | |
this has been a positive step forward. I think wrapping them | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
altogether is a positive step forward but I would like to ask the | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
Minister to look again at howling travel arrangements in particular | :22:31. | :22:33. | |
are treated within this bill because the Minister previously mentioned to | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
bring LTAs into the scope of the protection I would like to see more | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
detail on that because out they are treated is especially important | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
because if they are not treated in the right way then those | :22:47. | :22:49. | |
transactions can fall outside the scope of the protections. Mr Deputy | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
Speaker, it'll should not need to look into the small print of their | :22:57. | :22:59. | |
contracts or regulation to work out if they are protected or not and at | :23:00. | :23:02. | |
the moment there are still too much detail people need to understand to | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
see if they are fully protected. Given my newness in the place and | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
the fact this is the first bill, I wonder if the Minister could do me a | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
favour and add a feuding is into his summing up, in particular I wonder | :23:15. | :23:17. | |
whether the Minister could clarify whether the implementation date for | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
all bookings is from the point of sale or the point of departure? That | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
is run important in terms of understanding with a holiday is | :23:27. | :23:29. | |
being sold now that may be captured by this after the plantation date me | :23:30. | :23:37. | |
to have rep from respected -- needs to have -- after the implementation | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
date need to have representation added to them. And if the Minister | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
could reaffirm that the protections afforded not only by the package | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
travel regulations but also by the air passage regulator will be | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
carried through in the event when we leave the European Union. And in | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
particular I would now like to spend a moment on the air trust fund. For | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
those who have not spent time looking at how that operates, it is | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
a fund that provides back-up support that in the event of a holiday | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
company during down, there are sufficient resources to bring Google | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
Home. Perhaps the Minister could provide an update on how that is | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
going. Now that there is ?140 million in the fund and provisions | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
in this bill to create what I suspect is protected cells within | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
the air travel trust fund, something the government has shied away from | :24:32. | :24:34. | |
doing, I wonder if he can clarify how that will work in practice. | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
Should a new entrant Selby exhausted by failure of a company in that | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
cell, will the air travel trust fund for the remainders of the holiday | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
industry need to top it up and vice versa if the company goes covered, | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
will those APC contributions, the ?2 50 you pay for your protection, the | :24:55. | :25:01. | |
paid into the trust fund to ensure people are brought home? It has been | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
exhausted in the past. These technical questions could provide | :25:08. | :25:10. | |
reassurance for consumers to know it was be there. Finally, can I ask | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
about enforcement of this bill? I note the CAA and trading standards | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
will take a large role in this. The CAA has done a good job in enforcing | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
the atoll regulations. But I am concerned trading standards are | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
already under a huge amount of pressure and stress to deliver the | :25:30. | :25:31. | |
workload they currently have this could further add to that difficulty | :25:32. | :25:39. | |
and complexity. It is great that there are simply people | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
familiarising themselves with the intricacies of atoll protection than | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
I hoped or honourable and right honourable members do so throughout | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
this. I hope it is also the start of a greater focus on tourism. In | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
particular outbound tourism, the kind that atoll protects, has fallen | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
behind a number of government stalls were too long. We have spit -- split | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
response abilities. It seems that sometimes this is a hot potato no | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
government minister wants to touch, so I am grateful for this bill being | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
brought forward because I think it is time we look at whether there is | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
a single regulator for the travel industry and whether there can be a | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
clear department responsible for bringing together all the elements | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
of outbound production The Open protection for holiday-makers. I | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
noticed that nearly everyone who has spoken to date has praised their | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
airports. Plymouth's airports closed in 2010 and I would implore the | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
Minister to help us to reopen it, so I can join the cohort of members who | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
have praised their own airport. At the moment by airport is growing | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
grass on the runway but I wish it would reopen soon, because then | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
holiday-makers in Plymouth can enjoy the same protection as ATOL affords | :26:54. | :27:03. | |
others. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and for the opportunity to | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
contribute for the first time in this place. It is an honour to | :27:08. | :27:17. | |
follow the honourable member. I am also grateful for the opportunity to | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
be to speak here and to be to speak in this bill, which I wholeheartedly | :27:22. | :27:24. | |
support. It is another indication of when times change is a sometimes for | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
regulation. Sometimes there is a need to know regulation but this | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
time there is. I support that and look forward to the coming months in | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
front of us. It is an honour and a privilege to represent the beautiful | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
constituency of North East Derbyshire, a constituency of | :27:46. | :27:52. | |
vibrant communities, rich ambition and proud, proud heritage. We sit | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
nestled but two hours away from here between the steel city of Sheffield | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
in the north, between the beauty of the Peak District in the West, and | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
then in the east the market town of Chesterfield, which my constituency | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
has been so happily and completely intertwined with 400s and hundreds | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
of years. From that market town and rises the crooked spire, which some | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
members may be aware of, a church which has been in place for over six | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
centuries, and which is notable by its spire not quite being as | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
straight as it should be, and which dominates the landscape of both | :28:31. | :28:32. | |
Chesterfield and my constituency for miles around. I am a son of that | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
crooked spire, and I was born only a few 100 metres away from where it | :28:39. | :28:41. | |
has stood for those six and a half centuries. If honourable members | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
will allow me, there is something unique about having the privilege to | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
serve in this place, and I look forward in the coming months and | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
years to doing so, but there is something particularly unique about | :28:54. | :28:56. | |
having the opportunity to represent the place where you grew up, to be | :28:57. | :28:59. | |
able to represent the people who gave you the very values that you | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
will speak of in this place when you have the opportunity, and to be | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
aborted talk about the area that made you, and I have that privilege, | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
and it is something I am incredibly grateful for that opportunity to be | :29:12. | :29:17. | |
to do that. Before I entered North East Derbyshire into the obligatory | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
most beautiful constituency competition, which I should assure | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
numbers of the house my constituency will win hands down, but before I do | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
that I would like to spend a moment talking about my predecessors. I | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
walk in huge and assured footsteps in my constituency, from the progeny | :29:33. | :29:40. | |
of one of the founders of the Industrial Revolution, Francis | :29:41. | :29:42. | |
Arkwright, the one of the people who opened up the Derbyshire coalfield, | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
which my constituency has so much to thank and so much of its legacy | :29:47. | :29:49. | |
recorded two, Alfred Barnes, and even to a Nobel peace prize winner, | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
Arthur Henderson, the three-time leader of the party opposite, who | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
did so much during the dark days of the 1930s of the courses of | :29:59. | :30:04. | |
disarmament and peace. -- the causes. I would like to dwell on one | :30:05. | :30:12. | |
particular who had, my immediate predecessor, Natasha angle. I have | :30:13. | :30:16. | |
been here but a moment and I can receive the love and the respect | :30:17. | :30:22. | |
that members across the house have for Natasha, and I am happy to | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
report that love and respect is reciprocated in the constituency | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
itself. In a time of fierce partisanship and in my view | :30:33. | :30:35. | |
unnecessary rancour, I am happy to stand here despite having a | :30:36. | :30:52. | |
different rosette to Natascha. I hope she returns to public life soon | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
if she chooses to come out of this place. North East Derbyshire is a | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
constituency of contrasts, from the beauty and the rich undulating hills | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
of picture perfect postcard villages like ash over and the beauty of the | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
Caldwell and the moss valleys in the north and the east to the fiercely | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
independent market town of John Field, with its monument to Sir | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
Robert Peel's repeal of the corn laws in the 1850s, an indication of | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
my constituents to slack for unnecessary regulation. Something I | :31:24. | :31:29. | |
will remember, which give way in the east to a landscape at once both | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
scarred by the endeavours of man, and then rebuilt again over time as | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
we return to our former glory in north-east are the show. My | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
constituency came of age in service of its nation in the provision of | :31:45. | :31:48. | |
energy, and at one point a century ago, a predecessor of mine stood in | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
this place and talked of 40,000 men in my constituency that were mining | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
under the ground every single day. Mining is in my constituency's | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
blood, and like the honourable lady from Crewe and Nantwich, it is a | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
trait I share in that both of my grandparents were minors, including | :32:10. | :32:12. | |
one who mind for a time it was thought cholerae in the town which I | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
now -- in a colliery in the town which I now represent. I am the son | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
of a milkman who left school at 15 and went out to work every single | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
day before dawn in order to provide for his children and his wife. I am | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
the son of a lady who left school at 16, and through sheer force of will | :32:34. | :32:36. | |
went back to university, actor school in her 30s, and whilst | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
holding down a job, whilst ringing up two boisterous young boys, and | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
ensured that she got 2 degrees so she could provide for her kids and | :32:47. | :32:49. | |
make a life better. I am the great nephew of the lady who ran the post | :32:50. | :32:55. | |
office in a constituency in my village, and I am the nephew of my | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
aunt, who once went to work for the National union of Mineworkers during | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
the minor stroke. North East Derbyshire -- the miner strike. | :33:05. | :33:12. | |
It has changed, events that in the spirit of Parton 's own ship, nearly | :33:13. | :33:19. | |
as fact. Cass partisanship. In the same way my constituency has | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
changed, my family somehow reflect that change as well, from the | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
descriptions that I have just given you, that I am stood here today a | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
working-class boy, able to talk this place and represent the people I | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
grew up from is something I will never forget, and I will always seek | :33:36. | :33:38. | |
to do my best for my constituency as a result. But beautiful as my | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
constituency is, and is honoured as it is to be the winner of that | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
competition I have just spoken about, my constituency also suffers | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
from unique challenges and from problems. We currently have the | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
issue of inappropriate housing development and the beauties of the | :33:55. | :33:57. | |
valleys that I have talked about, because the local council has not | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
put in place the plans it should have done years ago in order to | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
avoid that happening. We have a fracking proposal in the beautiful | :34:05. | :34:07. | |
moss Valley, which my constituents neither want nor wish to see happen, | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
in which I will support them in their opposition for as long as it | :34:12. | :34:15. | |
is on the table. And we have the ever-growing burden of congestion | :34:16. | :34:18. | |
across a constituency as disparate as mine, which stops people from | :34:19. | :34:21. | |
getting around, stops businesses from doing their daily business, and | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
which we have to tackle in these kinds of debates in these kind of | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
places. But my constituency is more than just that and I pledge to them | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
that for as long as I have the privilege, however long or short it | :34:37. | :34:39. | |
is that I have the privilege of speaking in this place, I will work | :34:40. | :34:42. | |
hard on their behalf and try my hardest every single day to make | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
life better for them. Although I cannot guarantee I will solve the | :34:47. | :34:48. | |
problems I have just described all the ones that will come in the | :34:49. | :34:51. | |
future, I will try my hardest to mitigate the effects on them and try | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
to resolve them where I can. But before I finish, if I have any time | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
beyond that to dedicate beyond my constituents, I will seek to do so | :35:01. | :35:03. | |
in this place. In trying to answer one of the questions and one of the | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
big challenges of our time, a challenge which I, as someone new | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
here, believes is growing and urgent and needs to be resolved, and that | :35:12. | :35:14. | |
is the challenge at its most basic of providing healthy and happy and | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
prosperous communities, which are bound together in tight union by | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
energy, grit and determination. I was born in 1980, and according to | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
some social commentators, I am in that ugly sense of the word, a | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
millennial. And I sense something deeply amiss in my generation and | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
the one that comes afterward, a grave uncertainty, not an | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
uncertainty about the politics of today, or the policies which my | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
government, which I wholeheartedly support are pushing forward, | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
something that is more visceral, more structural, more underlying. I | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
feel that my generation is unsure about its place in the world. I feel | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
it is uncertain about where the world is going, hurtling, untethered | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
into a place which is unknown, and has been the 20, 30 or 40 years. I | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
fear that my generation believes that it may be the first generation | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
to hand over the world in a worse state than it has found that, | :36:10. | :36:12. | |
despite the best efforts of these benches and all benches in this | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
place. And I think we have to consider that as parliamentarians. | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
We have to realise that my generation and other generations are | :36:21. | :36:21. | |
unsure, uncertain. I would also say to my generation, | :36:22. | :36:33. | |
and frustrating as it is, the easy words, the anecdotes and emotions I | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
have seen in recent months and years as a substitute to good governance | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
is not. And whatever time I have in this place, I will stand up for cool | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
thinking, for understanding, for articulating problems in a proper | :36:50. | :36:53. | |
and clear way. But also I have to say that I will also stand up for | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
the values that my constituency has. Values of compassion and emotion. | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
But also those values of hard work, aspiration, ambition, that my | :37:03. | :37:08. | |
constituency has given to me that I will seek for the time I have in | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
place. But also I will stand up here for the creed of free markets, | :37:13. | :37:15. | |
liberal economic, and of capitalist progress. Unfashionable may be in a | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
field in Somerset, but the only engine in order that we can | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
unshackle ourselves from the bonds of yesterday, that we can face the | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
challenges of today, and we can look forward to the future of tomorrow. | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
What I have the opportunity to serve here, there is a big things that I | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
will put forward. Another maiden speech. | :37:39. | :37:45. | |
Thank you, Deputy Speaker and congratulations on being elected. | :37:46. | :37:51. | |
Very, very good choice. It's great to follow the honourable member | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
opposite as well, and excellent maidens. As is customary in your | :37:57. | :38:02. | |
maiden speech, firstly I want to acknowledge the work that my | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
predecessor, Graham Evans, did for the constituents of Weaver Vale | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
during his seven years in office. Graham's contribution to | :38:13. | :38:14. | |
Parliamentary life was richly diverse. He both chaired the | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
Parliamentary beer group and encouraged many honourable members | :38:20. | :38:26. | |
to take up running. Although I'm short listed not involve running in | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
the direction of the bar! Graham completed the London Marathon many | :38:32. | :38:35. | |
times, raising a great deal of money for good causes, both local and | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
national. And he encouraged many members from across this house, on | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
all sides of this house, to do likewise. I wish Graham and his | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
family well in the future. Mr Speaker, the House of Commons | :38:50. | :38:52. | |
library and a plethora of MPs from all sides of the House advised me | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
that it's important to research some notable historical facts and figures | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
about the constituency. Its three major corporations of Northwich, | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
Runcorn and fracture. Weaver Vale takes its way from the association | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
with the river Weaver, in the heart of the Cheshire constituency. People | :39:12. | :39:18. | |
and things of historical Association include Sir John Brennan, founding | :39:19. | :39:25. | |
member of ICI and a former MP, like me, for the patch. Tim Burgess of | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
the Charlatans. A band that is the favourite of mine and hails from | :39:31. | :39:33. | |
Northridge. And the excellent commission John Bishop. He's a | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
Runcorn and he has the early excellent political choices. -- a | :39:38. | :39:43. | |
Runcorn lad. Weaver Vale is also a place where Daniel Craig served his | :39:44. | :39:51. | |
James Bond apprenticeship, undoubtedly doing stunts across the | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
pub bar. Deputy Speaker, another person of note associated with | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
Runcorn is my wife, Amanda. Born in Runcorn, stuck with me through thick | :40:03. | :40:05. | |
and thin. And I think it wise and necessary move to include Amanda in | :40:06. | :40:14. | |
my maidens beach. -- my maiden speech. Members will know Britain is | :40:15. | :40:18. | |
a diverse, rich and vibrant nation. Much of this can be said of my | :40:19. | :40:23. | |
constituency. Weaver Vale has an array of industries and business | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
sectors represented. With no one industry dominating the life of the | :40:27. | :40:35. | |
entire constituency. Northridge, Weaver, Helmsley and the eastern | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
part of Runcorn, comprise much of the urban life of the constituency. | :40:39. | :40:46. | |
Woven around rural areas. Of course, I'm going to say it's one of the | :40:47. | :40:49. | |
best places to live in the country, to visit and work. The thing that | :40:50. | :40:56. | |
grabs me most about this diverse fabric of Weaver Vale is how it's | :40:57. | :41:02. | |
changed over and decades. At Runcorn is Lawton Priory, the most excellent | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
excavated monastic site. The remains of the 12th century abbey found | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
alongside the urban estates from the 1970s, where I must now focus much | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
of my attention assisting constituents. Weaver Vale has a | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
proud industrial heritage spanning back to Roman Britain from the salt | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
mines are Northridge, to its association with ICI. Historically | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
employing thousands of workers to rock'n'roll Corner, Northwich, and | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
surrounding areas. While many are still employed in the chemical | :41:41. | :41:43. | |
industry, new high-tech industries have emerged and are thriving in the | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
labs using nanotechnology and Robotics, providing high skilled, | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
high knowledge jobs that our community and nation needs. During | :41:55. | :42:03. | |
my tenure as a Labour MP for Weaver Vale, I will encourage new and | :42:04. | :42:06. | |
emerging green industries to locate in my patch, and to my local people. | :42:07. | :42:14. | |
I and these benches want an economy that works for everybody. A race to | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
the top creative access to highly skilled, fulfilling and sustainable | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
jobs will stop not a race to the bottom with insecure zero hours | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
contracts, and fake self employment franchises. Like the nation else, | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
Weaver Vale is a tale of two communities. It has some beautiful | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
countryside, towns and villages. Just picture that rural idyll, | :42:38. | :42:47. | |
thatched cottages and country pubs like the White Lie in which I | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
visited only this Sunday. Some residents in my constituency | :42:54. | :42:55. | |
fortunate enough to have incomes above the national average. At the | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
same time, many of my constituents in places such as Palace Fields in | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
Runcorn face real poverty in their daily lives. From childhood onwards. | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
That is despite what the benches opposite claim, there is a real lack | :43:10. | :43:17. | |
of work. Too much insecure part unemployment. A growth in zero hours | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
contractss. And the welfare system that lacks compassion and common | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
sense. One such person who experienced the shortcomings of our | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
current welfare system is Sheila. Who very recently had an operation | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
to remove a brain tumour. When I met Sheila, she could barely walk a | :43:37. | :43:43. | |
metre across to the TV. This was the result of the operation, but also | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
the side-effects of the steroid drugs she was taking to help prevent | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
seizures. Sheila had worked hard. She played by the rules and she paid | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
her taxes. But in her time of need when the welfare state should be | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
there to care for her, instead she received a 1500 cut in her income, | :44:02. | :44:08. | |
and was labelled a shirker by a system overseen by a callous, out of | :44:09. | :44:16. | |
touch and now chaotic government. Deputy Speaker, the Prime Minister | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
talked about a nation that works for everyone. It certainly isn't working | :44:21. | :44:22. | |
for Sheila and many thousands like her is not let me also tell this | :44:23. | :44:29. | |
chamber about another growth which is not a welcome sight in my | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
constituency. The site of hard pressed residents and families | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
having to use food banks. The use of food banks has gone up by 25% in the | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
north which part of my constituency, alone, in the past year. And if you | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
highlighted only recently by one of the local newspapers called the | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
Northwich Guardian. It seems that those most in need in our society | :44:54. | :44:59. | |
are paying the price for a sales austerity programme that is more to | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
do with an ideological drive to strip the state, while living | :45:05. | :45:08. | |
standards go in reverse gear stop -- drive to shrink the state. The | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
national debt is now more than one point ?1 trillion. -- one 7p. This | :45:13. | :45:22. | |
is not a society that works for a while. In conclusion, I wanted then | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
be thousands of constituents need here, especially the young people | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
who came up to vote for the first time, inspired by the politics of | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
hope and opportunity. A manifesto that wants to put them first for | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
investment, rather than cut. And a manifesto for the many, and not the | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
few. This rather weak and unstable government needs to take note. I | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
took my seat from one of the Roman because my constituents want more | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
bobbies on the beat. -- from one of my own. They don't want to see | :45:54. | :45:57. | |
individual school budgets cut by hundreds of thousands of pounds. | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
They once all the class sizes. Teachers and support staff who are | :46:03. | :46:05. | |
securing their jobs, and not fearful for the future. They also want to | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
keep the local hospitals open. And yes, those with the broadest | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
shoulders should pay their fair share in taxes and invest in our | :46:14. | :46:22. | |
future. Deputy Speaker, as a lad born in Wythenshawe, Manchester, I | :46:23. | :46:25. | |
never envisioned I would have the honour of sitting on these green | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
benches to represent Weaver Vale. I was the first in my family to get a | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
degree, and I gave back to society by becoming a careers adviser, | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
helping young people get into work, training and employment. I was the | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
first in my family to become a city councillor, serving the good people | :46:45. | :46:47. | |
of Manchester for 11 years. And I am now the first Amesbury in my family | :46:48. | :46:55. | |
to become an MP, a Labour MP. Unlike some in this house, I do not have a | :46:56. | :46:59. | |
long line of ancestors who served this house and the other place next | :47:00. | :47:05. | |
door. My family made me who I am. My dad, Barney, was a carpet fitter, | :47:06. | :47:09. | |
then a publican. My late mother used to clean caravans and the school | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
dinners. And my younger sister is a teaching assistant. Those are the | :47:15. | :47:20. | |
people hit by the pay cap. All extraordinary people in their own | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
right. Grafters, fighters and real people. I bring my real life the | :47:25. | :47:30. | |
variances to this chamber as a check and balance on this government, as a | :47:31. | :47:33. | |
champion for my constituents, as surely those most in need. To now | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
represent the people of Weaver Vale is the greatest privilege of my | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
life. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
introduce myself to this house. We have another maiden. | :47:53. | :48:00. | |
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It's a great honour to follow the | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
honourable member for Weaver Vale, very impassioned speech there, and a | :48:06. | :48:13. | |
great honour to find my honourable friend from Derbyshire who did it | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
without notes. I intend to do no such thing. -- to follow my | :48:18. | :48:24. | |
honourable friend from Derbyshire. Axel equals peace of mind. If it is | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
protected by Apple, you are safe to go on holiday. -- Atol equals peace | :48:30. | :48:37. | |
of mind. -- if you are protected by Atol. It is also an honour to be | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
here at all. I stood for the by-election in Clacton in 2014. I | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
was on tour with Jason Donovan in a production of Priscilla Queen Of The | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
Desert. I played on many stages across the world in 45 years. But | :48:55. | :49:02. | |
this has to be the finest. Thank you residents of Clacton, I will do my | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
very best for you. Mr Deputy Speaker, I was honoured and humbled | :49:08. | :49:10. | |
when the residents of club gave me the overwhelming what they did at | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
the last election. -- residents of Clacton. But there is one other | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
overwhelming sensation which I'm sure many others when they first | :49:21. | :49:22. | |
take their seat in this house have. And that is, what on earth am I let | :49:23. | :49:28. | |
myself in for? When I relayed my concerns to my wife, she gets a name | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
check as well, she said, it's a stage and an audience. What could | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
possibly go wrong? What a stage and what an audience. In preparation I | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
looked up the advice on maiden speeches. It is instantly typical | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
maiden speech is divided into three parts. Part one consists about being | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
nice about the previous incumbent of the seats. I remind you that my seat | :49:54. | :50:03. | |
is Clacton. Part two involves a glittering description of the | :50:04. | :50:06. | |
constituency, outlining its fabulous acid and its wonderful potential. -- | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
fabulous assets. Part three, one is advised to lay out some of the plans | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
one has is to enhance the wonderful area one that events. Left even more | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
wonderful by the end of previous incumbent. So, to part one. My | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
immediate predecessor was the notable Douglas Carswell. Against | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
whom I fought two previous Parliamentary elections. It must be | :50:33. | :50:35. | |
said that we didn't always see eye to eye, but I will read this. | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
Douglas was an extremely good constituency MP. I was regularly | :50:41. | :50:46. | |
contact with him as a district councillor, and I saw him first-hand | :50:47. | :50:49. | |
in his competent dealings with his constituency. You send him a note, | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
and he always gave you a considered reply. Even after she moved gently | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
on from our party, he always behave like a gentleman and it's largely to | :51:01. | :51:04. | |
his credit that we fought those two elections without any mudslinging. | :51:05. | :51:13. | |
We fought on the issues and not on the personalities. I had respect for | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
him holding his views, even if I didn't agree, and I frequently | :51:20. | :51:23. | |
didn't. When I made my speech on being elected, I touched on the | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
subject of respect. I paid tribute to my fellow candidates. I respect | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
them for going on the sometimes gruelling journey that we all know | :51:32. | :51:34. | |
about in this place, pacing the streets, taking some flak, but | :51:35. | :51:40. | |
meeting some wonderful people. I may have stoutly disagreed with my | :51:41. | :51:43. | |
fellow candidates on many issues, but I never once attacked them | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
personally. You can check Facebook or Twitter or any of the other | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
social media problems, and you will see I never didn't -- never | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
denigrated them. It seems to me a pity that we have reached a Nadir | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
Ciftci a social media where a loss of plain nasty and this is regular. | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
If we all had a little more respect, the world would be a far happier | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
place. Mr Deputy Speaker, to part two, over the last ten years I have | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
been fortunate to represent my residents at Tendring District | :52:17. | :52:18. | |
Council, my ward Frinton on Sea has aways been at the forefront of my | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
mind when dealing at district level, and from now on Clacton, my | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
constituency, and its views, and my residents's views will always be at | :52:28. | :52:33. | |
the centre of all I do here. Now the Clacton constituency is roughly half | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
of tendering district, a stunning peninsula with the cold to the | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
south-west, the store to the north and the North Sea to the east. I | :52:44. | :52:46. | |
think you can see where I am going with this. As a result, we have 36 | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
miles of the most stunning coastline pretty much anywhere in the country. | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
We have the sandy beaches of Walton, Frinton, Clacton and probably the | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
best beaches of a wall at Jaywick sounds. We have the Walton | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
backwaters, a mysterious area of tidal creeks, mudflats, islands, | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
salt marshes, Marsh grasslands, which in the late 30s gave Arthur | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
Ransome the inspiration to write his book, secret water. It is called | :53:17. | :53:19. | |
secret water because when you approach from the sea it is | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
difficult to see that there is an entrance there. So we have the buzz | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
of Clacton, the quieter Frinton, the rustic charm, the beautiful village | :53:28. | :53:30. | |
and Priory at Joseph, and the bucolic hinterland of gorgeous | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
villages and countryside. It is no wonder that we have a fast reviving | :53:36. | :53:41. | |
tourist industry. We are the Sunshine Coast. Which brings me | :53:42. | :53:48. | |
neatly to part three. I find it absolutely incomprehensible that | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
this extraordinarily special place so dear to my heart, lying as it | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
does a mere 70 miles from London, has historically been constantly | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
overlooked. That 70 mile journey takes the best part of one hour 40 | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
minutes by train. Which, in my view, is simply not good enough. A journey | :54:07. | :54:11. | |
by car is an adventure only for the very brave during peak times. The | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
812 is known to be one of the worst roads in the country. It is often | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
argued -- the A12. But there is the old adage, down good roads wealth | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
flows. Imagine if we could bring that journey closer to an hour. 17 | :54:31. | :54:38. | |
miles in an hour, not unthinkable. Not even illegal. -- 70 miles in an | :54:39. | :54:42. | |
hour. We would suddenly get the wealth of London on our doorstep and | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
we would regenerate. Now, Clacton faces many challenges, most of which | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
we have been tackling head-on at District Council and we have had | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
some success. The long awaited regeneration of Jaywick has begun. | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
It has new roads, new buildings and a great sense of community. It is on | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
the up. Walton on the Naas, new development is, and quality shops | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
arriving. It is on the up. In the last five years at District Council | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
we have managed to obtain ?50 million worth of investment into the | :55:14. | :55:21. | |
area, ?36 million of which spelt -- spent on Holland on Sea and Clacton. | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
You have to go and see them. We are on the up. But we need that | :55:29. | :55:34. | |
infrastructure, and that, Mr Deputy Speaker, is just one of my | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
hierarchies for a much overlooked constituencies. I just want you to | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
remind you that we do existing Clacton and we are happy to have you | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
come and see us. I will take pleasure in taking you to the Naze | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
Tower, a landmark for Mariners. It stands on the highest point in the | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
constituency and gives breathtaking views across the Suffolk, over the | :55:59. | :56:01. | |
beaches and looks down on those treasured backwaters. We are a jewel | :56:02. | :56:07. | |
of a place with many facets. It is well worth that one hour 40 minute | :56:08. | :56:14. | |
journey, do come, thank you. We now come to another maiden, Bob Seely. | :56:15. | :56:22. | |
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I wanted to say what a great privilege | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
it is to follow the honourable member for Clacton, but such was the | :56:28. | :56:30. | |
brilliance of his speech that frankly my heart rather sank. I also | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
want to say actually that I am genuinely humbled by listening to | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
some of the wonderful speeches, the lady from Crewe and Nantwich, from | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
Ayrshire, from Redditch, perhaps most movingly from North East | :56:44. | :56:46. | |
Derbyshire, who I really brought home why we are in this place, and | :56:47. | :56:52. | |
our silence was actually listening, listening to you, so thank you. I | :56:53. | :56:57. | |
think I am going to be supporting this bill, Mr Speaker. LAUGHTER | :56:58. | :57:06. | |
Although, I have to say, any bill related to tourism, which encourages | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
anyone to go anywhere apart from the Isle of Wight seems to suffer from | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
what our philosophical front bench would call a Priory floor. My | :57:15. | :57:20. | |
constituents are as generous as they are understanding and I am sure they | :57:21. | :57:23. | |
will allow me to support this otherwise very sensible bill. Let me | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
also paid tribute to my predecessor. Andrew Turner was a kind man, a good | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
listener, a tentative to his constituents and held in very high | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
regard by many of them. He worked hard for our island for 16 years and | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
I wish him a long and contented and happy retirement. Representing the | :57:42. | :57:48. | |
Isle of Wight, we call it the island, and I apologise if we refer | :57:49. | :57:54. | |
to it as that, it is my patch of England, I have loved it ever since | :57:55. | :57:57. | |
I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and it is close to my heart. Indeed | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
Mr Speaker it is a special place in the nation's are as as a source of | :58:03. | :58:09. | |
inspiration for islanders, visitors and for our nation's greatest | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
artists. Turn's first great work for the Royal Academy was a fisherman in | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
the Solent, with the needles on the back run. Alfred Lord Tennyson | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
settled here, and you hear our sounds and understand our sense of | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
place in his work. Listen to the sea water rushing off the stones at | :58:28. | :58:29. | |
Allen Bailey and you will understand the line in Maud, now to the scream | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
of a mad and beach dragged down by the way. Swinburn and Keats wrote | :58:35. | :58:39. | |
here, a thing of beauty is a joy forever. One of Keith's greatest | :58:40. | :58:45. | |
lines inspired by visits to Shanklin and Carisbrook, the wonderful | :58:46. | :58:51. | |
eccentric Edward Leigh, the watercolourist, Julia Margaret | :58:52. | :58:54. | |
Cameron, wonderful feminist who pioneered portrait photography, and | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
the Pre-Raphaelites hung out in freshwater. Today we remain a home | :59:01. | :59:04. | |
for many island artists as well as Cotterell and sporting events of | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
world renown. We have a special place in science. We have the | :59:10. | :59:14. | |
world's first telegraph station, the hovercraft and the seaplane built | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
here, and the blue streak missile system, -- it was test fired from | :59:20. | :59:31. | |
the needles. The honourable member for Spelthorne eloquently assured us | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
a fortnight ago that he was still thrusting, I'm sure of it, but let | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
me remind -- remind the house that our first to jet engine supercar | :59:42. | :59:44. | |
built largely on the island one and tell the world land speed record for | :59:45. | :59:50. | |
our nation for over a decade at some 633 mph, so on the Isle of Wight, | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
even our thrusting is world-class. LAUGHTER | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
From science to pseudoscience, Carl Marx was a regular visitor, a point | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
I may have to make sure do the right honourable member for Islington | :00:06. | :00:12. | |
North ever come to power, although if the victory last month was any | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
harbinger of the future, let us wish the honourable friends opposite many | :00:17. | :00:24. | |
more such victories to come. On a more serious note, I mention our | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
arts and science not to provide a potted history lesson or trucks | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
press my love for my constituency which I hope is self evident, but | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
because that is what we need for our future. We need to brace art and | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
science and innovation and technology to inspire and in rich | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
and employee. Our island is special in many ways, but our wealth has not | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
always been of a financial kind. And there is a perception that sometimes | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
Whitehall overlooks us. In the 1990s, the government commerce to | :00:55. | :00:57. | |
the Isle of Wight and to the Scilly Isles to study the extra cost of | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
being an island. Sadly that promise came to nothing but those costs are | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
recognised in Scotland, through the special islands needs allowance | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
which provides an uplift in funding for some half a dozen councillors | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
with Scottish island seats. Mr Speaker, I believe we need a better | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
deal for our island, and it is not just a question of money, although | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
every little helps, and I will fight for extra spending on health and | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
education. But it is about islanders working with government to generate | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
ideas for the public good and government working with us and being | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
keen to listen, and I know there are good examples of when it is doing it | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
and I wish to encourage more. We need to embrace the knowledge | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
economy and higher education. I look forward to working with the DoE and | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
universities to provide with opportunities for such engagement. | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
We need to continue to drive all education standards on the island | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
and I will continue to fight for the future of the Sandown Bay school and | :01:53. | :01:54. | |
I look forward to government's continuing support. Second, our | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
cultural offer is getting stronger, we have the wonderful Isle of Wight | :02:00. | :02:02. | |
Festival, I think it was Rod Stewart to top the bill this year, clearly | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
in politics as well. A tartan revival. We have the literary | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
festival as well, the cutting edge than enough fringe Festival, Lookout | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
Edinburgh. -- Ventnor. I would work with cultural institutions to see | :02:25. | :02:26. | |
how they can possibly attract a major gallery to the island to help | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
with the year-round cultural tourism. I look to engaging with | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
sport England, trade and investment departments to work with our | :02:36. | :02:37. | |
high-tech sailing industry and sailing clubs of cows and others to | :02:38. | :02:48. | |
ensure that the town of Cowes remains the sailing capital of the | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
world and the disabled sailing captain of the world. I was proud to | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
meet the captain of the National Blind sailing team and I wish Lucy | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
and her inspiring team all the very best. Fourth, we need to work with | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
the DWP, an organisation such as hope the aged and our wonderful | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
Mountbatten Hospice for the island to become a national leader in | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
ensuring quality-of-life of those in later life, combining health and | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
social care, voluntary and state support, to enrich life. On | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
transport, we need to ensure the future of the island railway line, | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
to improve our cycling routes, making us Britain's leading cycling | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
destination and to continue to engage with the ferry firms to | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
provide a better ferry service, and let me be clear, while | :03:40. | :03:42. | |
nationalisation did great good in the 80s and 90s nationally, the | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
privatisation of our ferries was not such a success. I don't have all the | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
answers, but I know that we should not have started from this point, | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
and I am uncomfortable with the levels of debt that Red Funnel and | :03:56. | :04:08. | |
Wightlink have, debt which islanders have to help subsidise in order to | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
cross the Solent. Finally, I welcome this government's commitment to | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
social housing and staffing housing from the bottom of my heart. I find | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
it difficult to explain to my fellow islanders why rich property delivers | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
were able to build houses that most of my constituents could not afford. | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
We do not need large-scale projects which are hard to leader like -- | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
disliked by many islanders and which through cumulative effect do | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
significant damage to our precious landscape, on which much of our | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
tourism, which accounts for half of our economy, depend. We do need and | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
we will absolutely support and work with government to build affordable, | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
genuinely affordable projects to provide homes for islanders. Our | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
island plan should reflect this. For my islanders, Mr Speaker, housing is | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
home, especially for younger ones. Working with many others, our | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
Chamber of Commerce, our council and excellent tourism team, we will | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
present opportunities for a brighter idea for our island and nationally I | :05:11. | :05:13. | |
want this government, with its laudable aims of social justice, of | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
hope, of meritocracy, of opportunity for all, values which were inherent | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
in our manifestos, and are absolutely inherent in our hearts, | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
but we sadly failed to translate during the campaign. I want those | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
principles and those aims and values, those aspirations, for my | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
fellow islanders and for our nation, and let us deliver real change and | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
real hope in the next few years, and set an example, whether economic or | :05:45. | :05:46. | |
moral or political, that we are the natural party of government. | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
I will finish very shortly and thank you for your patience. My fellow | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
islanders deserve nothing but the best, and I will do my best to give | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
them the voice that they deserve. Some people, like the member for | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
North East Derbyshire, have explained far more eloquently than I | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
do why we are here. But I will battle for my island. I can't | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
promise to win every battle, but I will fight every battle on their | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
behalf for as long as I have the honour of serving in our Parliament, | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
what will this was called, that delightful island. | :06:22. | :06:30. | |
Another maiden. To much acclaim from my honourable | :06:31. | :06:39. | |
friend! Who I'm delighted to follow. Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you for | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
calling on me to speak. Friends and family have asked me what it feels | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
like to finally be here, and I simply say surreal. But in the best | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
possible meaning of the word. I could add overwhelming, in that | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
sense -- and that sense has multiplied today as I speak for the | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
first time in the chamber as the new member. The length. -- as the new | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
member for sterling. I am acutely aware that so many people have | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
placed in me a sacred trust to serve all of the people of Stirling, and | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
do what is right for my constituents in the national interest. Mr Deputy | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
Speaker, I am proud to call Stirling my home. It is situated at the heart | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
of Scotland and its story is long and dramatic. The famed legend of | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
sterling's Vaulks comes from the ninth century. The Anglo-Saxon | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
defenders of the cattle were roused from their sleep by the holding of a | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
Wolves, warning them of an impending Viking attack. To this day, wolf is | :07:43. | :07:50. | |
still celebrated. Stirling remains steadfast as the rock upon which its | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
castle sits. I had the privilege last week of marching with the | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
people on the annual march of the Gillies. An annual event to | :07:59. | :08:07. | |
commemorate the battle of Bannockburn. The folk come over the | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
hill making such a dim, causing the English to flee. -- causing such a | :08:12. | :08:19. | |
din. We Scots have always had an eye for the! This March now focuses on | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
saving this historic site from the threat of quarrying. The Stirling | :08:25. | :08:32. | |
constituency is more than the city. Stretching from Strathblane in the | :08:33. | :08:40. | |
west, to the east. From Tyndrum in the North, to the whims of Milton in | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
the south. Stirling hosts through the good offices of our auction | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
houses the Premier bull sales in Scotland. Dairy, meat, production | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
and some of the best shortbread in the country are all mainstays of my | :08:57. | :09:04. | |
constituency. Not to mention two whiskey distilleries, making great | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
use of our prodigious rainfall and fertile soils. Our financial | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
services sector, as well as high-tech businesses in the Digital | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
economy, all make are diverse, high-value economy that contributes | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
to the of Stirling, as well as the Scottish and UK economies. And I'm | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
proud graduate of the University of Stirling, now in its 15th year with | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
a reputation second to none in research and teaching. -- now in its | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
50th year. Stirling pastes the oldest and second oldest charitable | :09:39. | :09:46. | |
trusts in Scotland. -- Stirling now hosts the oldest of second oldest | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
charitable trusts in Scotland, providing relief for the needy | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
members of guilt and their relatives. Social enterprise is | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
alive and well in Stirling, whether it be the encouragement given to | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
local food and environmental initiatives, such as the fourth | :10:02. | :10:09. | |
environment link, the work of Break in helping those with dementia, or | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
the mobility group, ensuring those with disabilities can access our | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
magnificent landscape from Calendar. Today we are debating the travel | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
industry, and sterling has a unique connection to the things that make | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
up the modern travel industry. Because Stirling proudly owns it's | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
and say to the Wright brothers. Frank and Howard Barnwell, | :10:37. | :10:45. | |
originally from Lewisham, came from a family business of shipbuilding. | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
But they were great innovators, and they got their first full-sized | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
biplane in 1908. Unfortunately it failed to take flight. But | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
undeterred they produced a second design from their works. The | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
Grampian motor and engineering company, under the shadows of the | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
Wallace Monument in Causeway Head. And then on Wednesday 28th of July | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
1909, they were responsible for the first powered flight in Scotland | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
when their aircraft flew to an altitude of 13 feet, travelled for | :11:19. | :11:26. | |
80 yards, before a somewhat abrupt crash landing. Mr Deputy Speaker, it | :11:27. | :11:35. | |
is down to the great innovators like stairwell's own Barnwell brothers | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
and the pioneering path they formed but today we have the aviation | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
industry we have. -- Stirling's own Barnwell Brothers. Bank and Harold | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
Barnwell represent the great thing is that Britain has achieved. Two | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
English entrepreneurs moving their business to Scotland to create the | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
inventions and businesses that have made the modern world. Mr Deputy | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
Speaker, I said you innovators across the globe, Stirling is | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
evidently be. Just as I say to all honourable and right Honourable | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
members of this house, although Scotland, England and the other | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
nations of the United Kingdom work together, they have achieved and can | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
yet achieve remarkable things which in turn make this world a better | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
race. Mr Deputy Speaker, -- a better place. Stirling's best days lie | :12:31. | :12:40. | |
ahead. Her Majesty's expert support for the city region deal is most | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
welcome and I will make it my top priority to work with my right | :12:46. | :12:48. | |
honourable friend, the member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and the | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
Dell, to secure and delivered the Stirling city region deal. This bill | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
that we are debating is especially important in the way that regulation | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
works for innovative companies, who have revolutionised the travel | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
industry in the digital space. The new digital district at the heart of | :13:08. | :13:14. | |
the Stirling city region deal will encourage the birth, survival and | :13:15. | :13:17. | |
success of many more such innovative digital companies. Mr Deputy | :13:18. | :13:27. | |
Speaker, the pace of technological change is staggering. We want travel | :13:28. | :13:29. | |
and transport in completely different ways to how we did it only | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
a few years ago. Gone are the days of flicking through teletext to snap | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
up package deals to the sun. The Internet revolution has empowered | :13:41. | :13:48. | |
consumers and inspired new companies to turn market models inside out. | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
The provisions of this bill is very important. It is for a consumer | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
protection rights keep up with the pace of technological change. We | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
must shape future measures in a way that adapts to the new market | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
conditions being created by the entrepreneurial skills and talents | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
of our Challenger digital businesses. And not stifle | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
creativity by holding on to outdated and outmoded regulation. Mr Speaker, | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
I'd also like to take this opportunity to play tribute to my | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
predecessor, Stephen Patterson. His tenure was short and I can make no | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
apology for that. That said, he was an honourable and worthy opponent, | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
his passion for Stirling and Scotland cannot be doubted. And I | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
wish him well for the future. His predecessor was Dame Ann Maguire. | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
She was Stirling's member of Parliament for 18 years and her | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
public service was especially remembered for her tireless work to | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
promote and extend the rights of disabled people. Hers was a | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
wonderful personal legacy and one in which we should all take pride. I | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
pay tribute to her. And I should also like to make a special mention | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
of my friend Lord Forsyth. The last Conservative member for Stirling. | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
His record of service for this house on behalf of the people of Stirling, | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
Scotland and the United Kingdom is remarkable. At his maiden speech in | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
1983, he spoke of the problems facing global Stirling in the field | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
of telecommunications. This, I am sad to report to the House, remains | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
an issue. Although it is now broadband and mobile telephony, | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
rather than phone connections. Digital connectivity is a subject I | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
assure the House I will keep coming back to. Mr Deputy Speaker, public | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
services often cited as a reason for members taking seats in this house. | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
And I add myself to their number. A body politic that exists to serve | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
its citizens is one worth aspiring to. I was raised on politics. | :15:58. | :16:06. | |
Listening is a small boy as my grandfather held forth the merits of | :16:07. | :16:08. | |
the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He wasn't a fan. But his | :16:09. | :16:16. | |
trenchant view was always that the Government of the day should govern | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
in the national interest. Henry Campbell Bannerman, a former member | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
of Parliament for ten two and a former Prime Minister said good | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
government could never be a substitute for government by the | :16:31. | :16:37. | |
people themselves. This is also the perfect encapsulation of my personal | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
political cradle. I believe in liberty, in freedom, and choice. I | :16:43. | :16:49. | |
enlisted the moral argument for free enterprise and free trade is the | :16:50. | :16:52. | |
most powerful means of lifting people, whole nations and regions, | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
out of poverty. I believe in law and order. Equality for all before the | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
law, and in the good that government can do. I believe the family in all | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
its forms is the basic unit of society. Driving and successful | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
families make for a thriving and successful society. And social | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
policy is always best seen through the filter of what strengthens the | :17:18. | :17:25. | |
family. I believe in fair dealing, competition which advantages | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
consumers and justice in all its realms. And I believe in getting | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
power to the people, and respecting local democracy. And in the | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
constructive tension of public accountability and listening | :17:40. | :17:41. | |
carefully to the voice of the people. Whether honourable and right | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
honourable members reflect on these last words in the implementation of | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
a Brexit sanctioned by the people, all on the results of the referendum | :17:53. | :17:55. | |
in Scotland to confirm its place within the United Kingdom. Respect | :17:56. | :18:03. | |
for the voice of the people and followed to the democratically | :18:04. | :18:05. | |
delivered instruction is now the business of this house. And so it is | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
that we must be ready to implement the will of the British people, and | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
I make it my part to do so. The British people have spoken and we | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
leave the European Union. Then much of the work of the Parliament is now | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
focused on the job at hand. And much of our work as members must be | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
focused on working together to get the best deal for our constituents | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
and our country. May I just say in closing, in doing so I believe we | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
have a duty as parliamentarians to personify civility. We should have | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
resist trading and misrepresentations. We should | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
demonstrate respect for all people. Become good listeners and shape, | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
then for the sincere beliefs of others. Mr Deputy Speaker, I am here | :18:51. | :18:59. | |
on a mission to restore civility in politics. A mission to represent and | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
defend the interests of Stirling. A mission to promote and be an | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
advocate for my home constituency. And above all to serve the people | :19:10. | :19:11. | |
and national interests of this United Kingdom. | :19:12. | :19:20. | |
Another maiden, Eddie Hughes. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
difficult to follow the honourable member. Stirling as I stumble my way | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
through my maiden speech. The best thing is that he and I are going to | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
be sharing an office for the next five years. So I will have the | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
opportunity to polish their public speaking with the benefit of his | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
advice. In getting to my feet this evening I just wanted to say | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
interesting that this bill should be the first thing we discussed because | :19:50. | :19:51. | |
people are talking about the problems that air travellers might | :19:52. | :19:59. | |
have. In my constituency, according to the 2011 census information, | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
nearly one in four of my constituents don't even own a | :20:04. | :20:11. | |
passport. So it is clearly very important for those that do have a | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
passport and do manage to take overseas travel that their money is | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
protected. For some people, air travel is something that they do | :20:22. | :20:24. | |
every week or every year. It represents one of opportunity, and | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
clearly the worst thing that could happen to them would be that their | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
phones were in any way threatened by companies going out of business. -- | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
that their plans were in any way threatened. I think this legislation | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
is incredibly important. I would like to make one point - for those | :20:45. | :20:47. | |
who weren't here when the minister was introducing this legislation, I | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
firmly endorse his sartorial some point you not take interventions | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
from male members who are not taking ties. -- not wearing ties. I bought | :20:56. | :21:02. | |
this suitably we can specifically for making my first speech in this | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
chamber. And although obviously I will be wearing exactly the same | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
suit for the rest of the week, at least for today I will be looking my | :21:14. | :21:20. | |
best. So, anyway, moving on. The good people, thank you for calling | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
me today, because the good people of Walsall North have had to wait 41 | :21:24. | :21:32. | |
years to hear a maiden speech from their member of Parliament. So you | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
can only imagine how disappointed they will be when they will see that | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
the seven people who made speeches immediately before me were funny, | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
erudite, clever, interesting, and then they think, what the hell did | :21:48. | :21:48. | |
we wait for? LAUGHTER | :21:49. | :21:59. | |
But there you go. Now, in making all in preparing for my maiden speech, I | :22:00. | :22:05. | |
sought advice from experienced or raters on both sides of this | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
chamber, but the best advice that I think I received came from Brendan | :22:10. | :22:12. | |
Fisher, one of our ever present, ever helpful woman. Brendan 's -- | :22:13. | :22:21. | |
helpful doormen. I have made a parachute with my wife and two | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
children, Brendan suggested that it was like doing a freefall parachute | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
jump, there is the nervous anticipation as you board the plane | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
and ascend to the required altitude before leaping screaming through the | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
doors, only to find that the sensation of racing towards the | :22:40. | :22:42. | |
ground at 100 mph is actually a pleasurable one. Something that you | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
will want to repeat as soon as your feet hit the ground. And that the | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
ground running was what I needed to do, in order to stand any chance of | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
beating my entrenched predecessor, David Winick. Many in this chamber | :23:00. | :23:06. | |
will be familiar with David as a tenacious parliamentarian. Indeed if | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
I am remembering correctly it was David's amendment to legislation | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
concerning the detention of terror suspects that led to the then Prime | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
Minister Tony Blair losing his first whipped vote in this chamber in | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
2005. So when I knocked doors during the campaign, I realise just how | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
assiduously David had also worked on behalf of his constituents. I found | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
many people who weren't minded to vote for the Labour Party, given | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
their present leadership at least, but were prepared to vote for David | :23:39. | :23:41. | |
because of good deeds he had done for either them or their friends or | :23:42. | :23:48. | |
their family. It was David's 84th birthday last Monday, so I would | :23:49. | :23:51. | |
like to extend my best wishes to him for his birthday and for his | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
retirement. Although, for me, growing up in a house with six | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
brothers, my dad was an Irish bus driver, we didn't have a lots of | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
money to celebrate birthdays, so not much money for presents, but with | :24:08. | :24:10. | |
six lads, quite a lot of fun and quite a lot of fighting. LAUGHTER | :24:11. | :24:17. | |
My parents were, however, delighted and I guess relieved that I went to | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
grammar school and then on to university, the first in my family | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
to do so. And it was at university that I developed an interest in | :24:28. | :24:30. | |
politics, so as soon as I graduated, I went back to night school to do | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
A-levels in politics and economics to give me a bit of a basic | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
grounding. And unfortunately, although I had voted Labour the | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
first time I voted, I realised then... JEERING. I know, I know, I | :24:45. | :24:55. | |
realise I was actually a closet Conservative, so it was then a quick | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
journey to joining the party and standing the council and I have been | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
a councillor on Walsall council for the past 18 years, but what a | :25:05. | :25:10. | |
privilege now to be the MP for Walsall North, and I will be | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
building on some busting work that is going on in my constituency | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
already. So, for example, I recently met with Peter Shirley, the | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
irrepressible Peter, who started the Midland food group in 1976 on his | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
own and today that business turns over in excess of ?50 million a year | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
and employs over 250 people. They source quality meats and cheeses | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
locally and the export market includes the Falkland Islands. | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
Similarly, Walsall Housing group where I am proud to be the chair of | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
the board, have recently signed a deal for a joint venture to build | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
400 new houses in the Guscott Lane corridor. According to the recent | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
edition of inside Housing, within the next two years Warsaw housing | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
will be completing just over 1100 new houses, that is what is going on | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
under this government, creating high-quality affordable houses and | :26:13. | :26:14. | |
the jobs that go with their construction. But in order to get a | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
job, you need a good education, so what better place to start education | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
than Beacon primary school. Two years ago, that school was rated by | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
Ofsted as requiring improvement. Well, did that improvement come in | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
the shape of Paul Drew, the innovative headmaster, who has | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
raised standards not just for staff but the students, and now recently | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
Ofsted have graded it is a good school. It doesn't take many to | :26:45. | :26:51. | |
persuade the admin staff at the school that they should be trained | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
to help children with reading practice, that just takes future | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
thinking, forward-thinking, the type that we need to see. That education | :27:01. | :27:07. | |
is not always about throwing money at it, it is about employing | :27:08. | :27:15. | |
inspirational leaders. And so, Mr Tebbit is bigger, to my inevitable | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
Brexit preparation. 68% of people in Walsall North who voted in the | :27:22. | :27:27. | |
referendum voted to leave the EU. But they want, obviously, a good | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
deal for them and for the country, but they don't want a deal that is | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
just good for the 68%, they want a deal that is good for the 100%. They | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
want to know they have local entrepreneurs that will create jobs, | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
and find new and exciting export markets around the world, they want | :27:49. | :27:51. | |
to control immigration, whilst ensuring that we have the skills to | :27:52. | :27:59. | |
make sure we have a strong economy and public sector. They want | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
low-cost housing, and they want inspirational teachers to give their | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
children the best start in life. It is a privilege to speak this | :28:10. | :28:12. | |
evening, and I hope you will call me many times in the future to advocate | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
on behalf of my constituents. Thank you. CHEERING | :28:18. | :28:28. | |
We have another maiden, Bill Grant. Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
Can I complement the right honourable member for the Walsall | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
North, both in his note free speech, I might add, and colleagues around | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
the world will be admiring his choice of suit as well. Now I | :28:43. | :28:48. | |
remember, the bill that was here today, is the ATOL for package | :28:49. | :28:55. | |
holidays if you choose to go by air. Like my colleagues I am minded to | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
support it for three reasons, it is modernising, harmonising and it is | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
good consumer protection, so I welcome the bill. To my maiden | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
speech, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am indeed honoured and humbled to be in | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
this chamber today. Having been elected by the people of they're | :29:13. | :29:19. | |
Carrick and come in, it is a privilege and a fact that they | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
trusted me with their vote, and I value that and I will do all I can | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
as a constituency. May I share with members of the house I live journey | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
because it would be terribly boring if I gave it all. My ward was in the | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
town of Ayr, on the coast, and many good things about Ayr, we have Ayr | :29:43. | :29:50. | |
racecourse, one of the UK's premier racecourse is, you might even make | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
money. Odds-on you maybe we'll loose money. In addition, we have hosted | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
the Scottish International airshow for the last three years. For the | :30:01. | :30:03. | |
moment it is a wonderful event, it is not for the moment a threat to to | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
Farnborough, but in years to come you never know, you never know. The | :30:09. | :30:15. | |
time in the council was preceded by 31 years in Strathclyde Fire and | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
Rescue Service, having served throughout Ayrshire, through the | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
central belt, based in headquarters for ten years, member of the | :30:24. | :30:25. | |
technical support team for ten years and finally a senior officer | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
covering Argyll and Bute, too many islands to name but a very complex | :30:32. | :30:34. | |
and diverse Fire Service it was with the city of Glasgow sadly remembered | :30:35. | :30:42. | |
for being a tinderbox city many years ago, so well aware. Given my | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
background it is particularly poignant for me to be delivering my | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
maiden speech so close in time to the tragic Grenfell incident. | :30:51. | :30:56. | |
Members, which must surely have been hell on earth for all concerned. I | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
will await with interest the outcome of what must be a thorough and | :31:02. | :31:07. | |
effective public enquiry. Members, may I pay tribute to my predecessor, | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
Corey Nelson, for the good work she did in this chamber and in the | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
constituency during her period in office, and my thanks and may I wish | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
Corey well for the future. Some further thank yous. Joanna Freeman | :31:24. | :31:34. | |
who guided me as a lost soul is one of the new MPs to describe the | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
wonders of Westminster. And my long-suffering wife, Agnes, and my | :31:40. | :31:42. | |
two daughters and family, Angela and Karen. They have been helpful to me | :31:43. | :31:49. | |
in this journey that gets me here to this chamber. Proceeding Cory Wilson | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
as an MP, we had Sandra Osborne, Phil Ghali, George Younger, all | :31:56. | :31:58. | |
excellent parliamentarians and they will be remembered by some in this | :31:59. | :32:05. | |
house. But let me take you back to the dark days of the Second World | :32:06. | :32:13. | |
War, 1939 to 1945, when the Labour MP for South Ayrshire was Alexander | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
Slone, better known locally as Sani Slone, a former miner, he was a | :32:18. | :32:23. | |
work' champion, served his community well, but regrettably, like so many | :32:24. | :32:29. | |
miners, he was dogged by ill-health. He died in 1945. Soon after his | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
second election victory to this house. Members, Deputy Speaker, the | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
commonality is that we were both born to mining families and the | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
small Ayrshire mining village of Frankenstein, albeit we were born | :32:46. | :32:46. | |
some 72 years apart. Many proud British institutions but | :32:47. | :32:55. | |
I will choose two. This parliament and the National Health Service. One | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
wonders, and there I say it, members, if there was a referendum | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
as to which one should be closed, what with the outcome be? I suspect | :33:04. | :33:12. | |
this chamber would be empty. May I thank the National Health Service | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
and the doctor and his team at the Golden Jubilee hospital Clydebank, | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
near Glasgow, for the successful double bypass surgery I successfully | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
underwent in 2014. Myself and my family are eternally grateful to | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
them. However, members, I have two apologise to my constituents in a | :33:34. | :33:41. | |
town just south of Ayr. Whilst I waited three months for my bypass, | :33:42. | :33:45. | |
they have waited nearly 30 years for their bypass. LAUGHTER | :33:46. | :33:58. | |
It is severed by the a 77, and excuse the pun, but the a 77 is | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
indeed a main artery from the central belt of Scotland. To my | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
colleagues in Dumfries and Galloway for the very important ferry ports | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
that serve the ferry traffic from our neighbours in the Highlands, it | :34:14. | :34:19. | |
is an economic driver and the a 77 is an essential link and the | :34:20. | :34:22. | |
punishment with the 30-40 tonne trucks through the villages on that | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
journey, it needs to be rectified. I am sure it will. Ayr, Carrick and | :34:27. | :34:34. | |
come that is a rural community, the breadbasket of Britain, with | :34:35. | :34:40. | |
potatoes, bread and cheese and not forgetting albeit smaller fishing | :34:41. | :34:51. | |
communities along our coat -- coast. But the good food and a good | :34:52. | :34:58. | |
eateries we have, considerably more reasonably priced than London, I | :34:59. | :35:06. | |
might add. Having consumed the lovely food you may want to toasted | :35:07. | :35:07. | |
with a fine whiskey, or a delicately distilled Hendrick's gin. And | :35:08. | :35:31. | |
Grant's whiskey is global. President Eisenhower who was gifted the | :35:32. | :35:42. | |
castle, and more recently another president, President Trump, known as | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
Donald when he secured the hotel and golf course facilities and may I | :35:47. | :35:49. | |
thank his son Eric for the investment in this world-class | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
investment in this facility. And the associated employment. | :35:56. | :36:06. | |
House in Ayr was more recently a children's hospital. | :36:07. | :36:20. | |
The gantries at Harland and Wolff in Belfast, where the infamous, famous | :36:21. | :36:30. | |
ship, the Titanic was built. And he was responsible for the construction | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
of Tower Bridge in London. It would be remiss of me not to mention | :36:36. | :36:43. | |
Scotland's bard, Robert Burns, whose fondness for women is renowned. The | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
women who are far more fertile than the fields he ploughed! And produce | :36:50. | :37:00. | |
numerous offspring. Whereby I'm sure he would have faced immense | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
challenges from the Child support agency. But his passion went far | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
beyond the fairer sex. He penned many poems and songs. From its | :37:09. | :37:22. | |
source and the Ayr, the water winds its way violated Firth of Clyde. -- | :37:23. | :37:33. | |
finally to the Firth of Clyde. The water gently winds its way past | :37:34. | :37:39. | |
Cumnock. Pause for a moment, to mention the local football team, | :37:40. | :37:48. | |
better known as the Glens, who recently won the Scottish Junior cup | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
by beating nearby rock wool Starbucks. Decked the team covers -- | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
detonating colours of red and white, virtually every home displayed them | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
and adorned the House with bunting. It was a credit to the strength and | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
community spirit of Cumnock. I commend them for that. As we move | :38:08. | :38:19. | |
onwards towards Cumnock, it plays host to Emergency One UK. The spec | :38:20. | :38:30. | |
folders -- bespoke builders for the emergency services. I would use the | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
word export. The Xbox Cumnock in Scotland to all over the United | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
Kingdom. As we move on, I'm going to stop for a minute at Dumfries house. | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
May I give immense thanks to his Royal Highness, Prince Charles, for | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
his involvement and indeed his vision. Not only saving Dumfries | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
House for the nation, but for securing job opportunities and | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
catering and tourism within and indeed beyond the constituency. | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
Members, Deputy Speaker, Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock has a proud past | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
as a member of Parliament for my constituency I will endeavour to do | :39:07. | :39:08. | |
my best to secure a promising future. Finally, members, an extract | :39:09. | :39:17. | |
from Robert Burns' poem which may be reflected upon by many | :39:18. | :39:21. | |
parliamentarians from all parties, whether from the past, present or | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
future. It reads simply as follows. The best laid schemes of mice and | :39:26. | :39:35. | |
men give promised joy. Thank you, Mr Speaker. | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
Mr Deputy Speaker, it's a pleasure to follow the honourable member for | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock. I have to say that before we go, he promised | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
me that he would make me look good by speaking so powerfully, so | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
poetically and so brilliantly. I have to say you've already broken | :39:57. | :39:59. | |
your first political promise. So thanks a bunch for that. It is | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
pleasure to follow you. It's also a pleasure to follow my Sir Edward | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
Garnier. He was a brilliant constituency MP for 25 years. He is | :40:11. | :40:17. | |
independent minded, and he is brave. But above all, he is just an | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
exceptionally nice man. You'll be missed on all sides of this house, | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
and he will be massively missed in our constituency. It's an honour to | :40:27. | :40:33. | |
represent the people of Harborough, Oadby and Wigston in this house. And | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart for sending me | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
here. There are four really striking things about my constituency. The | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
first is the staggering amount of community and voluntary work. | :40:49. | :41:00. | |
Whether its local charities like Rainbows, Loros, Val, whether it's | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
the award-winning work of Market Harborough in Bloom, which is | :41:05. | :41:07. | |
visible all over the town makes it beautiful. Whether it's the strength | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
of our local army, sea and Air Cadets, with whom I celebrated Armed | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
Forces Week just the other day. Or whether its community campaigns, | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
like that to Save the Children's heart unit at Glenfield Hospital, | :41:24. | :41:27. | |
which I support. The strength of our civic life is visible from the | :41:28. | :41:37. | |
Leicester Mercury, or tuning into a document he radio station, | :41:38. | :41:41. | |
Harborough FM. A huge number of people in my constituency dedicate | :41:42. | :41:44. | |
themselves to improving the lot of our fellow citizens. And it is | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
absolutely inspiring. The second striking thing about the | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
constituency is the strong culture of enterprise. There are now nearly | :41:53. | :42:03. | |
4500 businesses in the constituency. A quarter more than in 2010. We | :42:04. | :42:10. | |
nothing but the people in my constituency cannot do well. The | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
Mill close to jet engines, we have made everything. Although we have | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
heard about the invention of jet engines of Scotland, you will be | :42:20. | :42:22. | |
relieved to hear that we never tried to combine a jet engine and milk | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
float. I constituency is a famous country for farming and food. And | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
also famous for textiles. One of its most famous family businesses, | :42:33. | :42:34. | |
defining terms, managed to combine both of those things because one | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
brother made soups which fat and muscle up. The other brother made | :42:41. | :42:44. | |
corsets, with which to constrain our bulging waistline. You'll agree, Mr | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
Speaker, that is a cunning business model. Given the culture of small | :42:49. | :42:56. | |
business, given the habit of culture and the culture of enterprise, I | :42:57. | :42:59. | |
will work to make sure that important initiatives by the | :43:00. | :43:01. | |
Midlands engine and the new industrial strategy work for small | :43:02. | :43:09. | |
business, as well as big. The third really important thing about my | :43:10. | :43:12. | |
constituency is the open and welcoming nature of the people. | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
Perhaps it's because we've plugged the global economy ever since the | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
Romans came and built the road which now forms the eastern boundary of | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
the constituency. Mr Speaker, I have to tell you that not all that road | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
is now possible by car due to several centuries of disgraceful | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
underinvestment by the Vikings, Normans and Saxons. But nonetheless, | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
Mr Speaker, later on the canals came and they put the constituency back | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
on the map. And the fantastic staircase of Foxton Lochs is a | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
testament to the time when it was the spaghetti junction of the M1 of | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
its day. In more recent decades, the constituency has welcomed people | :43:57. | :43:59. | |
from all over the world. Sometimes they have come with absolutely | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
nothing but the clothes on their backs. Particularly the Ugandan | :44:04. | :44:06. | |
Asians who came and settled when they were fleeing from Idi Amin. But | :44:07. | :44:12. | |
wherever they come from, often they have started brilliant businesses | :44:13. | :44:15. | |
and powered our economy forwards. In our constituency we have very good | :44:16. | :44:19. | |
relationships between all the different communities, and I will | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
work to keep it that way. The fourth and final thing, and you will | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
perhaps it was coming, is that my constituency is strikingly | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
beautiful. And the well-kept gardens of Oadby, Wigston and Market | :44:34. | :44:36. | |
Harborough, to be gently rolling countryside, it is a lovely place to | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
be. When we are working near our home with me, my wife, Gemma, and | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
our daughter Florence, tramping through the tall but the club is a | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
nice pink clover flowers and the Leicestershire skies, I have to say | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
that is about as close as it gets to heaven. -- through the tall | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
buttercups. My constituency is a place of beauty, opportunity and a | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
strong cumulative. I want to keep it that way. Anti-TB beautiful, we've | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
got to stop by reforming our broken planning system. -- and to keep it | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
beautiful. We've made progress and we must build more houses. But too | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
often our planning system only builds resentment. It was | :45:20. | :45:22. | |
development in the wrong places and doesn't match new houses with the | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
infrastructure needed. Councils simply have too little power | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
relative to development. To extend opportunity, we've now got to focus | :45:33. | :45:38. | |
on education. I grew up in Huddersfield, I went to be | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
comprehensive. I got to go to Oxford and I've ended up in this house. I | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
want people in my constituency to have the same chances that I've had. | :45:47. | :45:49. | |
It simply cannot be right that school pupils in Harborough, Oadby | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
and Wigston gets a much less funding than children in identical | :45:55. | :45:57. | |
circumstances in other areas. The new national funding formula will | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
start to address this injustice and I hope that the Government will | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
press on with it as soon as they possibly can. I also want to sue the | :46:06. | :46:08. | |
forthcoming review of funding for councils address the wider | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
underfunding of Leicestershire. To make the most of our community | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
spirit, we've got to make sure that everyone in it is included. We are | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
an ageing society, and one with more people living alone. So the problem | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
of loneliness is a growing one. I would commend the work of the Jo Cox | :46:29. | :46:31. | |
commission and loneliness will stop and also the fantastic work being | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
done by many community groups to address loneliness. I will get right | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
behind them. Mr Deputy Speaker, I am an optimist by nature. Yes, we are | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
in a global economic race today. But we have better schools than we've | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
ever had before, and a brilliant culture of enterprise in this | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
country. Yes, we are an ageing society. But I believe with more | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
people with time to volunteer we have the conditions today for a | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
massive boom in our social and community life. So while this | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
country faces charges, I believe that our best days still lie ahead. | :47:13. | :47:20. | |
Alister Jack. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, the | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
opportunity to speak in the second reading this important bill. I look | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
forward to working colleagues across the House to improve the protection | :47:29. | :47:30. | |
is available to British holiday-makers. I'd also like to | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
congratulate my friends, the member for Harborough, on his excellent | :47:36. | :47:41. | |
maiden Beech. I must also express my appreciation for the advice and | :47:42. | :47:43. | |
guidance I've had from both honourable members and from officers | :47:44. | :47:47. | |
of the House, as I take my first faltering steps in this place. Now I | :47:48. | :47:54. | |
must pay tribute to my predecessor, Richard Harkness, who was elected in | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
2015. Richard didn't have long in his role, but he did make a positive | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
contribution in those two years and I'm wishing very well for the | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
future. I'd also like to pay tribute to Russell Brand, his predecessor, | :48:10. | :48:12. | |
who served our region with aplomb for 18 years until 2015. Russell | :48:13. | :48:20. | |
defeated the Conservative candidate, riding on a Labour tidal wave. I was | :48:21. | :48:27. | |
standing in Lauderdale. John Major was going out. Tony Blair was going | :48:28. | :48:38. | |
in. This was a experience for me tonight. Russell came in and a | :48:39. | :48:45. | |
Labour tidal wave only to go out to an SNP 's tsunami. We may not have | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
seen anything as dramatic in the polls in Scotland this time, but the | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
tide is rising for the Scottish negatives. I have the honour to | :48:54. | :48:59. | |
represent the electors of Dumfries Galloway, which measuring over 2500 | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
square miles is the six largest constituency in the United Kingdom. | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
From Dumfries, it's the combination of rolling farmland, clean waters | :49:10. | :49:19. | |
and beautiful hills and forestss. It captures 2.5 counties, and also the | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
hearts of those who live and visit. Historically Dumfries Galloway is | :49:25. | :49:27. | |
the birthplace of John Paul Jones, the founding father of the American | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
Navy. No presidents visited us to thank us for that. There is one of | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
the moment with a golf course in the neighbouring North constituency. But | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
we are not holding our breath. It's also the resting place of Scotland's | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
national bard, Robert Burns will stop a fertile poet, -- national | :49:47. | :49:54. | |
bird, Robert -- national bard, Robert Burns. A fertile poet, I will | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
say no more on that subject. And thanks to Patrick Macmillan in 1840 | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
Dumfries Galloway gave the world the first bicycle. Something I see | :50:04. | :50:11. | |
has really caught on in the city! Today our industry is centred on | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
agriculture, tourism, forestry and food processing. The Tories and | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
farming industries in particular of the bedrock of the local economy and | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
are based around the small market town 's of Castle Douglas and Newton | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
Stewart. My constituency is hosted some of the finest dairy herds in | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
the United Kingdom. Some of the most expanding upland sheep farms in | :50:34. | :50:36. | |
Scotland. And of course to the world-famous pedigree beef cow that | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
is the belted Galloway. At as the market is important to our region | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
and we look forward to welcoming old friends and new to treasures such as | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
the Scottish national Wigtown with its excellent festival. Deport that | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
Portpatrick. The latter, Kirkcudbright, also famous for its | :50:57. | :51:03. | |
artists. And the rugged scenery of the hills. Small communities and in | :51:04. | :51:07. | |
the fishing, Field sports and walking tourism. But there was | :51:08. | :51:11. | |
dependent on faster wider broadband to develop home-grown businesses. | :51:12. | :51:14. | |
That is something I seek to approve in my new role. I'm well aware of my | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
obligation to play my part in sustaining those rural communities, | :51:22. | :51:24. | |
but I must encourage economic development in the larger towns. I | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
was born in Dumfries, so I know well its issues. However, I also want to | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
make a positive impact which are seen as ferry terminal move five now | :51:36. | :51:41. | |
is the net miles north in recent years. That has resulted in many | :51:42. | :51:43. | |
less visitors to the town. However, they are a resilient lot in | :51:44. | :51:52. | |
Stranraer and I intend to support them with their regeneration efforts | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
in whatever way possible. The biggest win for them would be an | :51:57. | :52:04. | |
upgrade of the a 75 route from the Stranraer, something I have been | :52:05. | :52:07. | |
telling my neighbour the honourable member for East Antrim just across | :52:08. | :52:10. | |
the water. Hopefully he has taken it on board. This important economic | :52:11. | :52:17. | |
artery however has been ignored by Scotland's government for far too | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
long. I would also like to take this opportunity to send another message | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
to Scotland's government. In the 2014 independence referendum, my | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
constituents voted overwhelmingly to remain in the United Kingdom, and | :52:32. | :52:37. | |
the leadership of the SNP should respect that decision. As we prepare | :52:38. | :52:44. | |
to leave the European Union, it is the task of all of us in this house | :52:45. | :52:48. | |
and in all corners of our great country to ensure that as the United | :52:49. | :52:54. | |
Kingdom goes forward, economically, socially and constitutionally, that | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
it does so as one nation. And, to that end, I look forward to working | :53:00. | :53:01. | |
with my neighbours on both sides of the border to bring forward the | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
borderlands growth deal, which will be for the economic benefit of the | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
whole of the North of England and the whole of the south of Scotland. | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
So, in conclusion Mr Speaker, I thank the house for the | :53:17. | :53:18. | |
consideration it has shown me this evening, and I would only add that I | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
am proud to have been elected to represent Dumfries and Galloway, | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
proud to be one of the baker's dozen of Scottish Conservatives returned | :53:29. | :53:36. | |
to Westminster, and proud that we have turned the tables and imposed a | :53:37. | :53:40. | |
Conservative government on the English. Order, two remaining | :53:41. | :53:49. | |
speeches, the front bench windups pitches should and must begin at | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
9:40pm. A pleasure to make a brief contribution to this debate. A great | :53:55. | :54:02. | |
pleasure to follow my honourable friend from Dumfries and Galloway, | :54:03. | :54:05. | |
colleagues from both sides of the house, who have made such wonderful | :54:06. | :54:11. | |
maiden speeches today. I do wonder, Mr Speaker, if their eloquence in | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
painting the treasures of their constituencies has actually made the | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
bill we are discussing today irrelevant, because who would want | :54:22. | :54:27. | |
to travel abroad when we have such a wonderful array of treasures in | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
these isles? But in the inconceivable reason that some | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
people will still wish the holiday overseas, this bill is incredibly | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
important, because, as we have heard, the way people booked their | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
travel, their holidays, has changed remarkably, from not that long ago | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
when you would toddle off down to the travel agent's and book your | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
fortnight in Lanzarote or wherever was your destination of choice, and | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
you bought it as one package and that was it. People now mix and | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
match, they use the internet to add on all sorts of different parts of | :55:02. | :55:09. | |
their holiday. It is important we upgrade our regulation, the valuable | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
ATOL scheme that has been in place for many years, to reflect those | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
changes, and the market will continue to evolve, and that is why | :55:18. | :55:21. | |
I think this bill is absolutely right in just setting the general | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
framework for the new legislation that can be mentored by specific | :55:29. | :55:32. | |
regulation as we go forward, that is absolutely right and it was a | :55:33. | :55:36. | |
pleasure to serve with the minister, the honourable gentleman in the | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
shadow secretary and other members in the last parliament. I am glad we | :55:42. | :55:44. | |
are revisiting those provisions today. The only point I will just | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
make very briefly before we reach the windups speeches is a point I | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
made on an intervention on the Minister in his opening speech. It | :55:54. | :56:00. | |
is important that we get the detailed regulations in as soon as | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
possible. The Honourable gentleman from Plymouth, sudden and Davenport | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
made an excellent speech and is very knowledgeable in these matters, | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
echoed it. It is an industry that has the planned 12 to 18 months | :56:14. | :56:17. | |
ahead, and they are anxious that we get that regulation in place as soon | :56:18. | :56:20. | |
as possible, so that people booking holidays today for that period ahead | :56:21. | :56:27. | |
can have the coverage and protection that this scheme should do, so I | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
will certainly be supporting this legislation tonight, but I hope the | :56:32. | :56:35. | |
Minister can address that point when we get into committee, that the | :56:36. | :56:38. | |
regulation must be there as speedily as possible. Thank you. Mr Kevin | :56:39. | :56:46. | |
Foster. Thank you, Mr Speaker, it is quite something to be the last | :56:47. | :56:49. | |
backbencher called when we had nine maidens back-to-back. Now we are | :56:50. | :56:53. | |
ending up with one of the old regulars speaking. One of the things | :56:54. | :56:58. | |
I would say it to some of the new members as when I got here two years | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
ago people said to me to find a nice quiet spot to speak from. You can | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
see where I decided to pick, directly opposite the then 56 | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
Scottish National Party members, now slightly less. In terms of moving | :57:13. | :57:19. | |
into this bill, representing Torbay, main tourism area, I would struggle | :57:20. | :57:22. | |
to think why anyone would not like to come and be part of the history | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
that is in Torbay, one of the most beautiful constituencies country. | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
But it is right that if the photo go abroad that there are protections in | :57:31. | :57:37. | |
place, which is what ATOL does. This is a market that has changed | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
massively since the start of ATOL and is likely to change again, and | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
it is important that our regulatory system is kept up-to-date, hence why | :57:47. | :57:48. | |
I welcome this bill being brought in. Whilst a lot of people have been | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
talking about their birthplace is, I quite enjoyed the speech from the | :57:54. | :57:56. | |
Honourable member for my own worthless, the member of Plymouth, | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
sudden and Davenport, I was born at Freedom Fields which has moved away, | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
but from there. I was interested to hear his points. That is right that | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
this is a changing market. A market where a travel agent with a whole | :58:11. | :58:13. | |
selection of brochures has been replaced by a smartphone with an app | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
that connects you immediately to that particular site that may sell | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
you everything, but isn't necessarily selling you a package | :58:21. | :58:23. | |
holiday and it is important we keep up-to-date. It is right that the | :58:24. | :58:32. | |
changes are made. This started with a reference to package holidays | :58:33. | :58:34. | |
being a trip to a temperance meeting. Sadly one of the earliest I | :58:35. | :58:37. | |
had a Torbay was some entrepreneurs who decided to arrange a trip to the | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
public hanging in Exeter with a trip to the races thrown in on the way | :58:44. | :58:48. | |
back. However, the slight problem for them, the individual concerned | :58:49. | :58:52. | |
got reprieved and spent 30 years in jail, rather ruining their plans. It | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
is right to have talked about the importance and making sure that | :58:58. | :59:00. | |
British travel agents can compete in a market place. I welcome the fact | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
we are looking to change this in no way that means it is the place where | :59:06. | :59:08. | |
you are established that governs what system you are related to, | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
rather than where the first flight departs from, which is where the | :59:14. | :59:21. | |
current can one regulations. Firms will want to sell different light | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
and packages not be constrained to the point of origin and where you | :59:25. | :59:33. | |
flew out. I also hope it means that UK and British-based travel agents | :59:34. | :59:44. | |
will benefit. Normally I would not be rushing to favour someone | :59:45. | :59:48. | |
extending taxation powers but it is appropriate that clause one gives | :59:49. | :59:51. | |
the ability to extend tax-raising. As we come towards the time for the | :59:52. | :00:02. | |
windupss, it has been a fascinating display, it has felt like I have | :00:03. | :00:06. | |
been on a tour of various parts of the United Kingdom with the maiden | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
speeches we had, in a debate about people taking a trip abroad to see | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
what is on offer. I certainly think one thing that will come out of this | :00:15. | :00:17. | |
bill, there are clear the points to go over in committee stage, but it | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
is welcome to see this coming forward to ensure the protections | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
are in place so that nobody faces the situation where they are stuck | :00:26. | :00:27. | |
abroad without the ability to come back and it is right that it is the | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
industry that should bear the cost of that, rather than just the UK | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
taxpayer overall, which would be the case of we allow the system to | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
continue and did not look to reform it in the way that is being | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
suggested, that will make a real difference and I look forward to | :00:42. | :00:43. | |
this bill going into its committee stage. The Shadow Minister for | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
shipping, aviation and road safety, Mr Karl Turner. Thank you Mr | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
Speaker, we have had 22 members speak in this debate and no less | :00:57. | :01:06. | |
than 13 maiden speeches. Too many, Mr Speaker, to mention, but the | :01:07. | :01:08. | |
contributions have been truly excellent in what has been a | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
non-contentious debate, given that this side of the house agree with | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
the government's position. Mr Speaker, as are Honourable friend | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
stated at the outset, the opposition are not opposed to the bill, we are | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
broadly very supportive of it. There are, however, some concerns about | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
the impact of some parts of the bill, so we shall press the | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
government on some issues. The bill will bring ATOL up-to-date, and in | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
sure that it is harmonised with the local EU package travel directive, | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
extending a wider range of holidays and protecting more consumers, as | :01:47. | :01:49. | |
well as allowing UK travel companies to sell more seamlessly across | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
Europe. Labour welcomes the extensions, which will ultimately | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
help to protect more holiday-makers, but we want clarity on how UK | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
consumers will be protected by EU -based companies, as they will no | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
longer be subject towards Mac ATOL, but to member state equivalents. If | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
he doesn't mind, I will not give way at this stage. I am hoping to | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
mention some of the wonderful maiden speeches if I have time later on in | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
my remarks. The applications of ATOL after Brexit are also a cause for | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
concern. Hidden in the bill are proposals that the Secretary of | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
State will require only affirmative resolution to significantly reform | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
ATOL and the Bear Trap or trust fund. Labour recognises the merits | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
of some reforms, but would believe that an impact assessment, full | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
consultation and scrutiny will be required before any fundamental | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
changes are made to this well respected consumer protection. These | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
issues bring to the forefront uncertainties over the future of UK | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
aviation following the decision to leave the European Union. And Labour | :03:10. | :03:17. | |
has been clear that whichever framework is chosen, the government | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
should prioritise retaining an essentially unchanged operating | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
environment. Mr Speaker, in conclusion, the Labour Party broadly | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
supports the bill, as it will extend protections to many more | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
holiday-makers. However, we want clarity on how EU -based companies, | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
which will no longer be subject to ATOL but rather the respective | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
member states equivalents, will provide protections to UK consumers. | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
We are committed to securing the best possible framework to ensure | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
that the sector flourishes, but this means adequately preparing ourselves | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
for the many impatience that Brexit will have four can one and our | :04:02. | :04:11. | |
aviation -- Brexit will have for ATOL and our aviation sector as a | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
whole. Even that I have a few minutes I want to mention some of | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
the maiden speeches, kicking off with the honourable member for | :04:20. | :04:22. | |
Redditch. She spoke very passionately about her constituency | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
and the fact her daughter Ruth had encouraged her to following a long | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
tradition of electing women and the parliament, and encouraged her to | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
stand. I think that was an excellent move because her speech was | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
extremely well received, and very good. She also mentioned warmly her | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
immediate predecessor, Karen Lumley, who retired from this place through | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
ill-health, and we on all sides of the house send our very well best | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
wishes. She of course mentioned as well predecessor Jackie Smith, who | :04:53. | :05:02. | |
was the first elected rather first woman Home Secretary from this | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
place. The member for Chelmsford eloquently described the needs for | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
consumer protection and spoke with great knowledge about the EU, and | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
the importance of these consumer protections, given that we are | :05:15. | :05:22. | |
leaving the EU. I understand she is Honourable member of Parliament. | :05:23. | :05:30. | |
My honourable friend, the member for Crewe and Nantwich, spoke with great | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
pride about representing the constituent she was raised in and | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
she also spoke about the very important issue of the gender | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
inequality pay gap, and what is the inequality pay gap, and what is the | :05:44. | :05:53. | |
Waspy women. The Honourable member for East Renfrewshire rightly use | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
this opportunity in his remarks to right the wrong of forgetting to | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
mention his wife in his acceptance speech at the general election. The | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
member for north-east dovish spoke with great passion -- north-east | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
derby sure spoke with great passion about the constituency he grew up, | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
and spoke very warmly about his predecessor, Natascha Engel, our | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
very own Natascha Engel, who is missed from this place greatly. | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
The member for Weaver Vale spoke with great passion about his | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
constituency, and also very cleverly mentioned his wife in his remarks, | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
referring to the fact that she was born and bred in his constituency | :06:41. | :06:48. | |
Runcorn. The member for Clacton was very entertaining, I have to say. He | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
was an actor, but he said this was probably a more interesting theatre. | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
If I remember rightly, he appeared in a Bread. I remember watching it! | :06:59. | :07:07. | |
That was the comedy series about a family in Liverpool who suffered the | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
terrible time under the Thatcher government. Mr Speaker, the | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
honourable member for the Isle of Wight bake with great passion about | :07:19. | :07:27. | |
his. Great, too many to mention. But you also decried the privatisation | :07:28. | :07:29. | |
of the federally services. Many members on this service of the House | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
would probably agree with him. The member for sterling spoke with great | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
passion again about his constituency, especially with | :07:42. | :07:43. | |
reference to the wonderful shortbread and whiskey. The member | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
for Walsall North spoke about this serious issue that one in four of | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
his constituency don't actually own a passport. And how important this | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
bill is to protect people who spend an awful lot of their hard earned | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
money on holidays and expected to be protected in legislation. The member | :08:05. | :08:13. | |
for air, Carrick Cumnock used his remarks to reference the terrible | :08:14. | :08:20. | |
tragedy that is Grenfell Tower. He had a great deal of experience as a | :08:21. | :08:26. | |
long-standing fire officer, and I'm sure this house will benefit from | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
his expertise in that area, and other areas as well. The member for | :08:32. | :08:40. | |
Harborough spoke about how innovative his constituents are, | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
making everything from jet engines to milk floats. He also mentioned | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
the Jo Cox Commission on loneliness and said that he would be supported | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
on that. We would all sides of the House be grateful for the support. | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
Last but not least, maiden speakers, the member for Dumfries and Galloway | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
spoke about the innovations of his constituency, having created the | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
first bicycle. It's not been a particularly contentious debate. The | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
side of the House support the Government in its efforts to | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
legislate this. I call the Parliamentary | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
Under-Secretary of State for roads and transport. | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
Thank you, very much indeed, Mr Speaker. It is an absolute honour | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
for me to be able to close the debate on this bill. I must tell you | :09:35. | :09:41. | |
that when I first looked at the order paper and saw that we had 6.5 | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
hours to debate a bill of four clauses, my heart slightly oiled for | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
a second. But I would like to put it to the entire house that tonight has | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
been an absolute triumph. When I heard the member for Ayr, Carrick | :09:58. | :10:08. | |
and Cumnock stand up and quote the made in seducing Robbie Burns | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
himself, not only that but mentioning his famous poem to a | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
mouse, which begins, as we know, Carol Ring, timorous beasties, oh, | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
what a panic in thy breast! -- cowering timorous beasties. I was | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
tempted to think that none of the new members thinking could count as | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
ABC, and the panic was likely to be in the Labour breast. -- count as a | :10:39. | :10:46. | |
beastie. So, it has been a delight. As they lesser Parliamentary debate | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
on an episode of Britain's Got talent. With dazzling speeches, new | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
voices and a delight of Scottish voices. Certainly from my side of | :10:57. | :11:05. | |
the House. I have a rare and delightful occurrence. We have lost | :11:06. | :11:12. | |
great colleagues across the House, but this evening has brought home to | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
us what absolute legends we have received instead. We had an | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
extremely useful debate and I warmly thank all of those who part, | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
including many members from across the House is made their maiden | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
speeches, as I have mentioned. As the debate has made clear, this is | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
not a bill that is politically charged or partisan. We are | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
collectively seeking to act in the interests of UK businesses that sell | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
holidays. And in particular in the interest of the travelling public | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
but wish to enjoy those holidays free of care. Yes, this may not be | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
the longest of bills were measured in terms of the number of its | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
clauses. But this is a very large billing and even measured by the | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
potential it has to bring peace of mind to people in every constituency | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
across the United Kingdom. That reassurance is what the atoll scheme | :12:04. | :12:10. | |
was originally created to provide when it was set up in 1973. Today | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
not only does it help to prevent rogue traders from entering the | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
market, it also provides important protection to consumers in the event | :12:20. | :12:21. | |
that the travel organiser should fail. The scheme has provided | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
effective protection to consumers for over 40 years, and it is well | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
regarded, both by those who use it, and by the travel sector itself. Mr | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
Speaker, consumer protection is an important pillar of the holiday | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
sector due to the nature of the market will stop holidays are | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
frequently booked and paid for many months in advance of travel. And the | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
consumer may often be unaware of the financial stability or instability | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
of their holiday providers. The impact from a failure of a travel | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
company can be grievous indeed. Consumers may face a serious | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
financial loss from not receiving a refund, or from the cost of having | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
to make alternative arrangements just to get home. And worse, even, | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
they may experience the trauma, heartache and sheer inconvenience of | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
a cancelled holiday, or were being stranded abroad without | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
accommodation or a ticket. I'd be delighted to give way. Thank you | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
very much for your response to the issue that we have. You'll be aware | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
of the issue for many holiday-makers and travellers. Delayed flights, | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
flights are cancelled. Does the Minister's legislation addressed the | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
issue for those people in a difficult position, domestic or in | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
Europe or further afield? I'm not quite sure of taking the point the | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
gentleman is amazing. If it's a point about Brexit, I'm not | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
expecting this to change at all. I'm afraid I'll have to move on, I | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
apologise for that. The Atol scheme provides important protection in | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
situations which ensures that if they Atol holder fails, the | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
customers are able to continue and return home, and not lose out on | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
many if they are yet to travel. Unfortunately -- fortunately the | :14:20. | :14:21. | |
failure of travel companies is relatively rare, but it does happen. | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
Bastia 19 Atol holders collapsed. In each situation the Civil Aviation | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
Authority had to step in to deliver appropriate protection to consumers | :14:33. | :14:34. | |
through the scheme. Many colleagues will be aware of the recent failure | :14:35. | :14:43. | |
of the Spanish online group Low-cost Holidays Group. It was reported last | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
summer that there were over 27,000 customers on holiday and many more | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
yet to travel. While many of these were from the UK, the company did | :14:54. | :14:56. | |
not have Atol protection as they were regulated under the Spanish | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
regime. The collapse of companies such as this is a important reminder | :15:00. | :15:06. | |
of the need to ensure consumer protection keeps pace with the way | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
people actually booked the holidays. The huge growth in online booking | :15:10. | :15:12. | |
means customers have a much wider choice of providers, including those | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
based overseas. Yet it is clear from the low-cost holidays situation that | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
not every travel provider is covered by the same level of protection, and | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
that inconsistencies apply across borders. That is why we have already | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
begun to take steps to update the atoll scheme, and to bring it into | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
line with modern trade practices. By right honourable friend the Minister | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
of Stretford transport, legislation and Maritime has already mentioned | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
in his opening remarks the legislating changes we may do Atol | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
in 2012. This introduced the flight plus category two bring Atol | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
protection to the many consumers who book mix-and-match holidays online, | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
in addition to those who buy traditional package holidays on the | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
high street. The then government also introduced the Atol | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
certificate, so consumers could never that when they booked a Atol | :16:03. | :16:05. | |
protective holiday, that is what they had and who to contact their | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
travel provider fails. We believe these interventions have had a | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
positive impact for consumers and many businesses. Not only have we | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
seen an increase in the number of protected can, but those changes | :16:19. | :16:20. | |
have helped to level the playing field between online and high-street | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
businesses. For similar reasons, we have also been working with the | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
European Commission and EU member states since 2012 to ensure that the | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
European regulations also brought up-to-date. The original package | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
travel directory was agreed in 1990 and its provisions were introduced | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
into law through the regulations of 1992. As was said earlier, the Atol | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
scheme is a crucial means by which UK businesses can meet the | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
obligation to have protection under the EU directive. These package | :16:54. | :17:00. | |
travel regulations, both of the EU and UK side, have contributed | :17:01. | :17:02. | |
significantly to consumer protection of rights since their introduction. | :17:03. | :17:10. | |
However, the regulations were designed for a world when people | :17:11. | :17:12. | |
bought their preprepared package holidays through a high-street | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
travel agent or tour operator. The regulations that predate the growth | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
of the Internet, where people have been able to create their own | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
informal packages online, as the House well knows. The Internet has | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
become a vast travel marketplace providing opportunities for | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
consumers and businesses alike. We heard at the start of the debate | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
that around 75% of UK holidays now booked online. That being the case, | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
it's important regulations and consumer protections are able to | :17:45. | :17:47. | |
keep pace major changes in the marketplace will stop that is why a | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
new package travel directory was finally agreed across Europe in | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
December of 2015. The UK Government has supported the rationale for | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
updating the directive in order to bring greater clarity on what | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
constitutes a package holiday in today's marketplace, and to improve | :18:06. | :18:07. | |
and harmonise protection across the continent. The updated package will | :18:08. | :18:15. | |
do just that. It brings protection across Europe closer to the model | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
which we have operated since we updated Atol in 2012. Once again the | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
UK is leading in Europe. That is good news for consumers. Overall it | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
will mean consumers can get sovereignty protection extended to | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
cover a broader range of holidays. In particular it has updated the | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
definition of a package holidays so that an informal package booked | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
online will need to be protected in the same way as a traditional | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
package holiday booked on the high street. It also brings a new concept | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
which has been noted of links travel arrangements into the scope of | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
protection. Like a package holiday, these involve a combination of at | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
least two different types of travel services purchased together for the | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
purposes other holiday. Those arrangements are looser, involving | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
the separate payment of each travel service and separate contracts with | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
each travel service provider. Links travel arrangements will not be | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
protected to the same level as a package holiday. But under certain | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
conditions a refund or repatriation will apply. There should also be | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
benefits to businesses. A harmonised approach will help to level the | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
playing field with the same rules applied to businesses selling | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
similar products across the EU. The harmonised approach will also help | :19:30. | :19:31. | |
to remove barriers for UK businesses who want to trade across borders. Mr | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
Speaker, we've had concerns raised about ever passenger rights when the | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
UK leads the EU. I can say that the Government has committed to | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
delivering orderly withdrawal and preparing to introduce legislation | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
which will preserve the EU domestically for the time being. The | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
Government is also seeking to have UK consumers continue to enjoy the | :19:56. | :19:57. | |
strong protections which they currently enjoy both inside and | :19:58. | :20:05. | |
outside the EU. Today we are taking forward the Atol bill to harmonise | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
our domestic regulations with the changes coming in across the EU in | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
2018. As the House has heard from my right honourable friend, the bill | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
will update the Atol powers to align them with the scope of the | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
directive. It's a fine piece of work and I commend it to the House. | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
The question is that the bill be now read a second time. As many of that | :20:29. | :20:37. | |
opinion essay aye. To the contrary, no. The ayes habit, the ayes have | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
it. We come now to the adjournment. Beg | :20:41. | :20:53. | |
to move. I beg to me that this house tune adjourn. The question is that | :20:54. | :20:55. | |
this house do now adjourned. I am grateful to you Mr Speaker for | :20:56. | :21:07. | |
allowing me the other Tunisia to raise the issue of child safety in | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
theme parks. We, in Leicester, were deeply affected with the death of | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
one of our own, of Belgrave, at Drayton Manor Park in Staffordshire. | :21:20. | :21:27. | |
On the morning of Tuesday 9th of May 2017, Eva woke up excited at the | :21:28. | :21:38. | |
prospect of visiting Drayton Manor Park. She had been given ?10 by her | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
family to spend at the park. Just four days before she celebrated her | :21:46. | :21:52. | |
11th birthday. What Eva cosmic mother did not know this -- what Eva | :21:53. | :22:00. | |
cosmic mother did not know that morning when she waved her off with | :22:01. | :22:03. | |
that she would be seeing her for the very last time. Tonight, we need to | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
begin the process of addressing some of the issues surrounding Eva cosmic | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
death, and I am grateful to see the Minister here today. This is not | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
just a family, or for the 1.5 million people who visit Drayton | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
Manor, but for millions of theme park goers worldwide. I will give | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
way. I sort permission from the right honourable member to have an | :22:34. | :22:42. | |
intervention. As many in this house enjoy the theme park, when we | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
attend, we know there is also a need for strict regulations. Does the | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
right Honourable member feel when it comes to the regulations of work, | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
perhaps the Americans and how they do it would be someone to get | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
lessons from? I said to the Honourable gentleman this is | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
certainly something I hope the government will look at once it has | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
had an opportunity to see the reports being prepared by the police | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
and Health and Safety Executive. On that tragic day, Evha got onto the | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
splash Canon ride just after 2pm with her school friends. According | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
to eyewitness accounts, as the splash Canon ride went around in | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
circles, Evha fell into the water as the vessels bumped into one of the | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
sides of the ride. Having fallen into the water, Evha began walking | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
towards her friends, who were in the vessel, and as it was pulled away by | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
the water current. A few minutes later, Evha followed the vessel, | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
trying to get back to safety, a sickly to join the vessel again | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
because her friends were still in it. Sadly at that stage she received | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
no help, and was eventually sucked under the water. In his initial | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
report, the coroner, Andrew Haigh, has suggested that Evha suffered | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
blunt chest trauma, which led to her death. In his communications with | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
the family, with me, and especially in allowing Evha's family to see the | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
body for a second time, which was of particular benefit to Evha 's | :24:25. | :24:32. | |
mother, Mr Hague has been exceptional. Issues of theme park | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
safely are critical at all times but especially as we head towards the | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
school summer holidays. These parks across the United Kingdom earn | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
millions of pounds, and whether it is in Disney in the United States, | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
or at Drayton Manor, adults and children must be safe when they | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
visit them. Health and Safety Executive data reported that there | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
were 420 non-fatal injuries at theme parks in 2015-2016, with 249 of them | :25:08. | :25:14. | |
involving children under the age of 16. There have been three deaths | :25:15. | :25:23. | |
since 2005, that is three too many. All theme park 's have television | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
screens that are monitored by staff. The family want to know who was | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
watching these screens and how Evha was left in the water for several | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
minutes without anyone coming to rescue her? The house may recall the | :25:38. | :25:47. | |
horrific accident that occurred in Alton Towers in June 2015 as | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
passengers on a ride crashed into an empty carriage, and many suffered | :25:54. | :26:00. | |
appalling injuries. That this tragedy could happen so soon | :26:01. | :26:03. | |
afterwards means certain issues were not addressed, and it is in the | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
public interest that they should be addressed immediately. Following the | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
tragedy, a feature of this case has been the way in which the agencies | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
involved have gone to great lengths tout the family. I would like to | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
thank the Health and Safety Executive for the work they have | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
done so far investigating the issue, in particular the work carried out | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
by Catherine Cotton, under the leadership of Neil Craig, the head | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
of operations. The vessels on the Splash Cannon ride have no seat | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
belts, and a number of vessels have had there, and I quote, stay in your | :26:46. | :26:52. | |
seat signs of skilled. This unfortunately was not the first time | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
that somebody had fallen out of a vessel in Drayton Manor. Patrick | :26:57. | :27:04. | |
treacle also fell off the Splash Cannon ride. In an interview with | :27:05. | :27:14. | |
BBC's five live, Patrick's Vicky called for lapsed bands on the seats | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
to ensure that children or adults do not stand up on the right. -- on the | :27:18. | :27:27. | |
ride. Surely if there is a threat, certain safety procedures should be | :27:28. | :27:34. | |
adopted. I fear this was not the case in Drayton Manor after Patrick | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
treacle's incident, and it happened in Evha's case again. In the | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
immediate aftermath of the incident, other major theme parks closed their | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
water rights, and living Alton Towers, Legoland and thought park. | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
However, these rides have since reopened, without waiting for the | :27:58. | :28:05. | |
Health and Safety Executive report. The presence of lapsed bands that | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
ensure participants stay in their seats but would not impede escape if | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
it capsized must be seen as a potential solution, this would in my | :28:19. | :28:21. | |
view not affect their enjoyment. It is also vital that there should be | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
clear public about Spence regarding seating on rides at all parks. | :28:27. | :28:37. | |
Informing them that they must remain in their seats, as well as they are | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
of course being clear signage. The family feel that all this was | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
lacking on that day at Drayton Manor. According to the children who | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
were interviewed afterwards, they called out for help to the guards | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
but nothing was done for them immediately, as they had asked. | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
Making sure these rides are adequately staffed is a priority. | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
Perhaps it would have been better if there were two members of staff at | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
the start of the ride, assisting children to board the vessels. I | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
accompanied the family, including Mohammed Islam, Evha's father, her | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
brother Mohammed, and Evha's uncle Mohammed, to Drayton Manor where the | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
ride was, and the circumstances of the ride was carefully explained to | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
us by the police. On the half of the family, I would like to thank | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
superintendent Steve Moray, DCI John Quilty and his colleagues for their | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
work and for the relationship they have built up with the family. Of | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
particular benefit was showing the family of the CCTV footage of Evha's | :29:47. | :29:54. | |
last moments. The police investigation continues. Evha was | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
only 11 years old, and got on the boat with five other children of the | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
same age or younger. It should be the case that in future children | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
under 12 must be accompanied by an adult at all times on these rides. I | :30:11. | :30:18. | |
also want to raise in conclusion the issue of bereavement damages for the | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
death of a child, which is currently capped at only ?15,000. This is a | :30:24. | :30:30. | |
woefully low folk figure, and while of course no amount of money can | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
compensate for the loss of a child, fair compensation for families is an | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
issue that we must look at in the future. In the United States, there | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
is no cap on such payments. Legislation should be introduced to | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
remove the cap to allow for proper compensation to be given to | :30:53. | :30:59. | |
families. The owners of Drayton Manor have been deeply affected by | :31:00. | :31:02. | |
the tragedy, and William Bryant wrote to me, and said, "The whole | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
Drayton Manor community remains deeply saddened and upset by the | :31:09. | :31:14. | |
terrible incident last week. I cannot comprehend the pain and | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
anguish that the family and the wider community feel right now." His | :31:19. | :31:25. | |
letter was deeply appreciated. There are so many heroes and heroines who | :31:26. | :31:29. | |
acted swiftly after Evha was discovered. I personally want to pay | :31:30. | :31:35. | |
tribute to the air Ambulance Service for their reaction to the incident, | :31:36. | :31:39. | |
and their efforts in trying to save the life of Evha, and for the staff, | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
who must have been horrified by what they saw. Hundreds of people in | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
Leicester attended the funeral, even though many of them, Mr Speaker, did | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
not know Evha personally. The Darussalam mosque and its director | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
have also been exceptional, and they have established a just giving page | :32:01. | :32:07. | |
to support Evha's family. And Evha's school, particularly its | :32:08. | :32:12. | |
headmistress, provided great comfort to the family after Evha's death. | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
There are many legal issues that remain outstanding, and I have been | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
careful not to cross into them while the inquest is pending. The family | :32:23. | :32:29. | |
have appointed Hilary Meredith of Hilary Meredith solicitors and her | :32:30. | :32:32. | |
legal team to deal with legal measures. They have taken up the | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
challenge forcibly, and I thank them. The police and the Health and | :32:37. | :32:44. | |
Safety Executive enquiries by themselves, even though I am sure | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
they will be extremely thorough, will never bring Evha back. However, | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
it is hoped that their recommendations will change how the | :32:54. | :32:59. | |
system works, and the point made by the Honourable member from | :33:00. | :33:01. | |
Strangford is absolutely right. There are other countries of course | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
come theme parks do not just exist in the United Kingdom, they exist | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
all over the world, and millions of children enjoy going to these theme | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
parks. If there is an example of better practice, then I hope that we | :33:16. | :33:18. | |
will be able to follow that better practice. Throughout May of this | :33:19. | :33:25. | |
year, I spent a great deal of time with the family, who remain shocked, | :33:26. | :33:32. | |
and in morning. Three macro's mother is still, as one can imagine, | :33:33. | :33:39. | |
devastated -- in mourning. -- Evha's mother. Mohammed, Evha's brother, | :33:40. | :33:49. | |
has handled himself in a way that most 18-year-olds could not or | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
should not be asked to do. Mohammed and the family are concerned that | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
potential negligence leading to his sister's death. To lose a child is | :33:58. | :34:06. | |
horrific. But yet it to use that loss in a way that means there will | :34:07. | :34:13. | |
be positive change, so that things can be improved for others, is, in | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
my view, nothing short of heroic. Having spoken to Evha's father, | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
Mohammed Islam, I know that he is set on ensuring that no other family | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
is ever hit by a tragic event like this again. No other member of this | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
house will want to be in a position in the future for calling for change | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
after a tragedy of this sort, and that is why we need to make sure | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
there is change. This house will inevitably move on to debate of the | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
tragic events. Indeed, earlier today, we heard more about the | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
situation surrounding Grenfell Tower. However, for this close-knit | :34:59. | :35:08. | |
and loving family, no minute will go past, no day will go by, and no | :35:09. | :35:15. | |
birthday will fail to the acknowledged without longing for | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
their daughter, sister and niece. They will never hear little Evha | :35:20. | :35:26. | |
chatting and laughing. They will never be able to see her lovely | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
face. And that is why they want to get to the truth of what has | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
happened, and, Mr Speaker, they deserve nothing less. | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
I told the Minister of State for disabled people health and work at | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
the Department for Work and Pensions. | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I start by thanking the right honourable | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
member for Leicester East in securing this debate and commend him | :35:59. | :36:03. | |
for the advocacy he has shown to his constituents. I take the opportunity | :36:04. | :36:10. | |
to extend my sincere sympathy to Evha's family and friends at their | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
immense loss. And also to drain the right honourable gentleman in paying | :36:15. | :36:22. | |
tribute to all those who helped on the tragic day and since. In | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
particular I would thank him for mentioning the Health and Safety | :36:27. | :36:30. | |
Executive, of which I am the minister Hugh has responsibility for | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
that body. -- the minister who has responsibility. Their 50 strong | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
fairground team, and in particular the two officers he mentions for | :36:41. | :36:47. | |
that leadership in this instance. The right honourable gentleman will | :36:48. | :36:49. | |
know that the Staffordshire Police with the Health and Safety Executive | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
support are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding Evha's | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
death. Due to that investigation I'm constrained as to what I can say in | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
particular about this incident. But I hope to afford him and his | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
constituents some reassurance within those constraints. I can confirm a | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
traitor manner's procedures for responding to emergencies at this | :37:15. | :37:22. | |
ride, including identifying in rescuing anyone who falls into the | :37:23. | :37:28. | |
water will be investigated as part of it. And that the ride remains | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
closed was that investigation takes place. Immediately after the | :37:33. | :37:38. | |
incident, the Health and Safety Executive contacted Merlin, who | :37:39. | :37:46. | |
operates similar machines manufactured by Intamin at Alton | :37:47. | :37:53. | |
Towers and Thorpe Park. Merlin had closed their rides so that they | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
could conduct a check to ensure the machines were operating correctly. | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
They agreed to keep the ride is closed until the health and safety | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
executive could ensure there was nothing wrong with the Drayton Manor | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
ride that would have been an increased risk to passengers on | :38:13. | :38:16. | |
those rights. The Health and Safety Executive did this in the rides were | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
closed for three days. Once they had completed their checks, Merlin | :38:22. | :38:24. | |
confirms the Health and Safety Executive that they have reviewed | :38:25. | :38:27. | |
all of the operating procedures to ensure that they were in line with | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
the manufacturers two instructions, and that the operators were working | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
in accordance with their training. -- Manufacturer's instructions. They | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
reviewed supervision of the ride and riders, including those that only | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
those who could be safely accommodated were allowed on the | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
ride. And providing clear instructions to riders to remain in | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
their seats was the ride was in operation. Not to stand, swap seats, | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
lean out, and so forth. And to ensure the ride knew it was a | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
vigorous ride and they would need to hold on as the boat moved down the | :39:05. | :39:11. | |
right. -- down the ride. Having reviewed the rescue and response | :39:12. | :39:14. | |
measures to ensure that they would know immediately that the person had | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
fallen into the water, and that they could critically stop the flow of | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
water with an emergency stop, and could swiftly get the person out of | :39:25. | :39:28. | |
the water using appropriate techniques and equipment. On the | :39:29. | :39:33. | |
information that they had provided, the Health and Safety Executive was | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
satisfied with Merlin's review of those other rides. I think that's | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
important to mention in the immediate aftermath on that tragic | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
incident. Following the incident, the Health and Safety Executive also | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
spent out an information note to the amusement devices safety council for | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
onward transmission, reminding ride operators of the steps that they | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
were required to take in order to ensure the safety of riders on water | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
ride in particular. And those included some of the areas that I | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
have just mentioned. Any specific learning that come out of the | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
investigation at Drayton Manor will be shared with the industry said | :40:16. | :40:18. | |
that they can insure that they're taken on board. The investigation | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
into Drayton Manor is ongoing and the ride is shut down to allow that | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
to proceed. The specific lines of enquiry being followed cannot be | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
disclosed at present for reasons the right honourable gentleman will | :40:35. | :40:37. | |
understand. But based on the emerging findings of the | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
investigation, the Health and Safety Executive has no information that | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
would suggest that those other rides are unsafe to operate. I would also | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
mention as well that the investigation is looking at | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
arrangements made by the school, and that after the incident the | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
Department for Education produced a statement providing further advice, | :41:04. | :41:11. | |
and it will provide again further guidance if it becomes necessary if | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
the investigation identifies deficiencies in its own processes. | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
Fortunately, serious incidents such as this are rare. At the right | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
honourable gentleman is right to point out that even one is one too | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
many. And this incident was the first drowning on a water ride in | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
the UK. Following such an incident, the Health and Safety Executive | :41:42. | :41:44. | |
carries out an in-depth investigation to establish the | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
causes of the incident. And also to achieve justice for the victims and | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
their families. Any lessons will be learned will be shared with the | :41:55. | :41:57. | |
industry and they will be required to implement them. By way of an | :41:58. | :42:03. | |
example, as I'm constrained to what I can say about Drayton Manor | :42:04. | :42:07. | |
incident, I would just like to explain to the House what happened | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
following the Alton Towers incident, which was a multi-car | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
roller-coaster. The operators reviewed and tested their | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
operational and administrative procedures for clearing the block | :42:22. | :42:28. | |
stops on multi-car roller-coasters. Merlin reviewed their safety | :42:29. | :42:35. | |
management arrangements at Alton Towers and. Alton Towers staff did a | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
series of presentations explaining what went wrong and why. That's | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
important to mention because quite rightly the honourable gentleman has | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
flagged that we can learn from other nations, and other nations can learn | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
from what has happened on our own theme parks. The Health and Safety | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
Executive's national flag rounded action team's workplan for this year | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
includes inspection a multi-car roller-coaster is at specific theme | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
parks. They are working with theme park and the representative body, | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
the British Association of leisure parks, peers and attractions, to | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
improve their management for the control of risks associated with | :43:22. | :43:24. | |
rides such as roller-coasters. There is no room for complacency and what | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
lessons can be learnt from instance are certainly disseminated. Any new | :43:30. | :43:38. | |
requirement are enforced. If the investigation into the recent | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
incident involved any breaches of the law, appropriate action will be | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
taken to hold those responsible to account. And if any shortcomings in | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
the current regulatory regime are found, steps will be taken to | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
address them. The Health and Safety Executive will act on information | :43:56. | :43:57. | |
received about incident in other countries. Often that information is | :43:58. | :44:03. | |
communicated to the executive through its contactss with the | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
British Association of Leisure, Peers, and Attractions. The Health | :44:10. | :44:17. | |
and Safety Executive publishes its safety alerts and bulletins on its | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
websites, thus making them available to a worldwide audience. The | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
Executive will engage where necessary with international | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
colleagues to improve safety at Fairgrounds and theme parks | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
worldwide. Thank you for giving way. In Florida, as an example, and I | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
spoke to the right honourable gentleman before this, they have a | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
safety belts which is on all water rides where ever they may be. Maybe | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
a simple solution, but it may prevent it happening again. I thank | :44:52. | :44:54. | |
the honourable gentleman for that intervention. Indeed, the right | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
Honourable member for Leicester East also mentioned other potential | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
interventions which might have helped in this particular incident, | :45:04. | :45:13. | |
and might help with others. On hearing about this incident, I have | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
formed my own layperson's review. One asks all sorts of questions | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
about life jackets in certain circumstances, and all of those | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
things. I am most grateful for the Minister for giving way. Can I thank | :45:29. | :45:31. | |
her for the thoughtful and compassionate way in which she has | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
answered the debate. Does she have any indication as to when the Health | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
and Safety Executive might complete their report, because obviously the | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
inquest cannot take place and saw that report is completed. Then we | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
can have the opportunity of looking at changes which we may want to | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
make. I am happy to keep the right honourable gentleman informed about | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
that. I'm not able today to give him a timeline for the Health and Safety | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
Executive's investigation. I have enquired about that. But it will be | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
led by the evidence, so I can't give him an end date for that. What I do | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
understand from what honourable members have said that they are keen | :46:15. | :46:21. | |
that any safety measures which could be introduced now are. The process I | :46:22. | :46:29. | |
have outlined that methodical review similar rise, different or similar | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
rides, I hope will give an assurance on that front. The other thing that | :46:35. | :46:41. | |
honourable members have mentioned which may strike us as laypeople as | :46:42. | :46:49. | |
common-sense links to introduce, it is, as many situations are, a bit | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
more complicated than that. We know for example that in other cases that | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
have happened overseas where people have been more restricted into the | :46:57. | :47:06. | |
boat that that has impeded escape in the event of an accident. So I think | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
we need to wait, having assured ourselves that these immediate | :47:13. | :47:15. | |
checks have been done of similar rides, wait for the Health and | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
Safety Executive's report to be produced. And, as I have outlined, | :47:21. | :47:29. | |
any recommendations that they will make to the industry will be | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
disseminated widely. And I know that they are working as swiftly as they | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
can to complete that reports and other parts of the investigation can | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
move forward, which is incredibly important. I appreciate. I would | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
also add that the Health and Safety Executive has commissioned an | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
particular research into the risks presented by water rides of this | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
nature. And the current philosophy regarding risk control and whether | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
that needs to change. I can assure honourable members that the Health | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
and Safety Executive will ensure that lessons are learned from this | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
very tragic events, and are acted on by the industry. And that in the | :48:15. | :48:21. | |
interim measures have been taken to ensure that other rides are | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
operating safely. I would beg the right honourable gentleman for | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
raising this debate today -- I would thank the right honourable | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
gentleman. As matters progress, I stand ready, as does my department, | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
to assist him and his constituents. Order. The question is that this | :48:42. | :48:47. | |
house tune now adjourn. As many of that opinion say ten Rio. To the | :48:48. | :48:55. | |
contrary, no. I think the ayes has it. Order, order. | :48:56. | :48:59. |