Speeches by Kirkham.

“I thank the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire (Mike Wood) for leading today’s debate on a subject that is important for all regions in the UK, but particularly for mine. For Cornwall, the visitor sector is still an important core industry. Cornwall is a top UK tourist destination, with tourism provid…”

“Falmouth is a thriving town in my constituency, but it is struggling with a deployable neighbourhood policing team that is at only 44% of the minimum recommended capacity. Tregony has just had its police office shut—the only one in a large rural area. This Government have invested heavily in our neighbourhood policing …”

“Will my hon. Friend agree to include post-industrial towns in places like Cornwall which used to mine and have been post-industrial for longer than many other towns in this country? Now, with opportunities in renewables and critical minerals, they could be rich again under this new industrial strategy.”

“I wanted to go back very quickly to other types of ownership, because we understood it that state nationalisation had basically been ruled out in the scope of your report, but there were other things we could look at, be it employee ownership, consumer ownership, CICs, not-for-profit, etc. Some of those are, in other s…”

“That was my next question.”

“You will look outside the water industry.”

“I have about two minutes. I was going to ask about resilience standards, a potential resilience framework and what that would look like in the context of the communities as well as the assets that are in the ground. Just picking my constituency, we have had repeated water outages. We have an issue at the moment with th…”

“Some water companies do not even know where they are.”

“As a Committee, we suggested that bill revenue should be enough to cover day-to-day maintenance with the capital expenditure being left to the equity and the debt. Is that something you would agree with? There is a lot that needs to be done. There is a lot of maintenance and repair that needs to be caught up on.”

“It is that big change.”

“It sounds like you are suggesting that you would go and discuss with each company what its levels of debt would be. Going back to the public confidence thing, if we are talking about changing thresholds, discussing them with each company or setting the thresholds slightly differently than in the past, the confidence th…”

“That is the line of your inquiry.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I thank the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier) for securing this debate, which is really important, particularly to the people of Cornwall. Cornwall’s unique geography gives us an advantage in a range of industries, and space is no exception, thanks to o…”

“I was not expecting to be called first, but thank you very much, Dr Huq. Each year, Cornwall, which has a population of 650,000, welcomes around 4 million visitors, drawn by our beautiful beaches and coastline. Tourism is a key part of our economy and provides a livelihood for many, but the downside is the pressure on …”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can the Leader of the House grant a debate in Government time on a more robust range of censure and sanction options for serious breaches of the local government members’ code of conduct, including suspension and removal of councillors? I know of recent incidents in which, despite egregious behav…”

“On the question of barriers to opportunity, the potential for growth in some areas is high, but access to funding and education—particularly further education—can be difficult, as it is in Cornwall. Does my hon. Friend agree that, as a result, the people who live in an area cannot always take advantage of that growth p…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I welcome the transport investment, which is needed in those city regions and spreads the wealth out. Cornwall also has ambitious transport plans, but does not have a large city region for 175 miles. It is very difficult to get public transport to our airport or a direct bus to our one …”

“Falmouth is a town of young people which juts out into the Atlantic on a finger-like peninsula, so it is vital that people there learn how to swim, yet statistics from a primary school in Falmouth show that the percentage of young children who are unable to swim 25 metres has shot up dramatically, from less than 10% to…”

“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for a report on the potential merits of appointing a commissioner to consider, investigate and make recommendations to address welfare issues faced by personnel serving in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and their families. This year marks the 120th anni…”

“Does the Secretary of State agree that it comes to something when the Opposition seem to be suggesting that Thames Water should maybe not be sanctioned, because that may put its preferred bidder at risk, when it had rejected others? Jon Cunliffe suggested stronger regulation, not weaker. Is it not clear that the direct…”