Speeches by Holden.

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on two matters relating to the completeness of ministerial answers to this House. On 24 April, in answer to a written parliamentary question tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East (Shivani Raja), the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. M…”

“It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. Today, the Minister will be pleased to know that the Opposition are fully and wholly supportive of his measures to deregulate this sector. Bringing young people into any industry is essential if we are to adapt to the modern world and deliver the …”

“We still do not know how or what the Government want to achieve with state control of the railways. They say that there will be simpler fares, but the public are seeing simply more expensive fares. They say that passenger growth is necessary, but there is no target for that growth in the Railways Bill. They say they wa…”

“Over the past few decades there has been a consensus in politics that disability should not prevent people from living fulfilling and successful lives. However, I recognise that, despite strong standards and the implementation of new measures by Governments of all stripes over previous decades, the aims set out by Gove…”

“In September last year, the Secretary of State told the House: “I know the importance of the fuel duty freeze”.—[Official Report, 11 September 2025; Vol. 772, c. 1031.] That was when diesel and petrol were significantly cheaper than they are today. Why is Labour hiking fuel duty by 5p a litre this September?”

“I think the hon. Member should reflect on the fact that he voted last week for a policy that hammers those rural transport users more than anyone else, not at some theoretical time in the future but from September this year, increasing in December and again in March next year. These are not policies that may or may not…”

“It is clear that the Minister is not prepared to agree with the Secretary of State, so I ask him whether he agrees with himself. In an answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew) on 23 March, he said that “public ownership is expected to save taxpayers up to...£110-150 million every y…”

“The hon. Lady makes an important point. I will add, though, that disabled people often choose to use a car, if one is available, because it is the most convenient means of getting around; it means that they can travel at times that suit them. I totally agree that we want to ensure that all our public transport is as ac…”

“My hon. Friend is right, and some of those tax rises are hitting many of the companies that will also be hit by these fuel duty rises. I have spoken to hauliers, in my constituency and across the country, who already face increasing business rates and increasing national insurance costs and are now being hit with a fue…”

“I am sorry, but I need to make a little more progress, but I will happily come back to my hon. Friend later. However we travel, Labour is after us. Is it a boat? Is it a train? Is it a plane? No, it is Labour’s taxman coming for us. And where will this money be spent—all the extra money from Labour’s taxes on the publi…”

“Absolutely. The tourist tax is hammering working Britain. And those are just the taxes that Labour is imposing on transport. There are plenty of others, and I am happy to take interventions if any hon. Members want to mention them.”

“I will give way.”

“No, I have already given way to the hon. Member. We in the Opposition are all praying for a U-turn on the fuel duty policy, which would be very welcome. We would rather that they had never come up with the policy in the first place because, just as with the previous 16 U-turns, we argued against each policy before the …”

“My hon. Friend is entirely right. She is also a real champion for the North sea oil and gas sector, which is largely based in her constituency. What are we seeing on top of those taxes on railcards, ferries and airlines—through increased airline business rates—and, obviously, the 50% hike in bus fares? What else is Lab…”

“Of course not, Mr Speaker. The right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Ed Miliband) should always be given his proper title. This is very similar to the Government’s pathetic intransigence when it comes to the zero emission vehicle mandate. They remain entirely aloof, soldiering on, whatever the cost is to British compa…”

“My hon. Friend makes the really important point that this is about choices. She is also right that many people do not have such a choice about their cars, and nobody has a choice about going to a shop to buy food, which will be delivered by some form of road transport at some point. So everybody will be paying for Labo…”

“It is not often that I agree with an SNP spokesperson, but I very much do so today. The hon. Member makes an incredibly important point. The Labour party came to office talking about how growth was its No. 1 priority. Has anybody heard Ministers, or heard the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, the hon. Member for…”

“That is another important point, which has also been raised with me by companies such as electric vehicle charge point manufacturers here in the UK. Some of them are on the verge of collapse because of that high cost of electricity. Although the Government say that they are pursuing a green agenda, what they are actual…”

“That is an extremely important point. This is not just about the Labour Government; it is also about Labour mayors and Labour councils and their war on motorists up and down the country, whether it is the Dart charge or the ULEZ charge. We have even seen Zipcar having to cease operations in the UK because of the Mayor …”

“I could not agree more with the hon. Member. We need to get back to drilling in the North sea. Norway is drilling on one side of the same basin and getting the benefit of those jobs and the tax revenue. It bemuses me why we are not doing that here. The shadow Energy Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for East S…”